"Who would've thought" Charles Leclerc would beat Hamilton and Antonelli to win his first Silverstone Grand prix.

Charles Leclerc walks into the Silverstone cooldown room placing his helmet onto the red chair and looks up to meet the face of smiling George Russel. “Who would’ve thought”, Charles says giggling. “Who would’ve thought”, George Russel agreed. The interaction echoing the thoughts of every fan who watched the chaotic race. But this is exactly what makes the formula one season so competitive. It is unpredictable and every single race on the calendar offers a fresh start and new results.  Mimicking the words of Charles Leclerc, who would’ve thought after a string of poor races that he would be the Ferrari driver standing on the top of the podium at Silverstone.

Charles Leclerc on the podium for his Silverstone victory

Most fans were backing the probability of either teenager Kimi Antonelli or Lewis Hamilton to lead the race the Silverstone weekend. Kimi Antonelli earned pole position but after a poor start to the grand prix, it was Charles Leclerc who overtook the Italian and earned the lead of the race. Antonelli did a good job to catch up and was so close to fighting for the top position however got unlucky with a broken wheel shield in the very last moments of the race, slowing him down dramatically to P10. A penalty for track limits pushed him further down to P15. Starting from pole position and tumbling all the way to P15 was heartbreaking for the young driver who is currently leading the championship board. “Yeah, but that’s a joke, mate, I didn’t do it on purpose, like, the car was broken!”, Kimi exclaimed on the radio after crossing the finish line. Max Verstappen’s crash brought out the safety car near the end of the race and further changed the dynamic of the front runners. What would have been Charles, Lewis and Max on the podium, ended with Charles, George and Lewis instead, after a late pitstop call from Ferrari allowed George to overtake Hamilton into P2. The race then finished under a safety car disallowing Hamilton the chance to fight back for his P2 position.

Despite all the negative talk pre-season about the new regulations ruining the essence of formula one, recent races have fought back and provided fans with some exciting, unpredictable racing. Kimi Antonelli may be on top, and he is clearly the strongest driver this season so far (with 5 wins to his name), the recent races have also provided us with more contention. Lewis Hamilton’s Monaco win welcomed chatter of the ‘goat’ being back in competition and just as rumours started flying around the internet and paddock of how he is making Charles Leclerc look bad, the Monegasque driver picked the home race of Hamilton to prove all that chatter wrong. Even after a poor sprint race the same weekend, it was what he described as a ‘philosophical change’ to the car that allowed him to feel comfortable enough to win his first Silverstone grand prix. George Russel had a good weekend too earning some more points to his name and so with more drivers feeling comfortable with their cars, that means that the next few races are effectively anybody’s to win.

Silverstone 2026 podium

One of the most competitive aspects of this sport is that the only two things a race win guarantees is points to the team and driver with a side of personal confidence boost to carry into the next race. It does not guarantee any advantage to the next race. And when the season offers unreliable cars, more than one driver and team in the title fight, plus more upgrades scheduled throughout the season to boost car performance as well as unpredictable weather, it means that each track may have something new for us to offer. George Russel, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli have all won races this season so far, which means there is room this season for more winners.

The next race scheduled is at the circuit de spa in Belgium where Saturday may be met with thunderstorms and the Sunday will be warm with only a 30% chance of rain (as of now). Mercedes is expected to be strong, but their biggest competitor Ferrari will also be bringing upgrades on the weekend. McLaren will have to wait till Belgium for their next upgrade package and Red Bull have been suffering a string of reliability issues. So, which team will be able to provide a reliable car, and which driver will be able to feel comfortable around the track? What will the weather bring to the race, who will extend their point lead and are we going to get another “who would’ve thought” moment at the end of the race? There is nothing better than going into the race week not knowing the answer to any of those questions.