British GP: Lewis Hamilton plots Ferrari teamwork with Charles Leclerc to 'topple' Kimi Antonelli at Silverstone

Lewis Hamilton hopes he can work together with Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to “topple” Kimi Antonelli at the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton will start third behind pole-sitter Antonelli and Leclerc with George Russell in fourth for Sunday’s 52-lap race, which is expected to be a fight between Mercedes and Ferrari.

Antonelli overtook and beat Hamilton in Saturday’s sprint and the latter is wary of the championship leader’s impressive raw speed.

“It’s definitely great to have both of us [me and Leclerc] here. Whether or not we can fully keep up with Kimi, we will see,” said Hamilton.

“But hopefully we can play with the strategy and work as a team to try to topple them. We will do our best for sure.”

The lack of braking zones around Silverstone means it is an energy starved track, which leads to ‘yoyo’ racing where drivers deploy their electrical energy to attack and defend at different points of the circuit.

If drivers are within one second of the car in front they can use overtake mode – an extra amount of electrical energy for the next lap.

The Ferrari drivers are hoping they can stay with Antonelli to make use of that but will need to avoid battling each other too much.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “I think we’re going to see some yoyoing at the beginning between the cars, which made the Sprint so exciting.

“And you cannot discount them, in my opinion. You saw the speed that Lewis had. We need to hope for reliability in the race. We only clock those results when we cross the line. So all of that is going to play a role.”

Antonelli: It’s not going to be easy

Pirelli have brought the hardest tyre compounds to Silverstone, so a one-stop strategy is expected which decreases the opportunities for Ferrari to challenge Antonelli.

The advantage Ferrari had off the line has disappeared in recent races, but it might be their best chance to get ahead of Antonelli and cause him issues.

“We’ll do our best to hold on to them, but ultimately, if he gets a clean run, he’ll be gone,” warned Hamilton.

Antonelli therefore is favourite to win his sixth grand prix of the season and extend his 43-point lead over Russell and 47-point advantage over Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship.

“It’s not going to be easy. I’ve got two Ferrari behind me and for sure they’re going to work together,” said the Italian.

“But their pace is good, but ours was strong in the sprint race. So hopefully we can keep that and hopefully we can do a good race.”

Sky Sports F1’s British GP schedule

Sunday July 5
8.20am: F3 Feature Race*
9.55am: F1 Academy Race 2*
11.10am: F2 Feature Race*
12.55pm: Grand Prix Sunday: British GP build-up*
3pm: THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX*
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
6pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Silverstone for a Sprint weekend at the British Grand Prix – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky One – with Sunday’s race at 3pm. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

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