{"id":885730,"date":"2026-09-06T16:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885730\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T16:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:46:15","slug":"after-kimi-antonellis-italian-gp-win-is-the-f1-world-title-fight-over-our-writers-have-their-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/885730\/","title":{"rendered":"After Kimi Antonelli\u2019s Italian GP win, is the F1 world title fight over? Our writers have their say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kimi Antonelli<\/a>\u2019s Italian Grand Prix win from 19th on the grid was a statement performance and extends his lead in the Formula 1 world championship to 66 points.<\/p>\n

With a maximum of 10 rounds left \u2013 subject to the Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs and the situation in the Middle East \u2013 the Italian driver is in a supremely strong position to seal the 2026 world title.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

So, is the 2026 F1 world title fight over? Our writers have their say.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d need to be a generational choke for\u00a0Antonelli to lose it from here<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to say it is done and dusted before the European stretch of the season is over but this felt monumental. To go from 19th on the grid to victory, against the likes of George Russell<\/a> and Max Verstappen<\/a> at the front of the pack, is going to go down in history as the first moment\u00a0Antonelli demonstrated his F1 world champion credentials.<\/p>\n

A gap of 66 points with 10-ish rounds to go isn\u2019t impossible to overturn \u2013 just two DNFs and the pressure is right on top of the 20-year-old \u2013 but he just doesn\u2019t seem phased by any of it and, if anything, is driving better now than at any point in his burgeoning career in F1.<\/p>\n

Antonelli has shown already he can bank solid results when needed, and also charge for the win when it is there for the taking; he effectively did both one after the other at\u00a0Monza this weekend.<\/p>\n

Yes, finishing second to Russell in every race still isn\u2019t enough to mathematically seal the title, but with his team-mate expected to serve a back of the grid penalty for an engine change in Azerbaijan, he has a great opportunity to make that scenario a reality.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Haydn Cobb<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, George Russell, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Clive Rose \/ Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not over \u2013 but Russell will need luck<\/p>\n

Antonelli definitely dealt a sizeable blow to Russell\u2019s title hopes in Monza but, as of today, there are 10 rounds to go \u2013 258 points to score.<\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s deficit is up to 66 points, and the dynamic isn\u2019t favourable to him, as frustration will understandably be growing \u2013 though he was very gracious in defeat on Sunday.<\/p>\n

In order to make up such a substantial gap, Russell will need the stars to align. Antonelli doesn\u2019t have many off days; in 13 grands prix so far this season, he has finished on the podium 11 times to Russell\u2019s seven.<\/p>\n

That remarkable consistency typically leads to a world title, with few examples to the contrary. Coincidentally, it happened just last year. Oscar Piastri<\/a> also had 11 podiums from the first 13 rounds, by which time he was 16 points ahead of team-mate Lando Norris<\/a> and 81 points clear of Max Verstappen, but he ended up outscored by both.<\/p>\n

Other than that, the most recent one was Nico Rosberg<\/a> in 2014. The German had recorded 11 podiums in the first 13 races, but team-mate Lewis Hamilton<\/a> had 10 podium finishes himself and was just 22 points down in the standings. Three times fewer than the current gap, in other words.<\/p>\n

So, such a recovery wouldn\u2019t be unprecedented, as shown by Verstappen \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t comparable given Russell and Antonelli have the same car, unlike the Red Bull racer and the McLaren<\/a> drivers last year. So, while there\u2019s hope, the Briton really is a long shot by now.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Ben Vinel<\/p>\n

Antonelli\u2019s rivals have too much to do<\/p>\n

There\u2019s really very little to suggest anything can still stop\u00a0Antonelli from clinching the title this year after his Monza victory. If anyone had doubts before, this weekend probably removed the last arguments for predicting any other outcome – barring something going completely wrong for the Italian\u00a0off track.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Simon Galloway \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

After all, Isack Hadjar<\/a> didn\u2019t exactly plan to miss a couple of races. So, as long as Antonelli stays away from boxing gloves for the next couple of months, he should be fine. If he shows up on the grid – regardless of where he starts, apparently – he looks set to become world champion at the age of 20.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only about\u00a0Antonelli, either. Russell, still his closest rival, doesn\u2019t just need to close a massive points gap – he has to do something even more difficult: maintain the belief that he can still beat Antonelli on any given weekend.<\/p>\n

Given how this season has unfolded, and the speed of the Italian\u2019s progress, it must be daunting for the Briton to see just how brilliant his young team-mate has become.<\/p>\n

Monza also confirmed Ferrari<\/a> is probably out of the picture. Charles Leclerc<\/a> never really was in it, and now he\u2019s simply too far behind to seriously think about the title. And Hamilton doesn\u2019t appear to have a car capable of challenging the Mercedes<\/a> drivers consistently. The same applies to\u00a0Norris and McLaren, whose weaknesses were exposed again this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Oleg Karpov<\/p>\n

I am going to call it here\u00a0<\/p>\n

I just don’t see a way back for Russell. I really don’t. Yes, there are a lot of points on the table, stranger things have happened in F1, and those formidable Mercedes power units have been glass cannons. I get all that.<\/p>\n

But the manner in which\u00a0Antonelli has been amassing race wins, and collecting whichever result is available when Mercedes doesn’t enjoy its usual supremacy, is a quite a marvel for a 20-year-old.<\/p>\n

Russell is turning things around, but even that doesn’t appear to be enough to be beating\u00a0Antonelli on a regular basis and that’s exactly what he would have to do. Not keeping pace, as he is roughly doing now, but battering Antonelli.<\/p>\n

\"Andrea <\/p>\n

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes<\/p>\n

Photo by: Clive Rose \/ Formula 1 via Getty Images<\/p>\n

I just don’t see it happening, because I’m afraid Russell has met his match in the young Italian.<\/p>\n

What’s more, the Italian Grand\u00a0Prix was supposed to be Antonelli’s mulligan, his joker race where taking his fifth power unit meant an exercise in damage limitation. Instead of sustaining damage, he has dealt Russell a mental hammer blow. Meanwhile, Russell still has to take his engine penalty later on, and there isn’t a circuit left where overtaking will be this easy.<\/p>\n

The conclusion to last year’s title race has shown that 10 races is an eternity, but that was when the best driver of his generation was doing the chasing. Now, the best driver of the next generation is out in front, and he looks bulletproof. I am going to call it here.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Filip Cleeren<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kimi Antonelli\u2019s Italian Grand Prix win from 19th on the grid was a statement performance and extends his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[307247,3032,67646,49,48,578,576,577,307248,65485,82],"class_list":["post-885730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-after-kimi-antonelliu2019s-italian-gp-win","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-autodromo-nazionale-monza","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-is-the-f1-world-title-fight-over-our-writers-have-their-say","tag-italian-gp","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}