Antonelli insists title momentum intact despite Silverstone misery cutting lead to 25 points

Kimi Antonelli left Silverstone without a single championship point on Sunday, yet the Mercedes driver insists the momentum in his Formula 1 title fight remains firmly on his side. A broken wheel shield wrecked his race pace, a time penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits compounded his afternoon, and a late safety car denied him even the solitary point he was chasing — leaving him 15th at the flag.

The damage to Antonelli’s standings has been significant. Three race weekends have trimmed his lead from a commanding position to just 25 points over nearest rival and Mercedes team-mate George Russell, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton a further seven points back at 32 adrift.

“I don’t know how much downforce I lost, but the car wouldn’t turn anymore,” Antonelli said after the race. “In some of the corners the wheel was even in the air, so there was something fundamental that was broken.”

The 18-year-old Italian was not entirely convinced the wheel shield failure told the whole story. “I know now that the wheel shield broke, but we don’t know if something else broke as well because by the loss it feels like it was more than just a wheel shield. Of course, the team will have more time to analyse it, but it was a shame because we had a shot for the win today. I think we were going for it.”

Silverstone follows a similarly painful weekend in Barcelona, where Antonelli retired from second place due to a power unit issue. In Austria, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described him as the fastest driver in terms of pure race pace. The pattern, Antonelli argues, is one of strong underlying speed repeatedly undermined by misfortune rather than a genuine shift in the competitive order.

“We lost a lot of points, but the momentum is still there because I think this weekend we showed the speed,” he said. “We showed what the potential can be when I’m in a good place, when we’re in a good place with the team, with the car — we showed what we are capable of.”

Antonelli also revealed that the setbacks, far from deflating him, have sharpened his hunger. The British GP result, he said, “makes the fire grow even more” as the championship heads into its next phase.

Mercedes chose not to contest the track-limits penalty after the race, though Antonelli made clear he considered it unfair. With Russell and Hamilton both capitalising on his misfortune at Silverstone, the title fight has tightened considerably — but the pace data from recent weekends will give the young Italian genuine reason for confidence heading into the next round.