Monza Magic: Antonelli Takes Victory On Home Soil!

After a race filled with overtakes, it was Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli who claimed victory at the Italian Grand Prix ahead of teammate George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc suffered an early exit. 

Feature image credit: Pirelli

The Opening Laps

Despite starting at the very back of the grid, Antonelli stormed his way through the field to claim the race win around the temple of speed on home soil.

During the opening laps of the Italian Grand Prix, Antonelli was making his way up the order. On lap 3, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc suffered a heavy crash heading into Parabolica corner, bringing out the red flag.

Once Leclerc’s Ferrari was removed from the scene and the marshals repaired the barrier, the racing action resumed. As the drivers lined up again on the starting grid, Antonelli placed his Mercedes onto the twelfth grid slot and, after a few laps, was already up into the points-paying positions in sixth place.

By lap 18, the young Italian was leading the race ahead of teammate George Russell.

After a few laps of the Mercedes duo switching and changing positions for the race lead, things started to calm down out front with Russell out in first.

Until lap 29, when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was forced to pull over and stop on track with a hydraulic issue, causing a virtual safety car. With his teammate Fernando Alonso having retired his number 14 car earlier on, it was an unfortunate double DNF for the Silverstone-based team.

With the VSC out, Antonelli took advantage of a cheaper pit stop and switched to a set of fresh medium tyres, falling back to sixth place. However, with fresher tyres than Russell out front, who was on used hard tyres, the battle was on for the victory.

Simply incredible. 🤯#F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/3Awtzdux0m

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 6, 2026

Antonelli’s Charge 

Antonelli cleared Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris relatively quickly, flew past the sole Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton on lap 35 as the Brit had to take to the escape road down at turn 1, and, by lap 37, Antonelli went wheel-to-wheel with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri down the main straight and by turn 1 was ahead of the Aussie.

By lap 48, Antonelli was on the back of Russell, and despite a trip into the gravel down at turn 2 as the track surface started to break up, by lap 50, the number 12 car was back in the lead.

With only 3 laps left, Antonelli pulled away from Russell and took the chequered flag first on lap 53 to claim his seventh victory. Despite trying his hardest, second was the best Russell could achieve, and the final podium position was taken by Max Verstappen.

McLaren’s Late Battle

The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished in fourth and fifth, separated by 0.1 seconds, with Hamilton behind in sixth. Throughout the race, Piastri and Hamilton were constantly switching positions ahead of Norris, who seemed to lack pace in comparison.

Yet, by the chequered flag, it was Norris who crossed the line first after passing Hamilton, who was struggling on his used mediums, and got the jump on Piastri with a last-lap Lando special.

Greatness from Gasly

It was a weekend filled with mixed emotions for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman began the weekend with the unfortunate news that he had lost his Monaco podium as his time penalties were reinstated. However, by the end of Saturday’s qualifying session, Gasly achieved his first-ever pole position.

While the Alpine had mega one-lap pace, during Sunday’s Grand Prix, Gasly struggled to keep up with the top teams, despite putting up a fight against Norris. By the end of 53 laps, the best he could achieve was seventh.

Charles Leclerc brings out Italian Grand Prix red flag with heavy crash

Lindblad’s point-scoring momentum

After sixth consecutive Q3 appearances, rookie driver Arvid Lindblad, in his Racing Bulls, came home in eighth place to make it his sixth consecutive points-scoring races.

Colapinto’s Recovery Drive and Points for Tsunoda

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto lined up on the starting grid in seventh, making it his highest grid position so far, and by the race restart, made his way up into fourth.

However, after taking a trip into the gravel, when returning to the track, he dropped out of the points and down into fifteenth place.

Despite suffering an unfortunate trip to the gravel, the Argentinian made his way back into the top 10 by the chequered flag to finish in ninth, making it double points for the Alpine team ahead of the second Racing Bulls driver, Yuki Tsunoda, who returned to race once more. Tsunoda scored the final point as he rounded out the top 10, making it double points on home soil for the Faenza-based team.

Up Next

After a race dominated by Mercedes and Antonelli, the focus now shifts to round 14, where we head to Spain to race around Madrid for the first time.

With all drivers taking to a track they have never raced on before, we look forward to finding out who will stand on the top step of the podium when the five red lights go out on Sunday, September 13th, for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli wins home Italian Grand Prix from back of grid

The Full Race Classification

1 – Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

2 – George Russell, Mercedes

3 – Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

4 – Lando Norris, McLaren

5 – Oscar Piastri, McLaren

6 – Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

7 – Pierre Gasly, Alpine

8 – Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls

9 – Franco Colapinto, Alpine

10 – Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls

11 – Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi

12 – Nico Hulkenberg, Audi

13 – Carlos Sainz, Williams

14 – Liam Lawson, Red Bull Racing

15 – Oliver Bearman, Haas

16 – Esteban Ocon, Haas, +1 lap

17 – Alexander Albon, Williams, +1 lap

18 – Sergio Perez, Cadillac, +1 lap

19 – Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, +1 lap

NC – Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, DNF

NC – Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, DNF

NC – Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, DNF

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