Andrea Kimi Antonelli defeated Lewis Hamilton in a direct duel and won the sprint race before the Formula 1 British Grand Prix. Thus, the Mercedes driver returned to the winning path after a two-round break and led by 43 points his Mercedes teammate George Russell, who finished fourth today, BTA reported.
The sprint qualifying champion Hamilton made a good start and held his place against Kimi Antonelli, while behind them Max Verstappen did not start well and was overtaken by the two McLaren cars. The Ferrari driver finished the first lap in the lead, followed by Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastre and George Russell.
Hamilton quickly pulled away by 0.7 tenths of a second from Antonelli, and early in the race it was clear that the battle for victory would be between the two of them, with the others competing for third place.
Antonelli got his first real chance to attack on lap eight and managed to overtake Hamilton on the straight between turns 14 and 15. This gave the Italian an open road and by lap 13 his lead was 1.7 seconds, and the leading Ferrari driver was never able to catch him. The difference at the checkered flag was 2.745 seconds
Lando Norris won a direct battle with George Russell to take third place for McLaren, while the Mercedes driver finished fourth ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Oscar Piastre, meanwhile, placed McLaren's second car in seventh place.