MONZA, Italy — Kimi Antonelli scored a sensational home victory at the Italian Grand Prix, beating George Russell in the other Mercedes despite starting down in 19th.
At the start, surprise pole sitter Pierre Gasly initially held the lead from Russell, who did then get into first before the race was stopped when Charles Leclerc crashed hard at the Parabolica corner. This was shortly after he and his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton had clashed at the start.
Once the race restarted, Gasly tumbled down the order while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rose to fight Russell for first, with the pair swiftly joined by Antonelli. The Italian had surfed the early chaos well to rise rapidly from starting near the rear of the field after an engine-change grid penalty.
After Russell and Verstappen exchanged the lead in the early phases of yo-yo racing — where one driver gets more electrical engine power while chasing another, before losing it once ahead — Antonelli then decisively passed Verstappen on Lap 16 of 53.
He and Russell then spent the next phase regularly swapping the lead, before Antonelli obeyed a Mercedes order to stop fighting to try and drop Verstappen. This appeared to be working before a virtual safety car (VSC) activation for Lance Stroll stopping his Aston Martin at the track’s first chicane changed the face of the race.
Antonelli and Verstappen pitted during the neutralization, after they had been put on medium tires during the red flag, with Russell left out on the hards he had been given for the restart.
That left Antonelli with a 15-second gap to close on fresh mediums, which he duly did. The home hero caught Russell and his ancient hards by Lap 47 and, around a trip through the gravel at Turn 2 on Lap 48, he blasted ahead to send his fellow Italians wild in the grandstands.
Verstappen took third ahead of the battling McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Hamilton sixth and Gasly seventh.
Our experts, Madeline Coleman and Luke Smith, analyze the key talking points.
Why Antonelli’s charge will go down in history
Antonelli’s 2026 season has been filled with performances that define his place as a generational talent.
But this victory, scything his way from 19th on the grid to take the checkered flag first, will surely go down as the most significant of them all, tightening his grip on the world championship with a stunning defeat of Russell, his Mercedes teammate and primary title rival, in the process.
Kimi Antonelli ended a 60-year wait for an Italian winner at Monza. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Antonelli had doubted his chances of such a fightback on Thursday, telling reporters that getting back into the top five was a realistic target. But after starting 19th, he was already fifth after just 10 laps before easing past Hamilton and Piastri, and then picking off Verstappen and, by Lap 17, Russell to take the lead for the first time.
It was then left to the two Mercedes drivers to swap the lead back and forth for several laps, only for that to cause concern on the team’s pit wall due to Verstappen’s continued presence. Both drivers were told to stop yo-yoing positions and to instead work together to pull clear of the Red Bull, with the aim of clinching the team’s 1-2 result before settling their own fight at the end.
The divergence of strategies thanks to the VSC was a blow to Russell. He suddenly had a 15-second buffer to his young teammate, but Antonelli had fresher and quicker tires with which he could push all the way to the end. If he could make up the time, Russell would be powerless to keep the Italian back.
Kimi Antonelli is congratulated by his teammate George Russell. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Antonelli’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington, kept providing updates on the radio about the gap to Russell ahead and what lap times were required to catch him. Antonelli kept up his side of the bargain, chipping away consistently at the gap, lap after lap.
Russell fought as hard as he could, setting personal best lap times even on tires that had done close to 50 laps, but it was no match to Antonelli’s pace. But he blew his first chance to take the lead by running wide at the first chicane and going into the gravel with five laps to go, but he regained his composure to then breeze past Russell a couple of laps later before pulling clear and onto victory.
In F1 history, only one driver has won from lower on the grid than 19th, when John Watson took victory from 22nd at Long Beach in 1983. While Watson may keep his place in history and as a good trivia answer, Antonelli’s charge will surely go down as a much more meaningful win.
It’s an emotional home success for Antonelli, who becomes the first Italian to win the Italian GP since 1966. It’s also a win that serves a huge boost to his title hopes and, simultaneously, dents Russell’s further. If starting 19th isn’t enough to stop Antonelli this year, then what will be? — Luke Smith
How Verstappen punched above Red Bull’s weight
In a year where Verstappen’s car has made thoughts of a fifth world championship for the Dutchman seem distant, Monza was yet another reminder of his ability to produce sterling performances that can disrupt and spook the leaders.
Verstappen was frustrated by the balance of his car through qualifying and kept lamenting a lack of power, despite the FIA deeming Red Bull to have the best engine. But once the race came alive, he was able to hassle the leaders, not only getting in the fight against Russell and Antonelli initially, but keeping on enough pressure to worry the Mercedes strategists.
The Mercedes was the outright quicker car at Monza, giving Verstappen little chance of beating Antonelli in a straight fight on the same strategy, having also pitted under the VSC. Instead his focus became surging back past Piastri and Hamilton, neither of whom came in under the VSC, to complete the podium behind the two Mercedes cars.
Kimi Antonelli, George Russell, Max Verstappen and Simone Resta, Mercedes’ deputy technical director, celebrate on the podium. (Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Piastri put up a spirited fight against Verstappen, who had a brief mistake with a lock-up at Turn 1 to briefly give the McLaren driver the podium spot back. But Verstappen had enough to pull clear in the last few laps and grab third, with the McLaren drivers slowed fighting amongst themselves.
It’s a world away from Verstappen’s Monza result last year, where he demolished the field to ignite the start of his 2025 title fightback that came just two points shy of another crown. Yet, it will go down as another example of him taking this year’s Red Bull, far from the finest to come out of the team’s Milton Keynes factory in recent times, to places few other drivers, if any, could.
Imperfect days for McLaren and Ferrari certainly helped, but that shouldn’t take away from how Verstappen drove, and especially some of his brave overtakes.
The sweep around Leclerc into Ascari on the second lap was impressive, as was his forceful move on Piastri at the second chicane on Lap 1, and he was solid in his defence against the Mercedes drivers, leaving them barely enough room.
It wasn’t a win, but it’ll be a day Verstappen can be proud of. — Luke Smith
What were Ferrari’s problems on home race weekend?
Ferrari’s largely positive season has hit quite the speed bump. Coming into this weekend, the team brought an engine upgrade and both drivers expressed optimism before the on-track sessions began.
Ferrari looked like it could be a victory threat to Mercedes, topping first practice and being in the top-five mix for second practice. But come Saturday, specifically qualifying, the picture began to change. It qualified fourth and fifth, with Leclerc leading the Ferrari duo. But both were quite critical of the team’s strategy around the tow tactics needed to get the quickest lap times on Monza’s long straights this year, with some remarks putting a spotlight on Ferrari’s teamwork.
With the slipstream proving to be as powerful as expected during qualifying, and all the drivers and teams trying to position themselves in spots where they could gain a tow, Ferrari struggled to get its timing right. Hamilton told reporters post-qualifying that, “At the end … the team was solely focused on trying to get an equal tow for Charles’s lap.”
Come Sunday, the teammates battled fiercely at the start, coming near to contact at Turn 1 before being so close on the exit of Turn 2 that Hamilton said over his radio Leclerc “pushed me off,” after he had driven through the gravel trap on the corner’s outside. The Briton went on to say moments later, “We’re definitely going to have it on after the race.”
Charles Leclerc hit the barriers on the second lap. (Peter Fox / Getty Images)
But Leclerc then crashed out of the race on the second lap, shooting over the gravel and into the barriers hard on the track’s outside — the same spot where he crashed on this day in 2020. Hamilton then had quieter race than Ferrari had been hoping for given its engine upgrade, while the Mercedes duo engaged in yo-yo racing for the lead.
It wasn’t the home race that Ferrari anticipated. The team will need to reset given there’s a good chunk of the season remaining. It’s shown competitive pace but needs the consistency it previously had to put the fight to Mercedes in both championships.
But there’s 122 points between the two teams in the constructors’ championship and 76 points in the drivers’ championship between Antonelli and Hamilton, which is a steep gap to close, even with 10 race weekends remaining. — Madeline Coleman
What now for Alpine after a mixed weekend?
One day before the anniversary of his first (and, so far, only) F1 victory, Gasly secured a stunning maiden pole position at Monza. Russell even admitted he didn’t take Alpine as a serious threat in qualifying.
What could Gasly achieve come Sunday with a car out of place compared to its results earlier in the season was unknown.
Pierre Gasly secured his maiden pole after pipping George Russell in qualifying. (Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)
Gasly led the pack down to Turn 1, but his lead only lasted a lap. He fell to third, passed by Russell early on in Lap 2, and then Leclerc, but the Alpine driver managed to fight back to retake back second, a position he held as the red flag waved on Lap 4 due to the Ferrari driver’s crash.
But it wasn’t a comfortable spot to be in as Verstappen was just behind in third. At the restart, Gasly and Russell both pointed their cars’ noses towards the track’s middle, but the Mercedes maintained the lead and they did not engage again.
As the race continued to unfold, Gasly steadily dropped back. Verstappen overtook him by Lap 8, and within the span of a lap he had dropped from third to sixth.
Gasly’s pole and seventh-place finish comes on a weekend that started sour for Alpine. The FIA International Court of Appeal gave Gasly back his two time penalties from the Monaco GP, knocking him back from third and down to seventh in the final classification of the June race.
But his points finish here (plus Franco Colapinto’s two points in ninth place) closes the gap in the fight for fifth with Racing Bulls in the constructors’ standings. That gap sat at 16 points before the race began and is now at 13 heading to Madrid next weekend. — Madeline Coleman
Provisional Race ResultsTop 10
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 25 points
George Russell (Mercedes), 18 points
Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 15 points
Lando Norris (McLaren), 12 points
Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 10 points
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 8 points
Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 6 points
Arvid Linblad (Racing Bulls), 4 points
Franco Colapinto (Alpine), 2 points
Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), 1 point
Drivers’ standings
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 267 points
George Russell (Mercedes), 201 points
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 191 points
Lando Norris (McLaren), 171 points
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 155 points
Max Verstappen (Red Bull), 127 points
Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 116 points
Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), 71 points
Liam Lawson (Red Bull), 51 points
Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 41 points
Teams’ standings
Mercedes, 468 points
Ferrari, 346 points
McLaren, 287 points
Red Bull, 204 points
Racing Bulls, 75 points
Alpine, 62 points
Haas, 21 points
Audi, 16 points
Williams, 11 points
Aston Martin, 3 points
Cadillac, 0 points