By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England, July 4 (Reuters) – Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli was too fast for Ferrari, and dealt another stinging blow to Mercedes teammate George Russell, as the Italian seized pole position for the British Grand Prix on Saturday after winning an earlier sprint race.
His closest title rival Russell qualified only fourth at a windy Silverstone, behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc was 0.175 of a second slower than the 19-year-old, whose fifth pole of the season extended Mercedes’s record of securing the top slot at all nine grands prix so far in the campaign.
“It was a very tidy lap, a lap where I put everything together,” said Antonelli, of his best time of one minute 28.111 seconds set after going out first for the final run.
“It was very tricky with the wind because it was very gusty and unpredictable.”
Antonelli earlier won the sprint ahead of Hamilton, to go 43 points clear of Briton Russell in the standings.
Winner of five races in a row until Hamilton ended the streak in Spain last month, Antonelli has taken the sport by storm and appears to have the measure of Russell at his home race.
“It’s not going to be easy because I have two Ferraris behind me and, for sure, they will work together,” he said of the challenge he faces on Sunday. “Their pace is good but ours was strong in the Sprint. Hopefully we can keep that for tomorrow and do a good race.”
Isack Hadjar qualified fifth for Red Bull, ahead of McLaren’s reigning world champion and last year’s winner Lando Norris.
Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen will line up seventh, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri eighth and the Racing Bulls pair of rookie Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completing the top 10 places.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ros Russell and Clare Fallon)
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