The 2026 British Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 5 July 2026 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It was the ninth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship and the fourth of six Grands Prix in the season to utilise the sprint format.
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) took sprint pole position ahead of Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), with Max Verstappen (Red Bull) qualifying third. Antonelli passed Hamilton to take his first sprint victory, while Lando Norris (McLaren) completed the podium. Later that day, Antonelli took pole position for the Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Hamilton.
Leclerc made a strong start to take the lead from Antonelli, while Hamilton also moved ahead of the Mercedes driver in the opening corners. Antonelli later passed Hamilton and appeared set to challenge Leclerc for victory after making his sole pit stop on fresher tyres. Still, a failure of his left-front wheel shield left him unable to turn the car normally and required two further pit stops. Verstappen's late retirement brought out the safety car, with the race ending under yellow flags.
Leclerc took his ninth Formula One victory, his first at the British Grand Prix, ahead of George Russell (Mercedes), who took his first podium at Silverstone, and Hamilton. Antonelli crossed the line ninth but dropped to fifteenth after receiving a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. The event broke the record for the best attended Formula One event, with 564,000 people across the weekend.
Background The Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire hosted Formula One for the 61st time in the circuit's history, the circuit previously hosted the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020 and 59 editions of the British Grand Prix. It took place over the weekend of 3–5 July. The event attracted 564,000 spectators across the weekend, taking the record for the best attended Formula One Grand Prix.The event was the ninth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship and the 77th running of the British Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. It was also the fourth of six Grands Prix in the season to utilise the sprint format and the second time overall that the British Grand Prix featured it.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Kimi Antonelli led the Drivers' Championship with 171 points, 40 points ahead of teammate George Russell in second, and 46 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third. Mercedes, with 302 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 204 and 159 points, respectively.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.
Tyre choices
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (the three hardest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.
Practice The sole free practice session was held on 3 July 2026, at 12:30 local time (UTC+1), and was topped by Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) ahead of Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
Sprint qualifying Sprint qualifying was held on 3 July 2026, at 16:30 local time (UTC+1), and determined the starting grid order of the sprint.
Sprint qualifying report Medium tyres were mandatory in the first two parts of sprint qualifying (SQ1 and SQ2), while the top ten drivers progressed to the final part (SQ3) in which soft tyres were mandated. Hamilton's advantage over teammate Charles Leclerc in practice had already drawn attention before sprint qualifying, despite Ferrari's pre-weekend concerns over its expected straight-line performance.
In the 12-minute SQ1 segment, the Cadillac drivers Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas were the first drivers to leave the pit lane, with the leading teams waiting before beginning their timed laps. Hamilton set an early benchmark, but Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) then moved to the top, ahead of Hamilton, Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull). Hamilton returned to the top late in the segment, ending SQ1 ahead of Leclerc, with Hadjar third, Piastri fourth, George Russell (Mercedes) fifth and Verstappen sixth. The closing laps produced a close battle around the elimination places: Oliver Bearman (Haas) temporarily moved himself into a position to progress, dropping the Williams pair into the bottom six, before both Sainz and Albon improved. Sainz secured the final place in SQ2, 0.010 seconds ahead of Bearman, while Albon also advanced. Esteban Ocon (Haas), Pérez, Bottas, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) were also eliminated.
SQ2 was again contested on medium tyres and began with Hülkenberg setting the first representative lap, before the Red Bull drivers of Verstappen and Hadjar briefly headed the order. Leclerc, Antonelli and Hamilton subsequently improved, with Hamilton leading the segment ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc. Antonelli reported a loss of energy deployment on his first run, while Russell remained under pressure after struggling to match Antonelli's pace. With less than 90 seconds remaining, late improvements by Lawson and Lindblad placed Russell close to the elimination zone; Russell then improved to seventh on his final attempt. Norris had sustained damage in SQ1 after striking a kerb, leaving him disadvantaged during the second segment; nevertheless, he progressed in tenth place, while Gasly was eliminated in eleventh. Lawson's final lap moved him into fourth, ahead of Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, Hadjar and Lindblad, with Norris completing the top ten. Gasly was followed by the Audi drivers Bortoleto and Hülkenberg, then Colapinto, Sainz and Albon, all of whom were eliminated.
The final 10-minute SQ3 segment was run on soft tyres and effectively became a one-lap shootout, as the remaining ten drivers waited in their garages until the closing minutes before entering the circuit together. McLaren used the interval to repair Norris's damaged car, while the leading teams prepared for a single decisive lap. Piastri was the first driver to set a representative lap, before Norris improved. Antonelli then moved to provisional sprint pole. Hamilton, who had been fastest in practice, SQ1 and SQ2, responded with a lap of 1:28.376 to secure pole position by 0.011 seconds. Verstappen qualified third ahead of Leclerc, while Russell took fifth after struggling for pace throughout the session. Norris and Piastri were sixth and seventh, followed by Hadjar, Lawson and Lindblad.
The pole was Hamilton's third in the sprint format and his first in either qualifying format since the previous season's Chinese sprint. He described Ferrari's pace as an unexpected result following the team's pre-weekend expectations and credited the team's continued work on the SF-26. Following the session, Albon and Lindblad were each issued a warning by the stewards for separate breaches of the race director's instructions during sprint qualifying.
Sprint qualifying classification DriverConstructorSprintgridSQ1SQ2SQ3144 Lewis HamiltonFerrari 1:29.273 1:28.747 1:28.3761212 Kimi AntonelliMercedes1:29.7461:28.8461:28.387233 Max Verstappen1:29.6891:29.2421:28.6973416 Charles LeclercFerrari1:29.3801:28.9221:28.7034563 George RussellMercedes1:29.6751:29.2461:28.733561 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:30.1421:29.4011:28.7406781 Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1:29.5831:29.1201:28.772786 Isack HadjarRed Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford1:29.4701:29.2801:28.8358930 Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford1:29.8501:29.0671:28.92791041 Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford1:30.4531:29.3301:29.367101110 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Mercedes1:30.4441:29.482N/A11125 Gabriel BortoletoAudi1:30.4071:29.679N/A121327 Nico HülkenbergAudi1:30.1071:29.707N/A131443Alpine-Mercedes1:30.8941:29.983N/A141555 Carlos Sainz Jr.Atlassian Williams-Mercedes1:31.0731:30.197N/A151623 Alexander AlbonAtlassian Williams-Mercedes1:30.7791:30.650N/A1787 Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1:31.083N/AN/A161831 Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1:31.714N/AN/A171911 Sergio PérezCadillac-Ferrari1:31.776N/AN/A182077 Valtteri BottasCadillac-Ferrari1:32.020N/AN/A192114 Fernando Alonso1:32.910N/AN/A202218 Lance Stroll1:32.988N/AN/A21107% time: 1:35.522Sources: Notes – Alexander Albon qualified 16th, but was required to start the sprint from the pit lane as his car was modified during parc fermé conditions.
Sprint The sprint was held on 4 July 2026, at 12:00 local time (UTC+1), and was run for 17 laps.
Sprint report The 17-lap sprint followed a sprint qualifying session in which Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) had taken pole position from Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), with Max Verstappen (Red Bull) third on the grid. Alexander Albon (Williams) was required to start from the pit lane after the suspension set up of his car was changed under parc fermé conditions. The remaining drivers lined-up on a dry Silverstone circuit, with most selecting the medium compound tyres for the sprint; Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) and the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll started on soft tyres.
At the start, Hamilton defended the inside line into Abbey as Antonelli attempted to challenge for the lead. Behind them, the McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri made strong getaways, while Verstappen dropped from third to sixth. Norris briefly passed Antonelli for second place, before Antonelli reclaimed the position on the Hangar Straight; George Russell (Mercedes) also briefly moved ahead of Norris. Verstappen subsequently overtook Russell to move back into fourth, while Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) passed Piastri for sixth. Yellow flags were shown during the opening lap after Alonso was spun around following contact with Sergio Pérez (Cadillac). Pérez pitted for a replacement front wing and was later given a ten-second time penalty for causing the collision.
Hamilton initially built a small advantage over Antonelli as the two broke clear of the group contesting third place. By the middle phase of the sprint, however, Antonelli had begun to close rapidly and the contest developed into an energy-management battle. Antonelli made several attempts to draw alongside Hamilton before the decisive sequence on lap eight: Hamilton used his battery deployment to repel an initial attack, but Antonelli remained within overtake range and used his remaining energy to pass on the Hangar Straight into Stowe. Antonelli gradually extended his advantage after taking the lead, while Hamilton was unable to mount a sustained response.
Behind the leaders, Russell overtook Verstappen for fourth at Stowe on lap ten. Verstappen's attempt to immediately regain the position allowed Leclerc to close in, and the Ferrari driver subsequently passed the Red Bull for fifth. Norris, having started sixth, remained ahead of the group and resisted Russell's late pressure to retain third place. Piastri finished seventh after losing ground in the early exchanges, while Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) held off Red Bull's Isack Hadjar for the final point in eighth. The battle between Lawson and Hadjar continued until the final lap, with Lawson investigated after the sprint for moving under braking during his defensive manoeuvres.
Antonelli took the chequered flag ahead of Hamilton to secure the first sprint victory of his Formula One career, with Norris completing the podium. Antonelli set the fastest lap on the final tour. The result made Antonelli the youngest sprint winner in Formula One and extended his championship lead over Russell to 43 points. The sprint was widely viewed as evidence of Mercedes' stronger race pace and energy deployment at Silverstone, despite Hamilton's pole position for Ferrari.
Sprint classification