Charles Leclerc takes Silverstone win after late safety car confusion and Kimi Antonelli nightmare at F1 British GP

Charles Leclerc claimed his first victory of the season after Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered late trouble in a dramatic Formula 1 British Grand Prix that ended amid safety car confusion. 

Leclerc got ahead of Antonelli with a brilliant start and led the opening exchanges, though the Italian had a 10-lap tyre offset advantage and was rapidly catching Leclerc in the closing stages before the championship leader's race unravelled. 

Antonelli picked up damage to his Mercedes running wide over the kerb at Copse and was forced to pit two times, which dropped him down the order to ninth. However, a five-second time penalty for repeatedly running off track meant Antonelli fell out of the points altogether when the race ended under behind a safety car. 

There was confusion surrounding the circumstances of the finish of the race, after a full safety car was deployed when Max Verstappen went off at Stowe and beached his Red Bull in the gravel on lap 48. 

Race control initially announced the safety car was ending at the end of the penultimate lap, only for another message to flash up on the timing screens saying that it had been deployed once more. 

As such, a record 175,000 record Silverstone crowed were robbed of a one-lap shootout to determine the victory. 

Ferrari looked on course to secure a one-two finish, but George Russell managed to sneak ahead of Lewis Hamilton when the seven-time world champion pitted for new soft tyres under the safety car with Ferrari anticipating a restart. 

Russell, whose race appeared to have been ruined by a slow puncture earlier on, ended up crossing the line ahead of Hamilton, who faces a post-race investigation for a potential yellow flag infringement. 

Reigning world champion Lando Norris finished fourth in his McLaren ahead of Isack Hadjar, who was fifth for Red Bull. 

It was a strong race for Racing Bulls as Liam Lawson led home rookie team-mate Arvid Lindblad, who finished seventh in his maiden British Grand Prix. 

Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth for Audi, with the Alpine pair of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly completing the final points scorers in ninth and 10th. 

Antonelli was classified down in 16th after his penalty was applied in what turned out to be a costly race that marked another setback to his title hopes. 

It leaves Antonelli just 25 points clear of Mercedes team-mate Russell in the drivers' championship, while Hamilton is just 32 points behind in third place.