Antonelli wins thrilling Monza battle to become first home Italian GP winner since 1966

Kimi Antonelli won a thrilling back-and-forth fight against his teammate George Russell to become the first Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix since 1966.

Although the teammates lined up on opposite ends of the grid, with Russell in second place and Antonelli down in 19th, they delivered a thrilling battle for the lead after the race was started following Charles Leclerc’s huge crash at Parabolica. The battle resumed in the closing laps after Antonelli caught back up to his teammate after an extra pit stop, and stormed past him to win the Italian Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli wins at Monza!

The drivers lined up on the grid with Pierre Gasly on pole position ahead of George Russell, with both drivers on the medium Pirelli tyres. Behind them, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were on the soft tyres. Tyre offsets and energy deployment were predicted to play a role in the outcome of the 53-lap race.

Franco Colapinto, seventh on the grid, was under investigation by the stewards for a practice start infringement on his way to the grid.

Gasly made a good start from pole and moved across to cover off Russell. Hamilton tried to muscle his way past Leclerc but found himself in the gravel and dropping down the order. “Charles pushed me off,” he claimed. Oscar Piastri pulled alongside Max Verstappen, but the Red Bull driver fought back.

Russell powered past Gasly down the start/finish straight to take the lead, with Leclerc trying to follow him through. He overtook the Frenchman, but Gasly came right back at him. Verstappen, also running the soft tyres, pounced to take third off Leclerc with Piastri also trying to overtake the Ferrari driver.

Red flag! Leclerc, trying to pull away from Piastri, put his left rear tyre on a drain cover on the outside of the Parabolica and lost control of his SF-26. He went spinning at speed through the gravel and into the barrier, with his Ferrari partially buried in the advertising board.

He climbed out of his Ferrari unaided before sitting down under an umbrella at a marshal station. The marshals got to work recovering his Ferrari and repairing the tyre barrier.

Kimi Antonelli was the big mover in the opening three laps, up from 19th on the grid to 12th.

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The drivers lined up on the grid for a standing restart, with Russell on pole ahead of Gasly, Verstappen, Franco Colapinto, Piastri and Lando Norris. The drivers did a second formation lap as Yuki Tsunoda was out of position on the grid.

Russell made a good start, but Gasly came back at him on the run down to Turn 1. Russell had just enough to stay ahead. Colapinto overtook Verstappen for third, before the Red Bull driver regained it. Moments later, Colapinto was screaming through gravel and dropped to 15th.

Hamilton gained positions to run fourth ahead of Piastri, while Antonelli had another epic first lap as he charged his way to sixth place.

As the action continued, Verstappen overtook Gasly for second place, Norris challenged Antonelli, Tsunoda improved to tenth, Liam Lawson jumped up to 11th, Carlos Sainz overtook Colapinto, Hamilton powered past Gasly into the chicane with Piastri and Antonelli also demoting the Alpine driver.

Verstappen gained the lead at end of Lap 11, using Russell’s slipstream down the start/finish straight. Russell tried to fight back, but Verstappen had him covered. Piastri passed Hamilton with Antonelli also charging past the Ferrari driver before snatching third from Piastri.

Lap 14, Russell attacked Verstappen for the lead but the Red Bull’s late-braking ability kept him ahead. The top seven were separated by four seconds! A lap later, Russell got a run on Verstappen through Curve Grande and regained P1. Antonelli mimicked his teammate a lap late for Mercedes to run 1-2. Behind them, Hamilton and Piastri scrapped over fourth place.

Antonelli was up into the lead of the Grand Prix on Lap 18, blasting past Russell on the run to the chicane. Russell returned the favour two laps later, but Antonelli was back up into the lead a few corners later. Mercedes played the team game to drop Verstappen out of the overtake mode window.

The Mercedes back-and-forth continued despite both drivers being radioed by the team to stop the yo-yo-ing. Neither listened at first and Verstappen closed in. However, as they soon as they stopped the back-and-forth, they again pulled a second clear of the Red Bull. The fight behind them for fourth place between Hamilton, Piastri, Norris and Gasly also went back-and-forth.

Virtual Safety Car! The VSC was out on Lap 28 when Lance Stroll parked his Aston Martin on the side of the track with a hydraulic issue. Antonelli and Verstappen pitted and came out sixth and seventh. Antonelli overtook Gasly as soon as the racing resumed, and then Norris, with Verstappen also making short work of them.

Sergio Perez, down in 18th place, was given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and not rejoining as per the Race Director’s notes.

A mistake from Hamilton, who was struggling for grip, at the chicane saw the Ferrari driver head down the escape road and hand Antonelli third place. “This tyre is terrible mate,” bemoaned Hamilton. Verstappen also passed the Briton two laps later as Antonelli took second off Piastri. He was eight seconds behind Russell, who was told that Antonelli was on track to catch him at the very end of the race.

With 15 to go, it was announced that Russell was under investigation for a yellow flag infringement. The stewards ruled no further action.

Antonelli reduced Russell’s lead to six seconds with 12 to go as Piastri and Verstappen fought over third place, the two trading positions. Verstappen locked up and went straight at the chicane, giving Piastri a bit of breathing room. Behind them, Norris was all over the rear wing of Hamilton’s Ferrari and made the pass into the chicane.

Antonelli was on Russell’s rear wing with five to go, with Russell told that Mercedes noted damage to his one tyre. The Italian looked to make short work of his teammate but found himself in the gravel at the chicane. He dropped 1.5s behind Russell. “What the f**k happened there?” Both drivers were told to “keep it clean”. A lap later Antonelli was up in P1, and immediately pulled out of overtaking mode’s one second.

Behind them, Verstappen was given breathing room as the McLaren’s squabbled for position with Norris putting wheels in the gravel. He claimed Piastri had squeezed him and that it was “dangerous”. McLaren told its drivers to keep it clean.

Antonelli took the chequered flag after 53 thrilling laps, leading home Russell with Verstappen joining the teammates on the podiums. Norris made a late pass on Piastri to finish fourth ahead of his teammate with Hamilton sixth for Ferrari.

Italian Grand Prix Results

1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
2 George Russell Mercedes +3.8
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +14.7
4 Lando Norris McLaren +19.0
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +19.2
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +24.6
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +27.3
8 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +45.1
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine +47.3
10 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +58.1

The full Italian Grand Prix results

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