Charles Leclerc said "tough times never last, only tough people last" after claiming his first race win since October 2024 at Sunday's British Grand Prix. 

Leclerc had not stood on the top stop since the United States Grand Prix two years ago, but after overtaking polesitter Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap, he never looked back. 

The Monegasque's triumph finished under the safety car after Max Verstappen crashed with four laps remaining as he looked to chase down old rival Lewis Hamilton. 

Ferrari decided to pit Leclerc and Hamilton following the incident, though the latter was overtaken by old team-mate George Russell, denying the Scuderia of a first one-two around Silverstone since Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello 24 years ago.

But the day belonged to Leclerc, whose victory saw Ferrari claim their 250th race win, pulling further clear of McLaren in second, who have amassed 203 in their history. 

Leclerc's conceded that his ninth Grand Prix win was not the way he had envisioned, but was grateful to finally end a 37-race stretch without taking the chequered flag in first. 

"Finally!" Leclerc said over the radio after the race. "This one feels particularly good, even though I wished for a bit of a more normal ending, but hard work paid off.

"Tough times never last, only tough people last!"

The result marked a significant step forward for Leclerc, who had not been on the podium since finishing third at the Japanese Grand Prix back in March. 

His recent run was not helped by the upturn in form of team-mate Hamilton, who claimed his first win for Ferrari in Barcelona last month, while the seven-time world champion has now finished in the top three in four of his last five races.

Leclerc's maiden victory at Silverstone is the eighth different race he has won, with Italy (2019 and 2024) remaining the only event where he has taken multiple victories. 

Between his previous victory and his result on Sunday, Leclerc recorded 12 podium finishes without a victory — the highest such total among the current grid (compared with two for Pierre Gasly, and one each for Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Isack Hadjar).

"It feels incredible," Leclerc added. "Maybe it did not finish the way I would have dreamed of, but to win after the last few weekends that have been particularly difficult is incredible.

"All the work that we put into trying to get the feeling back in the car. I felt like I had found something [on Saturday] between the sprint race and qualifying, but I had to confirm that, and [in the race] the feeling was back where it needs to be, so I'm so incredibly happy."

Reflecting on recent weeks, he added: "After Monaco, the feeling wasn't there. I crashed in qualifying, then in the race we had an issue, and that ended our race.

"Then, Saturday in Barcelona, the feeling was good, but then I crashed again, so that was very difficult mentally.

"And then on Sunday, we had an issue with the car, and Austria wasn't so great, but here we managed to put everything together, and I really hope I can keep that momentum going forward. And a huge thank you to the team for having worked so hard."