British Grand Prix Takeaways: Not a straightforward 250th win for Ferrari
F1 OpinionWednesday, 08 July 2026 at 08:30
Charles Leclerc delivered Ferrari's 250th Formula 1 win last Sunday in the British Grand Prix, but both the team and driver had to work hard for it as Silverstone delivered drama as usual.
Aside from Kimi Antonelli's bad start from pole, which meant he was overtaken by both Ferraris, the start of the British Grand Prix gave an indication that we are in for a borefest. There was no yo-yo racing even...
With only one-stop strategies being adopted by the whole grid and the English summer behaving, it was to be a straightforward race with Antonelli hunting down the Ferraris for the win.
But then, all hell broke loose. Antonelli's car started disintegrating, a trait usually reserved for the Cadillacs, and Max Verstappen had another bizarre crash, which brought out the Safety Car late during the race, mixing up the whole situation and delivering an outcome no one expected.
Antonelli did not win. George Russell got lucky. Lewis Hamilton did not deliver any magic, but Ferrari emerged victorious again. And with that, we start our Takeaways from the 2026 British Grand Prix.
A special 250th win
I know this may be the Tifosi in me, but even when Ferrari are not dominating, they are rewriting the Formula 1 record books and in style.
Although they are improving, and despite winning against the odds in Silverstone that was expected to be their bogey track, the still have a long way to go to consistently challenge Mercedes.
Their 250th win came at the same place they took their first win back in 1951, and they are now 47 wins ahead of McLaren as they are still on top of the list of most races won by an F1 constructor.
There were also some classic Ferrari mistakes, like when they decided to pit Hamilton under the Safety Car, which cost him a place to Russell, denying the Scuderia a one-two on the day they won their 250th.
That also marked the return of Leclerc to the podium, the top step nonetheless, after a tough run of bad results. But we have to say he got lucky.
Had it not been for Antonelli's car trouble, Leclerc would've been P2 at best, and while he got a timely boost of confidence, the season is long, and Hamilton, while struggling in Silverstone on Sunday, is still driving at a high level.
Moreover, the seven-time F1 Champion remains the only Ferrari driver in touching distance with the Mercedes drivers in the Drivers' Championship, so unless the tide turns within Ferrari, Leclerc may end up playing second fiddle to Hamilton.
Speaking of turning tides
What the hell is happening over at Mercedes? Is their season going to be decided by bad luck?
Well, like they say, you make your own luck, but the way the balance has shifted between Russell and Antonelli, who is now getting the lion's share of bad luck after two pointless races in Barcelona and Silverstone.
Make no mistake, Antonelli remains the better Mercedes driver. Russell got lucky with the Safety Car after being unlucky with the slow puncture earlier in the race.
However, it was admirable that the Briton admitted he didn't deserve P2 in Silverstone and that he still needed to work hard to understand the car and the tyres better.
Without any external factors, be they reliability or luck, Antonelli will be the Mercedes driver to win the Championship this year. There is the sense of control, calm, and confidence about him, which, at 19 years of age, is surprising even to his team and family, let alone onlookers.
While Mercedes have shown their performance advantage, still being the car to beat despite having fewer upgrades compared to their rivals, they are beating themselves with their reliability, and they need to sort that out soon.
Fix that damn wing!!
Another function of the rear wing on Verstappen's RB22 couldn't have come at a worse timing for Red Bull Racing amid speculation about the Dutchman's future with the team.
Verstappen has always maintained his loyalty to Red Bull Racing while insisting that they needed to deliver a competitive car for him. Now he will be asking for a car that doesn't try to kill him every time he turns a corner.
To have this crash in Silverstone after his qualifying crash in Austria looked very bad for Red Bull Racing, especially as the upgrade that seemed to work in Austria was rubbish in Silverstone.
What made matters worse is that Verstappen, as always, was outdriving the car, keeping Russell and Hamilton behind, and was on his way to P3 when his rear wing decided not to close properly.
For a team that delivered the best F1 internal combustion engine from the first time of asking, to fail to fix a rear wing mechanism is not acceptable.
Red Bull Racing need to act fast, fix the wing, sort out the race starts, fix the deployment, and make sure the car balance doesn't need a full race weekend to be nailed... the list goes on.
That is the only way to protect their most important asset, Max, and make sure he doesn't walk away or even get hurt.
British Grand Prix Quick Hits
A couple of points here, not related to on-track action:
- While Formula One Management was busy putting on a Lego minicar show, there were other aspects of their job they should've been focusing on.
The FIA said the Safety Car fiasco towards the end was due to an error in the graphics' software.
There was another error earlier in the race when the race start was replayed; the word "Sprint" appeared in the graphics. We know how much Stefano Domenicali and Co. are fond of Sprints, but that is a tad too far.
There was also a moment when the graphics gave a wrong number for how many laps Leclerc had been leading the race. Basic stuff... - Another issue, and this has to do with us being able to do our jobs while reporting on F1 weekends.
Many teams, the top ones surprisingly, did a rubbish job with their media material. They did not provide decent photos or updates during live sessions, putting a photo of a car on Hard tyres in a post related to Qualifying where Soft tyres are in use. That means their photos are not real-time. Focusing their photos on one driver more than the other is another example.
Aside from Red Bull Racing and their Red Bull Content Pool, all the other top teams did a lousy job.
I know I am being pedantic here, but it had to be said, especially when it happens at such an iconic race as the British Grand Prix.
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