F1 Italian Grand Prix 2026 Recap: Antonelli wins at home with a drive for the ages

Kimi Antonelli put in one of the all-time great drives to win the 2026 Formula One Italian Grand Prix, going from P19 to P1 in front of his home crowd.

An engine penalty had put the young Italian right to the back of the grid. Despite that, Antonelli had no issue storming through the field and put in a drive for the ages to pick up his first-ever Italian GP win. George Russell finished second, making it a 1-2 for Mercedes, with Max Verstappen also putting in a stunning drive to finish P3 after starting in fifth place. 

In front of the Italian fans, the home team Ferrari had a race to forget: Charles Leclerc crashed out early on, while Lewis Hamilton finished P6.

Antonelli’s win in Monza also saw him become the first Italian in six decades to win the Italian Grand Prix. 

Pierre Gasly got things going as the lights went off, with George Russell holding on behind him. The Ferrari pair came close going into the first corner, but Charles Leclerc managed to hold on, forcing Lewis Hamilton wide, which dropped him down six places. Max Verstappen made up a place to move to fourth at the start, making the most of the Ferrari tussle early on.

Just as Russell took the lead, Leclerc sensed an opportunity to fight Gasly for second place and took it momentarily before the Frenchman stormed past to retake the position going into Curva Grande.

Just as Leclerc was being pressed by Oscar Piastri for third place, Verstappen overtook Leclerc just as Piastri tried to go on the inside of his SF-26, but Leclerc held on going into Parabolica. However, he lost his rear and went straight into the barriers, which ended his race early, much to the dismay of the Ferrari home crowd.

After a short Safety Car, the race was halted with a Red Flag as the marshals cleared the track, fixed the barrier, and cleared Leclerc’s car off the track, with the race having seen just four laps completed thus far.

As the race was Red Flagged, Russell led the pack, with Gasly, Verstappen, Franco Colapinto, and Piastri behind him in that order. Amid all the chaos, the other Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli, who started right at the back of the grid due to an engine penalty, had made up places and was up to twelfth, already on the fringes of points. 

After a stoppage of almost half an hour, racing resumed with a standing start as Yuki Tsunoda, being out of position for the initial restart, needed an extra formation lap. Once racing resumed, Russell saw off Gasly, with Colapinto picking up a place off Verstappen but not for long, as the Dutchman regained third place. Hamilton, meanwhile, was making up places and was up to fifth.

Colapinto went off track at Lesmo, going onto the gravel. He managed to continue, though he did drop down to P15. On the track, Hamilton continued to attack as he got past Piastri for fourth place, while Antonelli was also charging after the restart and was up to sixth, storming past the likes of Lando Norris and Arvid Lindblad.

Verstappen stormed past Gasly to second place on Lap 8, with Antonelli flying a couple of places behind him, climbing up places left, right, and centre. Gasly continued to fall down just as Hamilton moved into the podium places, going around Gasly heading into Turn 1 on Lap 10 to make up a place.

By Lap 11, Verstappen, the fastest on the track, was just three-tenths behind Russell. A lap later, he blazed past Russell on the main straight to take the lead of the race. Russell failed to get back the top spot, while behind them Antonelli was on the charge and was up to P3 by Lap 13.

A couple of laps later, Russell came inches close to taking back the lead, but Verstappen held on going into Turn 1. Amid their tussle, Antonelli came within half a second of the Englishman, who eventually managed to retake the lead on Lap 15, going into Curva Grande. Just as Hamilton made up a place on Piastri to move to fourth, Antonelli eased past Verstappen on Lap 16, setting up a Mercedes 1-2. 

After starting P19, Antonelli took the lead of the race on Lap 18 as he continued to charge through the field, facing no issue in overtaking Russell at Turn 1. While he was advancing at the front, Verstappen was trying to catch Russell and came close to taking second place, but Russell hung on, with a second clear of him by Lap 19.

Russell came close and retook the lead for a couple of corners before Antonelli took the lead back. The Mercedes duo continued fighting for the lead, Verstappen dropping back. Russell took the lead again on Lap 22 on the main straight, but Antonelli wasn’t giving up easily and showcased his skill to take back the lead at Turn 5. The duo continued to exchange the lead, with Russell taking it back the following lap on the main straight. Verstappen soon caught up to the two and was under a second behind Antonelli and 1.3s behind Russell by Lap 26. The race then saw a Yellow Flag and then a Virtual Safety Car as Lance Stroll’s AMR26 stopped on the track due to a hydraulic issue. 

Antonelli and Verstappen came into the pits on Lap 29 under the Virtual Safety Car and rejoined in sixth and seventh places, respectively, with Antonelli switching to another pair of medium compounds and Verstappen moving to softs. Back on track, Antonelli was once again making up places on his new set of tyres and was up to fourth by Lap 31, while Russell led Piastri at the front, six-and-a-half seconds clear of the McLaren driver, with Hamilton almost two more seconds behind in third.

Verstappen, meanwhile, kept the pressure on Antonelli and cleared Gasly and Norris to move to fifth place a couple of laps later. He was now two seconds behind Antonelli, who on Lap 35 moved back to the podium places just as Hamilton had a moment and went on to the escape road, allowing Antonelli to ease past him. Two laps later, Antonelli flew past Piastri on the main straight going into Turn 1, re-establishing the Mercedes 1-2 at the top, with Antonelli just under nine seconds behind Russell.

Verstappen also made up a place behind the top three as he moved up to P3, going past his old rival Hamilton. A couple of laps later, the Dutchman got past Piastri as well to move back into the podium places. By Lap 41, he was two-and-a-half seconds behind Antonelli.

Piastri retook third place from Verstappen. On Lap 42, the lead Red Bull driver locked up going into Turn 1, which saw him go onto the escape road and lose a bit of time to Piastri. A lap later, Verstappen got third place back from Piastri going into Turn 1, this time making the corner to make the move stick.

With five laps to go, Antonelli was less than half a second behind Russell. On Lap 49, he tried to go around his senior teammate at Turn 1, but Russell held on, which saw Antonelli go deep into the turn and onto the gravel, losing crucial time. Antonelli was back at it, though, and on Lap 50 took the lead of the race once again, going into the Ascari chicane, storming past Russell, and pulling out a second’s worth of gap inside a couple of corners.

Russell had no answer to Antonelli’s pace. The 20-year-old ultimately wrapped up an incredible charge through the field to win the Italian Grand Prix, becoming in the process the first Italian to win the race since 1966. Russell completed a 1-2 for Mercedes with his P2 finish, while Verstappen held on to the final podium place. Norris got past Piastri at the end to finish fourth, with Hamilton, Gasly, Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto, and Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the remaining points places in that order.

Antonelli’s seventh career win sees him extend his championship lead to 66 points. With Hamilton finishing a lowly eighth, Russell has managed to extend the gap in second, while Verstappen has closed the gap to Leclerc in fifth.

Racing is set to continue as the grid moves to Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix next weekend, with the new Madring circuit set to make its F1 debut.