‘I knew it was coming’ - Lewis Hamilton left powerless to stop Kimi Antonelli in Silverstone F1 sprint race

Lewis Hamilton admitted he was powerless to stop Formula 1 championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli from passing him in the British Grand Prix sprint race. 

Seven-time world champion Hamilton led the early stages from pole position but was overtaken by Antonelli on lap eight. The Mercedes driver blasted past Hamilton half way down the Hangar Straight after strategically deploying his battery charge. 

Hamilton said there was nothing he could have done to stop Antonelli taking the lead. 

"Tough race to keep the Mercedes behind,” Hamilton conceded. 

"I did say that was potentially the case yesterday and obviously with it being so windy today, a big, big headwind down the back-straight, he came flying past.

"I was pushing as hard as I could, I gave it absolutely everything. But well done to Kimi and we've got work to do to try and close that gap so we can keep up.”

The Ferrari driver continued: "They're particularly quick up to Turn 6. And so, I had to sometimes use a boost there. But, one of the biggest places is as you come around Stowe, Turn 15, you get on the power, and there's no power, and, that's where he was catching me massively.

"Once he got the overtake mode, then I couldn't hold him back, because he has extra deployment through the lap, and I couldn't break that one-second barrier then. So, as soon as that was lost, I knew that was coming.”

Hamilton said he pushed as hard as he could to keep Antonelli more than one second behind so that his rival could not activate Overtake Mode. 

“The car was good today, it’s felt good all weekend,” he explained. “Relatively decent start, nice and close battle with Kimi. Pretty good first lap where I was able to create a pretty decent buffer between us. 

“I was pushing as hard as I could to try and keep that gap above one second but once he was in my tow he was just closing. Once he had the Overtake Mode I couldn’t get rid of him, and then he was just on me and came flying past halfway down the straight to Stowe.”

During his explanation of his move, Antonelli suggested Hamilton ran wide coming out of Turn 4. 

Asked whether he made a mistake, Hamilton responded: “I don’t remember. Maybe. It was quite tricky through three and four, he was generally quicker than me, particularly through three. 

“He was just getting closer and closer to me. I don’t remember it to be honest. Coming out of Turn 13, I didn’t have anything left.”