Kimi Antonelli delivered a stunning drive from 19th on the grid to win Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, becoming the first Italian driver since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966 to triumph at Monza.
The championship leader crossed the line 3.857s ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen completing the podium in third to cap a 53-lap race of chaos, courage and clinical racecraft.
Antonelli‘s seventh win of the 2026 season also extended his lead in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship to 66 points over Russell, a result that deals a severe blow to his team-mate’s title ambitions.
The drama began well heading into the weekend after Antonelli’s Mercedes team took the strategic decision to fit his W16 with a fresh set of power unit components, leading to a hefty 30-place grid penalty.
When the lights went out, shock polesitter Pierre Gasly made a clean getaway but Russell quickly overpowered the Alpine to take the lead into the first chicane.
However, chaos ensued behind as Ferrari team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc arrived at the tight Turn 1 complex side by side and Hamilton was forced wide onto the gravel, dropping all the way to ninth.
Leclerc got past Gasly, but the Alpine driver reclaimed P2 at Curva Grande while Max Verstappen followed up with the same move at the Ascari chicane, pushing the Monegasque to fourth.
Leclerc later fell under pressure from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri through the high-speed Parabolica corner at the end of the second lap, but his aggressive defense saw him lose the rear of his Ferrari, snapping into a heavy, side-on impact with the barriers.
Leclerc’s crash brought the red flags out immediately as marshals hurried to repair the damaged barrier, while drivers returned to the pits for the lengthy stoppage which lasted approximately 25 minutes.
The order at the point of the red flag showed Russell leading from Gasly, Verstappen third and Franco Colapinto in a remarkable fourth for Alpine in his first few laps of the race.
Further back, Antonelli had charged from 19th to 12th, but the restart was not without drama as Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda was found to be out of position on the grid, forcing an aborted start and an additional formation lap around Monza.
When the lights finally went out for the second time, Russell made a clean getaway followed by Gasly, while Colapinto enjoyed another spectacular launch to briefly surge into third before Verstappen reclaimed the position.
Colapinto’s bold early form, however, did not last as the Argentine Alpine driver ran off the track at the Lesmo chicane and fell away to 15th.
By Lap 7, Antonelli had made his way up to sixth and it took five more laps to move into the top four, having dispatched Gasly and then Lewis Hamilton.
Antonelli later passed Piastri for third on Lap 13, followed up to overtake Verstappen into the second chicane on lap 16 for second and then took the lead from Russell into Turn 1 on lap 18, completing his charge from 19th to first in just 16 racing laps.
Russell got past Antonelli into the first chicane on Lap 20, but Antonelli got himself back into the lead of his home race just two corners later.
Russell reclaimed the lead again on Lap 22 and held on until Lap 29 when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin ground to a halt at the first chicane, triggering a Virtual Safety Car – a double retirement for the team after Fernando Alonso withdrew on Lap 25 due to mechanical issues.
Mercedes called Antonelli into the pits for a fresh set of medium tyres, while Russell stayed out. Antonelli rejoined from sixth with a 15-second gap to close in the remaining 24 laps.
Using the fresh tyre advantage along with the new Mercedes power unit, Antonelli breezed past Gasly and Norris, then Hamilton and finally Piastri to slot back into second place by Lap 37, now lapping 1.5 seconds quicker than his teammate.
As the race entered its final ten laps, Antonelli was right on Russell’s gearbox as the latter began to report tyre degradation. On lap 49, Antonelli attempted a move past his teammate at the first chicane but ran wide, all four wheels dipping into the gravel.
A decisive pass between Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane a lap later ultimately guaranteed Kimi Antonelli wins F1 Italian Grand Prix, ending a 60-year wait for a home winner at Monza.
F1 2026 Italian Grand Prix Race Results
F1 Championship standings after 2026 Italian Grand Prix
