Kimi Antonelli: “Ferrari is faster than us.” Lewis Hamilton is thrilled
Ferrari soared in the Sprint Qualifying session for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton secured pole position and will start at the front of the grid in Saturday’s Sprint race: “I love this track and this crowd. It feels like a dream. The car was fantastic today; everyone back at the factory is giving it their all, and we’re bringing new parts to every race. I’m grateful to them for this pole.”
“We were fast right from the start, but we didn’t expect to be in contention for the front row here,” continued the Anglo-Caribbean driver. “That’s what we thought. I’m speechless—I can’t even remember the last time I started from pole here. Last year we were stuck in a sort of no-man’s-land. Coming here, they scared me by telling me we’d be six-tenths behind because of our power deficit, so I expected the others to step up their engines at some point, but… it’s all true. The pace is good. It’ll be tough, but I’ll do my best to keep everyone behind me in the race.”
Hamilton finished a few thousandths of a second ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the World Championship leader: “I said right away that Ferrari was one to watch here,” explained the Mercedes driver. I’m surprised by how much their car has improved on the straight: now they’re as fast as us, if not even faster. They’ve taken a big step forward, but we’re right there.”
“We just need to do a little more on Saturday to have a good Sprint race, but above all to improve even further in Grand Prix qualifying. Hamilton’s pole isn’t just about the car but also about energy management. Clearly, they’ve found something that works, but we’re not worried.”
Kimi Antonelli’s teammate, George Russell, was only fifth: “What happened today was very strange. In Q3, we didn’t make the leap forward we expected. Third place wasn’t out of reach, but I didn’t have anywhere near the pace of Lewis and Kimi. Strange—I’ll say it again—we need to figure out why. The overall feel isn’t terrible, but the lap time didn’t reflect that. Ferrari was lagging behind in terms of power and energy management, but now they’re ahead of everyone: a real surprise. I’m very, very surprised. We knew they had a great chassis, but something doesn’t add up to me. Kimi is close to Hamilton, but Ferrari has the situation under control.”
