Leclerc wins a chaotic British Grand Prix under the safety car as Antonelli's win evaporates and Verstappen spins out

[Craig95]

What a strange and brilliant afternoon at Silverstone. Charles Leclerc took his first ever British Grand Prix and his ninth career win, but the race that decided it was pure chaos, ending behind the safety car after Max Verstappen spun out of a podium place at Stowe with four laps to go. Leclerc made a lightning start off the front row, got ahead of pole sitter Kimi Antonelli into the early running, and controlled it from there

The cruellest story of the day belongs to Antonelli. The teenager took his maiden sprint win on Saturday and pole on merit, then led the race after Leclerc pitted and was reeling the Ferrari back in at an alarming rate before a bizarre left front wheel shield failure on his Mercedes ended the challenge. He limped home out of the points and a five second track limits penalty dropped him to sixteenth, cutting his championship lead over Russell to twenty five points

George Russell took second by gambling not to pit under the late safety car, and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third in the other Ferrari, though not without drama. Hamilton served a five second penalty for a false start early on and then had to visit the stewards after the race over a yellow flag infringement, escaping with a reprimand to keep the podium. Norris was fourth, Hadjar fifth in the Red Bull

The Verstappen moment is the one everyone is replaying, an odd solo spin at Stowe while running third that brought out the safety car with no time left to restart, and by the radio he was not happy about it. For a driver who rarely gifts anything, throwing away a podium with an unforced error is about as un Verstappen as it gets

So the paddock questions for the board. Is this the win that turns Ferrari's difficult season around given how hard Leclerc said the recent weekends have been, does Antonelli's raw pace outweigh the mistakes and the reliability gremlins for a title tilt, and are races finishing under the safety car after that much drama a fair result or an anticlimax the sport should fix?

Leclerc wins dramatic British GP amid Antonelli issuewww.formula1.com

[Donna]

Gutted for Antonelli, he was the fastest man on track by a distance and a wheel shield of all things took it away, the kid did nothing wrong and leaves with nothing, that is motorsport at its most brutal

[Arkham93]

The pace is unreal but the title needs the mistakes gone, pole and a sprint win and he ends up sixteenth with a track limits penalty on top of the failure, champions convert those weekends into wins not disasters

[CrimsonWolf]

Leclerc genuinely deserved this one, listen to how he talked about the difficult weekends and the work to get the feeling back in the car, first Silverstone win after all that is a proper emotional result

[BretHart_99]

Finishing a race that dramatic under the safety car is such an anticlimax, they need a better solution, a red flag and a two lap dash would have given us a proper end instead of a procession behind a delta

[Solid Gary]

Verstappen spinning out of third on his own is the shock of the day, you do not see him make that kind of unforced error, something was clearly off with that car or that call all weekend

[Isla]

Russell not pitting under the safety car was the smart old head move that stole second, experience showing while the young guns broke down and spun off around him

[SlowSocket]

Hamilton keeping the podium after a false start penalty AND a post race yellow flag investigation is the most Hamilton thing ever, always seems to survive the stewards when it matters

[Indexer Tundra]

The championship is alive again which is the real headline, Antonelli's lead over Russell down to twenty five and Ferrari suddenly looking like they found something, we have a title fight

[VoidSentinel74]

Feel like the wheel shield failures keep hitting Mercedes at the worst moments this year, reliability is quietly becoming the story that decides this championship more than pace

[Stuart78]

Belgian GP at Spa in two weeks and if Ferrari have genuinely turned the corner that is a track that will tell us, cannot wait, this season just got interesting again