Whether you are an adopted fan of Formula 1 2026’s divisive yo-yo racing or not, you can’t argue the Italian Grand Prix was short of things to pay attention to. Champion-elect – there, we said it – Kimi Antonelli served up a comeback race for the ages with the approval of the Ferrari tifosi, while the Scuderia itself tripped at the first hurdle at its home race.
Winner: Kimi Antonelli
Sunday looked set to be a day of conflicting emotions for the tifosi. Coming out in droves, and setting a new attendance record in the process, fans flocked to the Temple of Speed to worship Ferrari only to be left disappointed by what their national team served up.
But any tears after Charles Leclerc‘s violent accident on lap 2 soon made way for sheer joy and pride when Antonelli delivered a comeback race for the ages, taking a first Italian win at the country’s home race since 1966.
After the finish the broadcasts showed a shot of scarlet-clad Ferrari fans holding up an Italian flag adorning Kimi’s name, suggesting many of the sold-out crowd were able to swiftly pivot from revering their national institution to celebrating their new national hero.
Antonelli’s masterclass yielded him the ultimate reward. Being greeted by a sea of fans on Monza’s home stretch as he took the top step of the most glorious podium in F1. Unlike the Michael Schumacher years, though, that famous 1-2 two punch of the German and Italian national anthems was played it reverse order.
With the Monza box ticked off, surely the world championship one is next?
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Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Antonelli’s comeback was as spectacular for him as it was humbling for Russell, who all but waved the white flag at the end of the race when the championship odds were mentioned.
There wasn’t a whole lot Russell did wrong, and if it hadn’t been for Max Verstappen‘s qualifying antics who would have been on pole on Saturday. It just feels like he has met his match in his younger team-mate, and simply matching Antonelli will no longer be enough.
“Kimi is deserving to be in control of it,” Russell said. “I’m not even thinking about a fight or a comeback or anything. It’s going to be exceptionally challenging to overcome that gap, so I’m just sort of accepting that is what it is.”
A lot can happen in 10 races, but if Antonelli wasn’t in cruise control already, then he landed a mental hammer blow in Monza.
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Winner: Max Verstappen
Leave it to Verstappen to salvage a podium from a race he had little right to, fighting with one hand behind his back against the superior energy deployment of the Mercedes cars. Quite how Verstappen was able to scrap with Russell as long as he had, we have no idea.
But taking third, ahead of the two McLarens and despite clear issues with the RB22’s rear axle, was the best possible result he could have hoped for. For a man who detests the type of battery-led yo-yo racing, surely a part of him must have enjoyed the jousting too.
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Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Loser: Ferrari
Ferrari came to its home race armed with its latest round of aerodynamic upgrades to make its car more efficient around the high-speed Monza blast, as well as its second permitted power unit upgrade that is thought to have slashed its horsepower deficit by 30-40%.
Despite an encouraging start on Friday, it wasn’t quite enough when all dials were turned up to 11, though Ferrari’s two-tenth deficit in qualifying on a power-hungry circuit suggested its progress was at least genuine.
But for a team that wanted to make steps with its race weekend execution, the race was another bruising experience with Leclerc at the centre of it. After being challenged by team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the inside of Turn 1 at the start, which became the outside for Turn 2, Leclerc drifted towards the exit as he forced Hamilton off.
Leclerc said he tried to “make Turn 2 as tight as I possibly could”, but not quite tight enough to leave Hamilton any space as the Briton dropped to ninth. A simple race incident or a matter of Leclerc racing his team-mate harder than anyone else? It’s only a question he can answer. But his race soon ended with a thud as he lost control of his car at the exit of Parabolica and smacked hard into the barriers on lap 2.
Ferrari was likely never going to defeat the Mercedes-engined cars on home turf, as evidenced by Hamilton being powerless to keep up with the frontrunners, but the tifosi surely expected better than sixth and a DNF.
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Following his sensational maiden pole on Saturday, Pierre Gasly couldn’t quite keep up with the frontrunners on Sunday despite his best efforts to make life hard for Russell at the start, as he should.
Going from first to seventh doesn’t sound too impressive in isolation, but Alpine did finish at the top of F1’s midfield, which was the result it would have signed up for pre-weekend.
Franco Colapinto was in tears speaking to the media about his bizarre mistake at the first Lesmo that robbed him of an opportunity to be up there with Gasly, but he likely wouldn’t have finished higher than eighth instead of ninth anyway.
In any case, Alpine will take a lot of morale from this weekend as it aims to regain control of the fight for fifth amid advances by Racing Bulls.
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Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Loser: Aston Martin – Honda
Aston Martin may have improved its car significantly in Hungary, but Honda’s in-season improvements have been moderate at best and left the team completely exposed in Monza, disappearing behind Cadillac again.
Neither Fernando Alonso nor Lance Stroll made it to the finish, due to “suspected car damage” for the Spaniard and a hydraulic issue on the Canadian’s machine.
2027 can’t come soon enough for the Silverstone team.
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