Antonelli Storms From P19 to Win at Monza, Ending Italy’s 60-Year Wait for a Home Winner at the Italian Grand Prix 2026

Kimi Antonelli delivered the Italian Grand Prix 2026 race report Monza had been waiting sixty years for, recovering from 19th on the grid to win his home race and become the first Italian driver to triumph at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. Charles Leclerc crashed alone at Parabolica before the race was three laps old, tearing up the grid and forcing a second standing start that handed the whole field a reset none of them had asked for. Antonelli used it to climb from the back, catching and passing team mate George Russell for the lead twice through the middle of the race before Mercedes team orders muddied the picture further. The move that won it came at the Ascari chicane with three laps left, Antonelli on a medium tyre exactly half the age of Russell’s after pitting under the Virtual Safety Car for Lance Stroll’s retirement. Max Verstappen held a lonely third for Red Bull despite a rear axle problem he’d first flagged in Saturday’s qualifying, and Lando Norris denied Oscar Piastri fourth by two tenths of a second at the flag. It’s Antonelli’s seventh career win, the most by an Italian driver since Alberto Ascari.

Key Points

• Winner: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), up from 19th on the grid after a 30-place power unit penalty. His seventh career win, the most by an Italian driver since Alberto Ascari, and the first Italian winner at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966
• Charles Leclerc crashes alone at Parabolica before Lap 3, triggering a red flag and a second standing start. Ferrari’s home race ends in the barriers in front of the tifosi
• Antonelli and Russell trade the lead repeatedly through the middle stint as Mercedes’ team orders to hold station and build a gap over Verstappen go unheeded by both drivers
• A late Virtual Safety Car for Stroll’s retirement splits the Mercedes strategies. Antonelli pits for a fresh medium, Russell stays out on a hard already well into its life
• Antonelli passes Russell for the final time at the Ascari chicane with three laps to go, sealing a Mercedes one-two by 3.857 seconds
• Verstappen completes the podium despite a rear axle issue first flagged in Saturday qualifying. Norris holds off Piastri by two tenths for fourth. Leclerc, Stroll and Alonso all retire

Race Recap: Italian Grand Prix 2026 Race Report

Before the Lights

Pierre Gasly started from pole for Alpine, his first time leading a Formula 1 field away on the formation lap. Nine drivers lined up on the medium tyre and ten on the soft. Three, Antonelli, Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, opted for the hard from the start, a long first stint the plan for all three. A 30-place grid penalty for additional power unit elements dropped him to 19th on the grid, and the story of his race began there.

Lights Out and Leclerc’s Heartbreak

Gasly made a clean getaway and led into the first chicane. Behind him, Leclerc and Hamilton went side by side at Turn 1, the two Ferraris banging tyres as Hamilton was pushed wide into the gravel and dropped to 11th. The stewards later called it a racing incident and took no further action. Russell picked off Gasly for the lead at the start of Lap 2, and by then Leclerc was already fighting Verstappen for position further back.

Leclerc lost that battle to Verstappen and, moments later, lost the car entirely. Exiting Parabolica at high speed, the rear stepped out with no other driver involved, and Leclerc speared into the barrier. He climbed out under his own power, uninjured but visibly devastated in front of the home crowd. What began as a Safety Car call was upgraded to a red flag once the scale of the barrier damage became clear, and the race stopped before three laps were on the board.

The Second Start

Red flag rules allowed every car to change tyres, and the field used the stoppage to reshuffle its compounds before lining up for a second standing start with 21 cars, Leclerc’s wrecked Ferrari the only absence. The medium starters, Russell among them, all switched to the hard. Antonelli, Alonso and Tsunoda, the three who had started on hards, went the other way onto the medium, scrapping the long first stint they’d planned. An aborted start, caused by Tsunoda finding himself out of position on the grid, added a further formation lap before the race could resume. Gasly held pole for the restart, but by Lap 7 Russell had come through to lead. Franco Colapinto briefly split the front group too, getting ahead of Verstappen off the line before losing the place back and running wide of his own at the Lesmos chicane.

Antonelli’s Charge Through the Field

The red flag had done what a green-flag race from 19th rarely allows. It reset the gaps and gave Antonelli a clean track to work with. He was up to 12th before the original race had even been stopped, and once the second start settled down he went through the field with real pace. Sixth by Lap 7, past Norris. Inside the top four by Lap 12, having got the better of Gasly and then Hamilton. Lap 13 brought third, Piastri swept aside, and he was running right behind his team mate.

Verstappen had taken the lead from Russell into the first chicane on Lap 12, but Russell answered straight back on Lap 15, and Antonelli demoted the Red Bull to third the following lap. On Lap 18, from 19th on the grid at his home Grand Prix, Antonelli passed Russell into Turn 1 to lead the Italian Grand Prix outright.

Mercedes at War With Itself

What followed was several laps of the two Mercedes drivers racing each other with no visible restraint, trading the lead through the first and second chicanes with Verstappen still close enough behind to have a look of his own. Lap 22 produced the sharpest exchange of the afternoon: Russell took the lead into Turn 1, ran wide, and Antonelli switched across to retake it into the second chicane at the very edge of the track.

Lap 23 saw Russell retake the lead into Turn 1 for good, at least for now, Antonelli declining to fight back down Curva Grande this time. Mercedes used the lull to step in on Lap 24, telling both drivers to stop fighting, build a gap over Verstappen, and settle the order between themselves later. The message arrived after Russell had already got what he wanted, and neither driver appeared to treat it as the final word.

The VSC That Changed Everything

Lance Stroll’s retirement on Lap 29 brought out a Virtual Safety Car, and Mercedes reacted immediately. Antonelli was called in for a fresh medium tyre while the neutralisation cut the cost of the stop. Russell stayed out, protecting track position on the hard he’d fitted during the earlier red flag stoppage, already well into its life by this point in the race. Verstappen also pitted under the VSC, but it was the Mercedes strategy split that mattered most. Russell led on ageing rubber. Antonelli had track position to make up and half the tyre age to do it with.

Antonelli Strikes at Ascari

Thirteen seconds with over twenty laps left. Under eight by Lap 39. Under four by Lap 45. Antonelli briefly ran wide into the gravel on Lap 49, a moment that looked like it might cost him the run he’d built, but he kept the car out of trouble and stayed within a second of Russell’s gearbox. On Lap 50, with Overtake Mode in hand and a medium tyre nowhere near as old as anything on Russell’s car, Antonelli made the move stick into the Ascari chicane and took the lead for good.

Russell had nothing left to answer with. He set a personal best with a lap to go and still lost ground. Antonelli crossed the line 3.857 seconds clear to complete a Mercedes one-two. Verstappen saw off a late scrap with Piastri to take third, still carrying the rear axle problem he’d flagged over the radio as early as Lap 17. Norris held off Piastri by 0.197 seconds at the flag for fourth. Hamilton’s recovery from that Lap 1 clash with his own team mate to sixth by the finish was one of the better drives of the afternoon, even if it did nothing to soften Ferrari’s day.

From the Podium

Provisional Classification

Provisional classification based on end-of-race timing data. Subject to change pending any post-race stewards decisions, including the Turn 4 incident involving Lawson and Hulkenberg and Tsunoda’s investigated starting procedure infringement. Final classification and any confirmed penalties to follow.

Championship Standings

Antonelli’s win stretches his championship lead to 66 points over Russell and 76 over Hamilton. Norris’s fourth-place finish widens his gap over Leclerc to 16 points, with the Monegasque scoreless after retiring at Monza. Verstappen’s third moves him up to 127 points, sixth in the standings.

Tyres and Strategy

Pirelli brought the C3 Hard, C4 Medium and C5 Soft to Monza, and the red flag turned what should have been a straightforward compound race into something far messier. Air temperatures reached around 34°C with the track exceeding 50°C, but degradation across all three compounds stayed remarkably low throughout, low enough that the race’s outcome was decided by when drivers pitted rather than what their tyres had left to give.

Antonelli started on the Hard and used the red flag stoppage to switch to the Medium, the compound he stayed on until pitting again under the Lance Stroll Virtual Safety Car for a fresh set of the same tyre. Russell did the exact opposite at the red flag, swapping his starting Medium for a Hard, and never stopped again, completing the rest of the race on that same set. Verstappen’s tyre story ran through all three compounds: Soft from the original grid, Medium from the red-flag reshuffle, then Hard when he pitted during the same VSC that brought Antonelli in.

The numbers back up how forgiving Monza was on tyres this weekend. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez ran the longest single stints on the Soft, 24 laps apiece. Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton and Gabriel Bortoleto each covered 50 laps on one set of Mediums. Seven different drivers matched that exact 50-lap mark on the Hard. With wear that low across the field, the race was always going to turn on strategic timing rather than tyre failure, and it did.

Rest of the Grid

McLaren: A Lift, a Lost Place, and a Boost on the Last Lap

Norris started eighth after the wider grid reshuffle around Antonelli’s penalty, Piastri sixth after his own three-place penalty for impeding another driver. Both started on the medium and made their only stop of the day during the red flag, switching to the hard on Lap 3 and never pitting again.

Piastri had to lift as the following car when Leclerc crashed, and Colapinto used the gap to snatch fourth before the original Safety Car came out. After the restart, the order settled with Piastri fifth and Norris climbing two places to sixth before briefly dropping back to seventh. As the hard came up to temperature, Piastri worked his way as high as third before the sequence of pit stops around him reshuffled the order again.

Neither Norris nor Piastri needed to stop again when the Stroll VSC arrived, and both moved up as the cars ahead pitted, Norris as high as second and Piastri fourth at one stage before Mercedes and Verstappen reasserted themselves. Norris used the tow and a burst of boost on the final lap to move ahead of his team mate, the pair finishing fourth and fifth to complete a 22-point weekend for the team.

Alpine: Gasly’s Pole Hangover, Colapinto’s Recovery From the Gravel

Gasly’s Saturday high did not survive Sunday intact, but seventh from pole was still the best of the rest. He led the opening lap and briefly held it again after the restart before the pace up front closed him down, and he spent the closing stages fighting Norris before eventually finishing three seconds behind Hamilton. Both Alpines made their mandatory tyre change on Lap 3 under the red flag, swapping their starting mediums for hards, and neither driver stopped again for the rest of the race.

Colapinto’s afternoon had more drama in it. He made a strong restart and was running as high as fourth before a snap of oversteer following Verstappen closely into Turn 6, Monza’s Lesmo 1, sent him deep into the gravel. He avoided the barrier, but suspected the car picked up floor damage from the moment, and spent the rest of the race managing a car that no longer felt the same on its way to ninth.

Briatore’s point checks out. Alpine’s eight points from Monza against Racing Bulls’ five cuts the constructors’ gap between them from 16 points to 13, with both teams still fighting for the same territory in the midfield.

Racing Bulls: Points for Both, and a Tsunoda Investigation That Went Nowhere

Lindblad and Tsunoda both scored, eighth and tenth respectively. Tsunoda’s afternoon carried an extra complication regardless of the result. The aborted first restart, which cost the whole field an additional formation lap, was initially put down to his car being out of position on the grid, and he was summoned after the race to answer an alleged breach of the starting procedure regulations. The stewards cleared him entirely. Video from multiple angles showed his car had actually been positioned correctly within its grid box, and the Race Director confirmed the extra lap came from his own cautious judgement rather than anything Tsunoda did, with neither the driver nor Racing Bulls ever told during the race that he was even being considered the cause. No further action was taken.

Audi: Agonisingly Short of the Points Again

Bortoleto and Hulkenberg finished eleventh and twelfth, one and two places outside the points respectively. Hulkenberg was also the other car in the Lawson defending incident at Turn 4, investigated and cleared alongside the Red Bull driver with no action taken against either side.

Williams: Sainz’s Clean Race, Albon’s Late Gamble

Sainz started and finished thirteenth, a result Vowles called about the best achievable after the team lost ground in the laps before the restart. Sainz ran a clean race from there, using a strong pit stop under the Stroll VSC to jump Ocon and finding enough late pace to pass Bearman as well.

Albon’s race told a different story. Starting from the back after a 20-place penalty, he ran long on the hard he’d fitted at the red flag, with Williams keeping him out through the VSC rather than take a time loss they couldn’t afford with no points on offer, before an eventual late stop for softs carried him to the flag in seventeenth. Vowles flagged some concerning vibration on the front left in that final stint, reliability taking priority once the points-paying positions were out of reach.

Red Bull: Lawson’s Recovery From the Pit Lane

With Verstappen’s podium already covered, Lawson’s race was Red Bull’s other story. Starting from the pit lane after a 35-place power unit penalty that the team knew was coming before the weekend began, he worked his way up to fourteenth. His defensive move against Hulkenberg into Turn 4 was investigated after the race and cleared with no further action, the stewards noting the Race Director had already dealt with it during the race itself by showing Lawson the black and white flag.

Coffee Corner Take

Sixty years is a long time to wait for anything. Ludovico Scarfiotti won this race in 1966 and no Italian driver has taken the top step at Monza since, not Michele Alboreto in his Ferrari pomp, not any of the Italian drivers who came after him. Antonelli ended that on a Sunday when Ferrari’s own championship hope crashed alone into the barriers at Parabolica before the race had even found its rhythm. There’s a cruelty in that timing that Monza didn’t need to add, and it added it anyway.

What Antonelli did from 19th on the grid deserves to be judged on its own terms first. The penalty was a team decision, and Antonelli made it count for almost nothing by the time the red flag came out. From there he raced his own team mate for the lead like it was any other overtake, took it, lost it, took it back, and then did it all again once Mercedes asked him not to. Russell didn’t listen either. Whatever the team orders on Lap 24 were supposed to achieve, neither driver treated them as final.

The Stroll VSC settled it in the end. Mercedes pitted Antonelli into the window and left Russell exposed on ageing tyres. In a championship fight between team mates, calls like that don’t disappear when the race ends. It worked. Whether it works the same way next time either driver is on the wrong end of that call is a different question, and Mercedes now have to answer it with both drivers separated by nothing in the constructors’ fight but the win itself.

Antonelli now has seven career wins. Only Alberto Ascari has more among Italian drivers, with thirteen, but after winning seven of the opening 13 rounds this season, that record suddenly doesn’t look quite so distant.

This wasn’t how Mercedes expected its title fight to look. A teenager leads the championship when the general consensus going into the season was that Russell had the clearest path to it.

Russell knew this was his best chance of getting some points back on the table, and the reality is his young team mate leaves Monza with an increased championship lead instead of the damage limitation most had expected. Russell called it the team rolling the dice, which is 50/50 dressed up in kinder words, and as the race leader he’ll leave feeling hard done by once it’s clear the strategy let his team mate pick his pocket for the win.

Kimi winning from the back of the grid at his home race, in the same year Ferrari’s home hope ends up in the wall, is the kind of story Italian motorsport hasn’t had to tell itself in a long time. Monza waited sixty years for this. It arrived in Mercedes silver rather than Ferrari red, and the tifosi took it anyway.