Impressive victory of Kimi Antonelli in the 2026 Italian GP

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Italian GP in a truly impressive style, starting from 19th position. The Italian’s performance in the home race will go down in history. The competition at the Monza circuit provided a huge number of overtaking maneuvers among the leading drivers

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The race at the Monza circuit was held in hot conditions, with the track temperature constantly exceeding 50 degrees Celsius. At the end of the second lap, Leclerc crashed at the Parabolica corner, leading to a red flag lasting over half an hour due to the need to repair the barrier. Midway through the race, there was also a virtual safety car due to Stroll’s car failure. These two situations were crucial for the course of the competition, as drivers used them to change tires, which largely determined the strategy.

2026 Italian GP race results

New technical regulations ensured a festival of overtaking at Monza

The race at the Monza circuit provided a gigantic number of overtaking maneuvers at the front. At times it looked like during IndyCar races on oval tracks, or during motorcycle races. Drivers overtook each other, and moments later counterattacks occurred. The strategies for using electric energy, as predicted, made a very big difference. There are four good overtaking spots at Monza, and it is impossible to have enough energy for every long straight on this track. When someone used energy attacking a rival, in many cases they had less energy on the next straight than that rival. Many fans may not like this, thinking it is artificial, but that was the intention in preparing these technical regulations. On tracks with many straights and no demanding corners, where the field does not spread out, races will often look like this. We can expect a repeat in Las Vegas or Mexico.

The second important issue is the overtaking mode, which really made a difference at Monza. If someone is one second behind a rival at the timing point, during the next lap they can use 0.5 MJ more energy. This was very important at Monza, as it was very difficult for drivers to break away from rivals by more than a second. The overtaking mode not only allowed easier overtaking than with DRS in previous years, but also kept the field from spreading out too much.

Antonelli’s chase on the way to a historic victory

Kimi Antonelli won the race starting from 19th position. Only once in history has an F1 race been won from a further back grid position: John Watson at the 1983 USA West GP started from 22nd. Mercedes had the best car at Monza because this track suits them very well. Antonelli got a fresh engine, which certainly gave him a slight advantage. If it had been a race without any neutralizations, Antonelli would probably have finished around 4th-6th place, in my opinion he could not have hoped for more. However, the race unfolded perfectly for him and he took advantage of it. Antonelli had a great start and also a restart after the red flag, gaining several positions in both cases. He moved up rapidly and was second by lap 16, and led by lap 18. He fought with Russell for many laps until the team intervened. They told them to drive in the order Russell – Antonelli, which allowed them to stabilize the pace and pull away from third-placed Verstappen. The key moment was the virtual safety car on lap 28, which came at the perfect time for Antonelli. He changed tires then, quickly made up 15 seconds on Russell, and on the second opportunity overtook him at the end (the first maneuver ended with a mistake).

Antonelli won the home race, his popularity in Italy will rise even more. He won the race in excellent style, even though he was supposed to lose points to rivals due to an engine penalty. He increased his lead in the standings and became the clear favorite for the world championship.

Russell and Verstappen completed the podium by doing their maximum

I do not understand the criticism of George Russell from some fans after the race, but it is probably because some have a negative obsession with him. Russell drove a really good race, fought many battles, maintained a consistent and good pace until the end despite driving on very old tires. He finished second because everything in this race was arranged in favor of his teammate. Antonelli always had a tire advantage over him (intermediate vs hard), which allowed him to drive faster. At the key moment during the VSC, Russell was not called into the pits and stayed on track. Antonelli changed tires, lost 15 seconds on that, but could easily make it up thanks to the advantage of the compound and its freshness. This was the key situation because in the end Russell was doomed to lose because of it. Mercedes had to call Antonelli for a tire change during the VSC because he was driving the first half on intermediates and planned a pit stop. If they had called both drivers, Antonelli would have lost a few seconds waiting for Russell, and then Verstappen would have overtaken him. The strategy due to the timing of the VSC was perfect for Antonelli, and the team wanted a sure double, so they played it that way.

Max Verstappen managed the start of the race well and quickly found himself behind Russell, with whom he then fought several battles, similarly to Antonelli. For most of the distance, he was able to stay close to the Mercedes drivers, but not for the entire distance. The race pace of the rivals in the silver cars was slightly better, so when they stopped fighting each other and Verstappen fell out of the overtaking mode range, he could not keep up with them. Verstappen had a weaker end to the race, then probably some minor car problems appeared or he simply decided to drive more safely because he no longer had a chance for a higher position. It was known that this track would suit Red Bull better and Verstappen took advantage of the opportunity.

Great disappointment at Ferrari

The race ended in a complete failure for the Ferrari team. The events of this race will affect the dynamics within the team in the coming weeks. At the start, Leclerc pushed Hamilton onto the gravel, causing Lewis to lose several positions. If they were drivers from different teams, I would praise Leclerc for pushing the rival off. Within one team, something like this cannot happen; this is not the first clash between them this year, which always ends badly for the team. Leclerc crashed at the end of the second lap at the Parabolica corner due to his own mistake, so his race performance was very poor. Leclerc is sometimes a driver who wants something too much, takes risks when there is no need, and this has serious consequences.

Hamilton quickly regained the positions lost due to going off on the gravel, but when he reached the front, it was clear he had no chance for the podium in a clean fight. He only fought for fourth place with Piastri. For reasons I do not understand, Hamilton did not change tires during the VSC, so his pace clearly dropped at the end because he was on intermediate tires while rivals were on more durable hard tires or had changed. The strategic decision was completely incomprehensible to me because by making a pit stop he would have dropped to eighth place but would have had fresh tires and could have made up everything. Sixth place was an unsuccessful performance.

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In summary. Ferrari did not have the pace to think about the podium. The engine deficit to direct rivals remains clear. They played the race badly strategically. Leclerc made a serious mistake, ending his third race this season by hitting the barrier. Ferrari must establish an approach to internal competition with the drivers; they must cooperate, not compete as fiercely as at the start in Monza.

Overview of other significant results

McLaren knew this track would be particularly unsuitable for their car, so fourth and fifth place at the finish is a very good result. For most of the distance, Piastri was ahead, fighting many battles with Hamilton over the distance. Norris was a bit further back but closed in at the end and ultimately just edged Piastri at the finish. The McLaren drivers fought several battles with each other at the end. Despite old hard tires, they maintained a good pace to the finish.

The Alpine team will be partly satisfied and partly disappointed after this race. Gasly’s start from pole position was a big event, but then the Frenchman was overtaken by the front-runners as expected. He had no chance with them, but it is also worth noting that the pace difference was not large. Alpine should be strong on other tracks dominated by long straights. Franco Colapinto was fourth at the restart but made a mistake and went off into the gravel, dropping to 16th. Later, however, he had a good enough pace to gradually move up the field and earned two points for ninth place. It could have been better, but both drivers scored points.

Arvid Lindblad spent almost the entire race in eighth position. He was unable to fight with the front, but no one seriously threatened him either. Yuki Tsunoda broke a streak of very unlucky performances at Monza and scored his first point at this track. The Japanese driver managed the second start very well, gaining positions that allowed him to enter the top ten.

I will not pretend that I closely followed what happened in the second half of the field because during the TV broadcast these drivers were hardly shown. Drivers fought among themselves there, some groups formed, but it was not a fight that would attract much attention, and the drivers had a chance for points. It is worth adding that Liam Lawson’s distant position was due to a broken wing, which forced an additional pit stop costing him a lot of time and several positions. Aston Martin drivers retired due to failures, but not related to the power unit.

The current overall standings after the Italian GP can be found here. There were no position changes, but the points differences changed.

Summary

It was a very interesting F1 race, better than several previous ones. There were many concerns about how the new engines would perform at Monza, but it turned out they provided an exciting race. Importantly, this will be a weekend remembered for years. First, Gasly’s sensational pole position, and on Sunday Antonelli’s almost record victory, which will be regularly recalled. Plus lots of overtaking maneuvers and Leclerc’s mistake.

Next week in F1 we will have something completely different, as the new Madring circuit will debut, which is very twisty and demanding. I expect qualifying there to be very interesting, but the race will be a procession, hopefully not as typical as in Monaco. It also promises to be a track where without neutralizations due to barrier hits, it will not be possible to complete the race.

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