Kimi Antonelli won the Italian GP, ending a 60-year wait for an Italian winner at Monza
Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli won his home Italian Grand Prix after a sensational race from 19th to first on Sunday in a massive coup for Mercedes team-mate and nearest championship rival George Russell.
The 20-year-old was the first Italian to win at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti for Ferrari in 1966, while the win was the Italian’s 50th since the championship began in 1950.
Russell, who took the lead on the lap two moments before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed heavily to stop the race for half an hour, finished second – 3.857 seconds behind – after his team-mate chased him down on fresher tires at the end of the race with Max Verstappen a distant third for Red Bull.
The Briton had hoped to reduce Antonelli’s 59-point lead after the Italian received an engine penalty and lined up on the back row of the grid, with two other drivers pitted, but instead finished 66 points clear after 13 laps, with Antonelli edging ever closer to becoming Formula One’s youngest champion and Italy’s first since Alberto Ascari in 19.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” Antonelli shouted over the team radio as he took the checkered flag as winner for the seventh time this season and gave the crowd something to celebrate after Ferrari failed to reach the podium.
“I never imagined I’d be here today. But we did it and I’m really, really happy,” he said later after taking the stage to huge cheers.
TO THE GRAVEL
The Italian, who made his way through the field and repeatedly swapped the lead with Russell before pitting during a virtual safety car period while his team-mate stayed out, cut the 8.9-second deficit to less than a second over 10 laps, but then appeared to have wasted his effort.
Antonelli tried to overtake, going into the gravel with four laps to go, but still came back and regained the lead on lap 51 of 53 before giving up.
Russell said he lacked fresh enough tires to defend against a scorching afternoon that was declared a heat hazard.
“It looked like a pretty strong race from us and then I was just struggling with the tires towards the end. Obviously we were on one hard tire the whole race,” he said.
“I thought we were both going to stay out. I was surprised to see him pit. It ended up being a toss of the dice both ways.”
McLaren’s reigning champion Lando Norris claimed fourth ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri on the final lap, but now has a 96-point lead.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was sixth after starting fourth before dropping to 10th after Leclerc forced him into the gravel when he tried to overtake on the opening lap.
Pierre Gasly, the first pole position for Renault-owned Alpine, was seventh, Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad eighth and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto ninth. Racing Bulls substitute Yuki Tsunoda completed the points standings in 10th place.
YOU LEAD CHANGED HANDS LIKE A YO-YO
Antonelli started on hard tires and was only 12th when the red flags came out. Russell was on pole for the restart, allowing everyone to change tyres, Antonelli switched to medium and Gasly moved into second. Colapinto, surprisingly for an Argentine, was fourth.
The first attempt at a breakaway was foiled, Tsunoda was nowhere to be found, but as the race got underway, Colapinto took third place before he overheated and went through the gravel, relegating himself to 16th. Antonelli was sixth after 10 laps, third after 13 laps and second after 16.
The Italian overtook Russell for the first time on lap 18, but the lead was like a yo-yo – Antonelli was in front and Russell overtook him again on the same lap at a super-fast circuit where slipstreaming is part of the strategy.
Antonelli and Verstappen, who also led briefly, took the opportunity of a virtual safety car on lap 29 after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll pitted on track, the pair rejoining sixth and seventh while Russell remained on hard tyres.
The next race is next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid’s new Madring circuit.
– The end
Published on:
06 Sep 2026 23:49 IST