Last to First: Antonelli’s Comeback Rewrites History at Monza

Some races are remembered for the result, and some are remembered for how that result came about. Today’s race at Monza belongs firmly in the second category. Kimi Antonelli, who started 19th after an engine penalty that seemed to doom him to a quiet damage-limitation Sunday, ended up winning his own home Grand Prix, passing teammate George Russell in the closing laps and becoming the first Italian driver to win the Italian GP since 1966. In the process, he stretched his championship lead to 66 points. Along the way came a heavy Leclerc crash, a red flag, two Aston Martin retirements, and a pile of penalties that rewrote the grid before the lights even went out.

A Grid That Was Already Unrecognisable Before the Start

By the time the lights went out, yesterday’s qualifying result was already something of a footnote. Kimi Antonelli and Alex Albon were demoted to the back for power unit changes. Oscar Piastri picked up a three-place penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in Q2, dropping from third to sixth. And both Fernando Alonso and Lawson ended up starting from the pit lane due to changes made under parc fermé rules. The result: Gasly kept his pole, Russell lined up alongside him, and behind them sat a grid with Leclerc third and Hamilton fourth, giving the Tifosi at least the illusion of a Ferrari on the podium.

Tension Between Teammates From the Start

The moment the lights went out, Hamilton went for Leclerc into the first chicane, diving down the inside. Leclerc pushed him wide off the track, and that move cost Hamilton several positions, dropping him to ninth. Race control noted the incident but took no further action. It was just the first chapter of an afternoon Ferrari would rather forget.

The Hit That Changed Everything: Leclerc Into the Wall

At the close of the second lap, with Leclerc defending fourth from a hard-charging Piastri, the Ferrari lost the rear on the exit of the Parabolica with no contact from another car, sliding across the gravel and slamming head-on into the outside wall at high speed. Leclerc climbed out under his own power, a little shaken, and was evaluated at the medical centre as a routine check, later revealing his right eye had briefly given him trouble, since resolved, though it means additional checks before the next round in Spain. The red flag became unavoidable to repair the barriers, putting the whole weekend on hold for a good while.

The Restart, and the Penalty Festival That Followed

With the cars lined up in the order the race held at the time of the crash, the action resumed with Russell taking control and Verstappen briefly moving to the front before the Mercedes reclaimed the lead. From there came a string of incidents that gave this race the feel of controlled chaos: stewards opened an investigation into contact between Hülkenberg and Lawson at Turn 4, forcing the New Zealander to pit for a new front wing. Sergio Perez picked up a five-second penalty for failing to follow the prescribed escape road after running off track. And shortly after, Alonso was out of the race with what his team described as suspected car damage, without confirming the exact cause at the time, the driver himself later explaining he felt the car change after clipping the kerb on the exit of the second Lesmo, and decided not to push on with damage and no pace.

Just moments later, Stroll stopped his car at the end of the pit straight with what the team flagged as a hydraulic issue, triggering the virtual safety car. Aston Martin, already coming off a brutal weekend, Stroll had racked up his 100th career Q1 elimination on Saturday, left Monza without a single point.

The Move That Turned the Race Around

Antonelli and Verstappen used that virtual safety car for a cheap pit stop: the Mercedes switched to medium tyres, the Red Bull to hards, and both emerged back on track behind Gasly, with 23 laps still to go. It was the turning point. Colapinto, who’d recovered from an off-track moment of his own earlier in the afternoon, used the restart to pass Bearman and Bortoleto almost effortlessly and get back inside the top ten.

Antonelli, on fresher rubber, began eating up the field: first dispatching Gasly, then Norris, while Verstappen did the same a little more slowly on the harder compound. What had looked like a simple damage-limitation afternoon for the Italian turned into a genuine fight for the win.

The Finish: Antonelli Hunts Down Russell and Makes History

In the closing laps, after an extra pit stop had left him behind his own teammate, Antonelli closed the gap to Russell once again and eventually passed him for the win. There was a tense moment, Antonelli took a brief trip through the gravel while attacking Russell, but it cost him neither control of the car nor the position. Russell had to settle for second, crossing the line around four seconds back. Verstappen completed the podium with a display of bold passes that let Red Bull salvage an image that had started the weekend poorly.

Norris beat teammate Piastri in the battle for fourth, while Hamilton took sixth and the honour of being the top Ferrari of the day, after having to rebuild his entire race from the ninth place he’d dropped to following the clash with Leclerc. Gasly, who’d taken the pole of his career, couldn’t sustain the frontrunners’ pace and slipped to seventh. Lindblad, Colapinto and Tsunoda rounded out the points.

With this win, Antonelli didn’t just take his home race from a grid slot that had briefly looked set to condemn him to minor points, he also tied for the second-lowest grid position win in Formula 1 history, and became the first Italian driver to win the Italian GP since 1966. He heads to the next round with a 66-point championship lead over Russell.

Is this comeback enough to make Antonelli feel like an inevitable title winner, or do Ferrari and Red Bull still have what it takes to complicate his party for the rest of the season? Let us know your take in the comments, and if this race blew your mind, share it on your socials.

Final Classification — 2026 Italian Grand Prix (Monza)

Note: Perez received a five-second time penalty for failing to follow the Race Director’s i

nstructions regarding the escape road.

Sources: Formula1.com, PlanetF1, Motorsport.com, The Race, Pit Debrief, Total-Motorsport, Washington Times, Yahoo Sports, Motorsport Week, RacingNews365