Kimi Antonelli won at Monza from 19th place and ended Italy's 60-year wait
Kimi Antonelli achieved one of Formula 1's most remarkable victories on 6 September 2026, winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after starting from 19th place. The 20-year-old Mercedes driver fought his way through almost the entire field and overtook teammate George Russell in the closing stages, becoming the first Italian driver to win his home world championship race since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. According to the FIA's official report, after 53 laps Antonelli crossed the finish line 3.857 seconds ahead of Russell, while Max Verstappen finished third for Red Bull. Lando Norris was fourth ahead of Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton finished sixth for Ferrari, while pole-sitter Pierre Gasly dropped to seventh place. The victory further strengthened Antonelli's position at the top of the championship and turned a weekend that, because of a power-unit penalty, was supposed to be focused on damage limitation into one of the greatest moments of his career.
From a major penalty to a historic victory
Antonelli's path to victory began long before the start of the race. Mercedes had decided in advance to install additional power-unit elements at Monza, even though it knew this would exceed the permitted seasonal allocation and trigger a major grid penalty. According to Formula 1 data, his car was fitted with a fifth internal combustion engine, a fourth power-unit control electronics unit and a fourth energy store, producing a nominal 30-place penalty. Because such a penalty cannot be served in full on a standard starting grid, Antonelli was sent to the back. The official final grid, after additional changes involving other drivers, placed him 19th, while some competitors from the rear of the field started from the pit lane.
Mercedes' decision was pragmatic. Team principal Toto Wolff had previously explained that internal calculations showed Monza to be the most favorable circuit on which to take such a penalty, despite the fact that it was Antonelli's home race. The team wanted to reduce the risk of further technical problems in the later stages of the title fight, particularly after an earlier retirement caused by a technical failure in Barcelona. Such a strategy seemed logical from the perspective of the entire season, but in practical terms it meant that the championship leader would have to make up almost the entire grid. Ahead of Sunday, the realistic objective was to score as many points as possible. Victory from 19th place therefore far exceeded the initial expectations.
Gasly on pole position, with Russell quickly taking the lead
Saturday's qualifying produced one of the surprises of the weekend when Pierre Gasly took pole position for Alpine with a time of 1:21.786. George Russell qualified second, only 0.060 seconds slower, while Oscar Piastri was originally third but was dropped three places because of a penalty for impeding Liam Lawson. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton therefore started from the second row, with Verstappen in fifth. Antonelli had been quick enough in qualifying for a significantly higher position than the back of the grid, but the penalty for the new power-unit elements had already determined his starting situation. The starting positions alone suggested a major advantage for Russell in the head-to-head battle between the two Mercedes drivers for the race victory and the championship.
Gasly made a good start and retained the lead through the first chicane, but Russell did not wait long. According to the FIA report, the Briton overtook the Alpine at the start of the second lap and took first place. In the background, a much more dramatic story was already developing: Antonelli gained seven positions in only a few laps. His opening sequence of overtakes was particularly important because Monza is a circuit where slipstreaming and efficiency on the straights create opportunities, but at the same time dense traffic can quickly destroy the rhythm of a driver starting from the back. By the time the race was interrupted, Antonelli was already 12th, eliminating a large part of the consequences of his grid penalty at an early stage.
Leclerc's heavy crash interrupts the race
The early phase of the Italian Grand Prix was marked by a heavy crash for Charles Leclerc. The FIA states that the Ferrari driver lost control of the car on the exit of Curva Alboreto, the final corner of the circuit, and hit the protective barrier hard. Leclerc got out of the car without injury, but damage to the barriers required repairs, so the race was stopped with a red flag. It was a particularly difficult moment for Ferrari at its home Grand Prix because one car was effectively eliminated right at the beginning, while Hamilton had already lost positions after fighting on the first lap. Russell was leading Gasly and Verstappen when the race was stopped, with Antonelli in 12th.
The red flag also opened a new strategic phase of the race because the teams were given an opportunity to adjust their approach for the restart. Pirelli reported after the race that Antonelli, who had completed the first start on the hard compound, switched to the medium compound during the stoppage. Russell made the opposite choice and continued on hard tires. That strategic difference would later become decisive, although at the time of the restart it was not clear which approach would offer greater value. When the race resumed, Russell retained the lead, while Antonelli again made very aggressive progress and had already climbed to eighth place after the first lap of the new start.
Antonelli fought his way into the lead in only 18 laps
After the restart, the race turned into a constant reshuffling of the leading group. Verstappen quickly regained third position after Franco Colapinto had temporarily passed him, while Gasly's pace was no longer at the level of his qualifying speed. As Alpine began to lose positions, the fight at the front shifted to Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari. Antonelli continued to work his way through the midfield, then overtook Piastri and Hamilton before also moving ahead of Verstappen. The FIA states that on lap 18 he passed Russell under braking for the first chicane and took the lead for the first time.
The significance of that moment was greater than merely moving into first place. Less than a third of the race after starting from the back, Antonelli was already leading the Italian Grand Prix, and he was doing so against the teammate who was his biggest direct rival for the title. The Mercedes pair then exchanged positions several times, while Verstappen remained close enough to punish any mistake. Formula 1 highlighted in its report that different ways of using electrical energy and the slipstream created major fluctuations in the advantage on Monza's long straights. It was therefore not enough merely to take the lead; it had to be defended through a series of attacks and counterattacks in which differences in top speed became just as important as tire wear.
Virtual Safety Car changes the course of the race
The key strategic moment came when Lance Stroll stopped because of a hydraulic problem and triggered a Virtual Safety Car period. Antonelli and Verstappen took advantage of the neutralization to pit, while Russell stayed on track. Pirelli states that Antonelli then took a new set of medium tires, while Russell continued on the hard compound he had been using since the red flag. Stopping under the Virtual Safety Car reduced Antonelli's time loss, but temporarily dropped him behind other drivers. He had to pass Hamilton and Piastri again before he could begin chasing the leading Mercedes.
With 16 laps remaining, Antonelli returned to second place, while Verstappen had moved up to third. Russell initially managed to maintain the gap, but his tires were becoming increasingly old, while Antonelli could gradually increase his pace on the fresher set. Mercedes therefore found itself in a situation in which a team victory looked highly likely, but the order of its two drivers remained open. For the championship, the difference between first and second place was important because it was not only about seven additional points for the winner, but also about the psychological effect of a direct duel between the two title contenders. It was precisely during those closing laps that the strategic decision to stop under the VSC proved decisive.
The closing duel: mistake, recovery and decisive attack
With five laps remaining, Antonelli got close enough to attack Russell. The first attempt on lap 49 almost ended as a missed opportunity: the two drivers were side by side entering the first chicane, Antonelli ran too wide on the exit and went through the gravel, allowing Russell to retain the lead temporarily. Antonelli himself admitted after the race that at that moment he feared he had lost his opportunity to win. However, the advantage of fresher tires and the Mercedes' speed allowed him to return to the attack immediately.
The decisive move came on the very next lap. According to the FIA, Antonelli passed Russell on the section between the second Lesmo and the Ascari chicane and took a lead he would not relinquish. Russell did not have enough grip to respond over the remaining three laps, so the gap at the finish increased to 3.857 seconds. Verstappen finished third, 14.718 seconds behind the winner. Formula 1 described Antonelli's drive from 19th to victory as the second-lowest starting position from which any driver in the history of the world championship had managed to win a Grand Prix, further demonstrating the scale of the result achieved at Monza.
First Italian victory at Monza since Scarfiotti in 1966
The historic significance of the victory also stems from the fact that an Italian driver had not won his home Grand Prix for a full six decades. Formula 1's official archive confirms that Ludovico Scarfiotti won at Monza for Ferrari on 4 September 1966, ahead of teammate Mike Parkes and Denny Hulme. Scarfiotti started second and set the fastest lap of the race, and his triumph remained the last victory by an Italian at the Italian Grand Prix until Antonelli's success. Antonelli's victory is therefore not merely a statistical end to a long run. Monza is one of the most symbolically important races on the calendar, and this time the historic result was delivered by a Mercedes driver born in Bologna, who turned 20 on 25 August. His profile on Formula 1's official website shows that the Monza victory was his seventh Grand Prix win of the season and seventh of his career, following a debut 2025 season without a victory. The home win therefore also became confirmation of an exceptionally rapid transition from promising rookie to leading contender for the world championship.
Mercedes celebrated a one-two, Ferrari missed out on a home podium
For Mercedes, Monza delivered an almost ideal result. Antonelli and Russell took the first two places and gave the team a maximally important haul of points in the constructors' championship, while its main rival Ferrari was left without a podium. Leclerc retired after the early crash, while Hamilton, after problems on the first lap and a later recovery, had to settle for sixth place. According to the FIA results, Norris beat Piastri in the closing stages in an extremely close McLaren duel for fourth place, by only 0.197 seconds. Gasly finished seventh after his sensational pole position, while Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda also scored points.
That outcome further changed the championship picture. Formula 1's official standings after Monza show Antonelli in first place with 267 points, Russell second with 201, Hamilton third with 191, Norris fourth with 171 and Leclerc fifth with 155 points. Antonelli's advantage over Russell therefore stands at 66 points, while Hamilton trails by 76. With the season entering its closing stages, such a gap is not insurmountable, but it gives the Mercedes driver significant room to control risk, while the one-two finish confirms the strength of the team's package.
What the victory means for the title fight
Antonelli arrived at Monza with a 59-point lead over Russell and ended the weekend having increased the gap to 66. That is particularly important because the opposite had been expected: the power-unit penalty was supposed to allow Russell to reduce the deficit, especially after starting from the front row. Instead, Antonelli turned what could potentially have been one of the most difficult weekends of the season into his seventh victory and took additional points from his direct rival. Such a result does not decide the championship by itself, but it changes the mathematical and psychological framework of the season's closing stages.
Formula 1's official calendar shows that the next race is the Spanish Grand Prix from 11 to 13 September. Antonelli still has enough races ahead of him for the standings to change significantly, and power-unit reliability will remain an important factor. That is precisely why Mercedes decided to take the penalty at Monza: the new elements should increase technical reliability in the closing stages of the championship. After victory from 19th place, that decision looks much less like a compromise and much more like a strategic move that brought the team both short-term and long-term benefits.
A victory that changes expectations of Antonelli
After the race, Antonelli described the victory as a dream come true, emphasizing that after the second start he began to believe victory was possible. Formula 1 reported that he particularly highlighted the importance of the final pit stop, because Russell remained on older tires while he was able to increase his pace on fresher ones. Wolff called his drive extraordinary after the race and said that, in his assessment, nothing could have stopped him that day. Such reactions come at a time when Antonelli is no longer viewed merely as a young driver with great potential, but as the leader of the current championship. Official Formula 1 data after 13 Grands Prix records seven victories and 11 podium finishes. Monza nevertheless stands out because it combined home pressure, a grid penalty, a series of overtakes, changing strategy and a direct duel with his teammate. The victory on 6 September 2026 is therefore much more than another 25 championship points.
In the end, Monza produced a complete reversal of expectations: the driver who, because of the technical strategy, started almost last finished first, while the man who started on the front row and led for a long period had to accept second place. At the same time, Ferrari was left without a podium in front of its home crowd, while the Italian victory came from a car belonging to a rival team. Sixty years after Scarfiotti, the Italian Grand Prix once again had a home winner. Even more important for the remainder of the season is that this winner is now 66 points ahead of his nearest rival and enters the final part of the title fight with a new power unit.
Sources:
- FIA - official report on the 2026 Italian Grand Prix, race progress, results and finishing gaps (link)
- Formula 1 - official report on Antonelli's victory and the final duel with Russell (link)
- Formula 1 - official starting grid and explanation of power-unit penalties at Monza (link)
- Formula 1 - current drivers' championship standings after the Italian Grand Prix (link)
- Formula 1 - Kimi Antonelli's profile, date of birth and 2026 season statistics (link)
- Formula 1 - archive of the 1966 Italian Grand Prix results and Ludovico Scarfiotti's victory (link)
- Pirelli - analysis of tire strategy and the key stop under the Virtual Safety Car (link)
- Formula 1 - official 2026 championship calendar and schedule of upcoming races (link)