Antonelli completes winning Monza recovery with late Russell pass
Kimi Antonelli was unstoppable at Monza as he won Formula 1's Italian Grand Prix from 19th on the grid ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Antonelli made up seven places before Charles Leclerc crashed out at the end of lap two, causing a red flag. Once the race resumed, Antonelli continued his charge right the way through to the front, swapping positions with Russell numerous times as the Mercedes battled for the lead.
But the championship leader gained a decision advantage when at the end of lap 28, while running second, he pitted under a virtual safety car - something Mercedes chose not to do with Russell.
Antonelli took the lead late on despite an off-track excursion, to become the first Italian to win their home race at Monza since 1966.
Also pitting under the VSC, Verstappen completed the podium having tailed the Mercedes drivers throughout the race.
Polesitter Pierre Gasly was ultimately defenceless and finished seventh for Alpine.
Antonelli's relentless charge
During the red flag for Leclerc's crash, Antonelli was one of a handful to choose medium tyres instead of hards for the restart - having taken the intial start on the hard compound.
The race restarted on lap six with Antonelli in 12th. He was up to sixth within a couple of laps, and by lap 14 he had closed up to the lead battle between Russell and Verstappen.
By lap 16, Russell had repassed Verstappen for the lead and, on that lap, Antonelli took second off the four-time champion - who had reported that his rear axle was "completely broken".
Antonelli and Russell then engaged in an F1 2026-style back-and-forth for the lead until, around lap 22, engineer Pete Bonington told Antonelli to 'stop yo-yoing', later detailing that Russell was being given time to build up a gap to Verstappen behind.
"If he can't do that, we’ll invert," Antonelli was told.
The team orders conundrum was waylaid on lap 28 after Lance Stroll's Aston Martin stopped to bring out the VSC. Antonelli and Verstappen pitted for mediums and hards, respectively - while Russell stayed out and would nurse his hard tyres to the end.
The pitting pair made easy work of the cars ahead from sixth and seventh, respectively. By lap 37, Antonelli was within 10 seconds of the lead; by lap 47 he was closing to within a second.
On lap 49 of 53, Antonelli attempted to pry the lead off Russell at the opening chicane but miscued, going into the gravel and losing 1.4 seconds.
"Keep it clean, no risks here," Russell was told as he continued on.
One lap later, Antonelli took the lead with ease on the run to Ascari and cruised to victory from there with a margin of 3.8s at the chequered flag, becoming the first Italian to win a grand prix at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti did so for Ferrari 60 years ago.
Verstappen finished third, 10.8s behind Russell, having seen off a late retaliatory attack from the McLarens.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris engaged in a spirited battle for fourth that came to a head with three laps remaining, when Norris took a trip into the gravel, complaining that Piastri had pushed him wide at the exit of Curva Grande.
"Clean racing" was the reminder from McLaren's pitwall but both would have their separate trips off the track later on before Norris passed Piastri for fourth on the final lap of the race.
Lewis Hamilton settled for sixth behind Piastri; he'd earlier run wide in battle with Leclerc at the start of the race and fallen from fourth to eighth. He briefly challenged the McLarens but could not keep up with them, going off the track twice as he stayed on medium tyres from the red flag to the end.
Gasly settles for seventh
Alpine driver Gasly's pole position was short-lived: He lost the lead to Russell on the second lap and after the restart was gradually swallowed up by Verstappen, the McLarens, Antonelli and Hamilton before holding station in seventh.
Gasly’s team-mate Colapinto was rapid on the early race restart, beating Verstappen off the line before losing the place, then going off the track to fall down to 16th.
But Colapinto recovered to ninth, two seconds behind Racing Bulls's eighth-place driver Arvid Lindblad.
Yuki Tsunoda finished 10th for Racing Bulls but was under investigation at the end of the race for a starting procedure infringement; after the red flag, he missed his grid box and forced another formation lap to be taken.
The Audi drivers missed out on points with Gabriel Bortoleto 11th and Nico Hulkenberg 12th, the latter having pitted during the VSC.
Carlos Sainz also pitted under the VSC and finished 13th for Williams, ahead of Red Bull driver Liam Lawson. Lawson lost ground early on with a broken front wing that forced him to pit on lap 12, and he was also shown a black-and-white-flag.
Ollie Bearman finished 15th ahead of Esteban Ocon, the former having had the upgraded Ferrari power unit this weekend at Monza while his Haas team-mate was forced to wait.
Alex Albon finished 17th ahead of the Cadillacs, while neither Aston Martin made it to the chequered flag.
Italian GP race result
1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 53 laps
2 George Russell (Mercedes) +3.857s
3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +14.718s
4 Lando Norris (McLaren) +19.056s
5 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +19.253s
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +24.655s
7 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +27.351s
8 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +45.136s
9 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +47.353s
10 Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) +58.187s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +65.187s
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +66.187s
13 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +74.117s
14 Liam Lawson (Red Bull) +75.609s
15 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +78.958s
16 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1 lap
17 Alex Albon (Williams) +1 lap
18 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +1 lap
19 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2 laps
DNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
DNF Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
DNF Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
