Kimi Antonelli has become the first Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix since 1966 following a stunning drive from last to first to take an almost four-second victory ahead of his Mercedes teammate. The championship leader went long before overtaking Russell on the penultimate lap and secured victory.
Antonelli’s victory at Monza is a huge statement as the European leg of the season draws to a close next weekend in Madrid, as he overtook Russell to send the tosifi mad. In a race where he used the pace advantage after the restart to come from nineteenth to victory.
The two Mercedes drivers then battled hard for the win as they pulled comfortably ahead of Max Verstappen. The boy from Imola took the win from furthest back since John Watson’s win at Long Beach in 1983, making another huge statement in his bid to become the youngest ever champion.
The Italian became a threat for victory after making his way back into the top ten in the opening laps before Charles Leclerc crashed, having lost grip through the Parabolica, bringing out the red flag. Antonelli started this time from twelfth, before getting through the midfield four laps after the restart.
From there on, he passed the remaining Ferrari and battled his way passed the McLaren’s and Verstappen, then a six-lap fight where he was engaged in passing and repassing Russell before securing his advantage on lap twenty-four. When a few laps later Lance Stroll stopped on track bringing out the VSC.
As the pit stop played out Antonelli dropped back down before rehoming in during the final ten laps on Russell, who began to struggle on his tyres. Then Russell began to struggle on his tyres then ran wide, allowing Antonelli to pass him on the way to Ascari and secure victory.
Max Verstappen finished the race third in one of Red Bull’s strongest performances at this kind of circuit, the four-time champion dropped into no man’s land ten seconds behind Russell as he pulled over four seconds clear of Lando Norrris, after the VSC was able to stay ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
Antonelli said “Unbelievable! I’m so happy. I could never have imagined to be here today, but we managed to pull it off. It’s a dream coming true. What an incredible day. I couldn’t do it without my team, family and everyone who supports me. Still a few races to go, so we’re going to keep our head down, but now we’re going to enjoy today.”
Russell said: “When I looked at the leaderboard a few laps after the restart and saw he was already in P5/6 I knew he would be in the mix. I was just struggling with the tyres at the end. I will take it. It has been more positive than before summer break but of course I would have loved to be P1 today.”
The two McLaren teammates were equally engaged in a feisty fight for fourth, but Norris hung on to finished fourth and close to within ninety-six points of Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton, the sole Ferrari left in the race endured a frustrating afternoon after being forced off by Leclerc shortly before he crashed out.
Ferrari had huge hopes going into the weekend, but their challenge never really materialised. Leclerc was slightly wide on entry and through the apex, and that carried his left rear tyre wide onto the white line on the edge of the track, and partly over the artificial grass section before the gravel trap.
There, the car lost grip, and a high-speed tank-slapper spun Leclerc into the barrier at high-speed. After climbing from the car, he sat down behind the barriers, his head bowed, shattered by his error.
Hamilton recovered well initially, with a strong restart moving him up to fourth within two laps. But the Ferrari’s lack of straight-line speed was ultimately costly, and he slipped behind Antonelli and the McLarens as the race wore on.
Pierre Gasly always looked unlikely to hang onto a solid result near the front after starting on pole, but did manage to finish best of the midfield, the Alpine finishing two and half second behind Hamilton. Arvid Lindblad was two seconds clear of Franco Colapinto after the second Alpine suffered a spin, with the second Racing Bull of Yuki Tsunoda ten seconds behind completing the top ten.
Both Audis missed out on the top ten by seven seconds, with Gabriel Bortoleto a second ahead of teammate Nico Hulkenberg, the latter investigated for his scrap with Liam Lawson who finished fourteenth almost a second behind Carlos Sainz. Ollie Bearman was ahead of Haas teammate Esteban Ocon, the latter finishing a lap down.
Albon in the other Williams was thirteen seconds ahead of the Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, completing the classified finishers.
Both Aston Martin drivers joined Leclerc on the sidelines later in the race – Fernando Alonso returning to the pits with suspected car damage and Lance Stroll pulling off the track due to a hydraulics issue.
Related
- Italian GP – Qualifying Result
- ITALIAN GP – Pierre Gasly takes surprise pole, beating George Russell by six hundredths
- ITALIAN GP – George Russell fastest in third practice a quarter of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton
- ITALIAN GP – George Russell a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc in second practice
- Welcome to the Italian Grand Prix – 03/09/2026
- PRIXVIEW – Italian Grand Prix
