Italian Grand Prix Results

Synopsis

The Temple of Speed delivered a definitive turning point for the 2026 season. Amidst a high-stakes red flag and a tense internal duel at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli survived the pressure on his home turf to secure a historic victory. In a weekend where strategy and team orders were pushed to their limits, the young Italian ended a sixty-year drought, proving that at Monza, raw conviction still outpaces the clock.

Leclerc’s Crash Resets the Monza Grid

The most awaited race weekend for Tifosi is finally here: the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The 53-lap race begins with a formation lap, a new experience for Gasly, who has never led a formation lap. Racing begins in Monza, and off goes Gasly with a clean start, keeping Russell at bay.

Behind them, Leclerc fends off Hamilton, who tries to get past him, but both drivers bang wheels on the starting lap, and Hamilton is pushed off the track into the gravel, causing him to drop down to P11. Russell gets ahead of Gasly, and Leclerc also gets through, but Gasly picks off Leclerc and holds him off. While Leclerc was focused on Gasly, Verstappen passes through aggressively and takes third place.

Leclerc, while keeping Piastri at bay and chasing Verstappen, loses traction out of the Parabolica (Turn 11), spins and crashes into the barrier, which red-flags the race as some barriers needed repairing. It is the fourth crash of the season for Leclerc. Russell leads the race, Gasly in P2, Verstappen in P3; Colapinto got past Piastri before the red flag, so he is in P4, Piastri P5, Norris P6. Antonelli is in P12, having started at P19.

The strategy should be hard tyres for everyone, with one pit stop in mind, as it is 24 seconds long. The investigation into the Ferrari duo during lap 1 was dismissed, with no further investigation. After the red flag ended, cars came out on the grid, as the red flag lasted for approximately twenty minutes.

The Home Hero’s Charge: Antonelli Rises as the Grid Reshapes

The formation lap ended with one extra lap as Tsunoda ended up on the wrong side of the grid. But the extra lap did help the drivers on Medium. Lights out again in Monza, and Russell gets a great start, with Gasly following behind.

Colapinto gets ahead of Verstappen, but Colapinto runs wide and drops back to 15th place. Lap 7: On the back, all eyes on Antonelli, who is flying, as he gets past Norris and jumps up to P6. Lap 10, Verstappen passes Gasly, followed by Hamilton as he gains on Gasly and too passes him. Gasly is under pressure again as Piastri and Antonelli pass him too. The Alpine car is much more suited for holding out in Qualifying than in an actual race.

A Masterclass in Slipstream Racing

On Lap 12, Verstappen takes the lead; Antonelli and Piastri pass Hamilton. It is now Verstappen, Russell, Piastri, Antonelli and Hamilton in the top 5. Antonelli passes Piastri and is now behind his teammate. Lap 14: Russell closes in on the Dutchman; Verstappen manages to hold him off. Russell goes again for the pass but fails to do so.

Hamilton on the back runs wide, and Piastri passes him. On Lap 15, Russell gets a great run down at Curva Grande (Turn 3) and finally picks off Verstappen and gets back into the lead. On lap 16, Hamilton passes Piastri and gets P4 back, but clearly a yo-yo race happening between the drivers, as Piastri yet again swipes P4.

Lap 17: Verstappen radios and informs his team that the car is completely broken on the rear axle; the same thing he mentioned in qualifying yesterday. Into lap 18, Antonelli gets Russell and takes the lead of the Italian GP, his home race. Antonelli, Russell, and Verstappen, the three together in their own battle, pull away from the rest of the pack behind.

Mercedes Hunt for P1

Hamilton and Piastri are still fighting for position. On lap 20, Russell blasts with power out of nowhere and passes Antonelli, but couldn’t hold on for too long as Antonelli reclaims the lead. The duo might need to work together to gap Verstappen, but it seems as if the team is letting the drivers do their own thing.

Lap 22: Another yo-yo race in sight as Russell is in P1, but Antonelli, patiently waiting for the right moment, gets it and goes back into the lead. On lap 24, the Mercedes team radios their drivers to stop fighting, build a gap and to fight later on. Russell ignores it, but Antonelli stays behind, not being too thrilled about the decision.

Antonelli was soon informed that he should stay behind, let Russell build the gap and then they would invert. On lap 23, Alonso runs wide and sustains heavy bottom damage to his car, leading him to retire from the race. VSC was deployed on lap 28 as Stroll was informed about a hydraulics issue and had to stop.

Tactical Split: Antonelli’s Pit Stop and Russell’s Strategy Gamble

During the VSC, Antonelli was told to box, and he pitted with Verstappen behind him. Russell did not pit; he is ahead of Piastri and Hamilton. Antonelli comes out in medium tyres in P6 behind Gasly and Verstappen in P7.

The Mercedes intra-team fight was engaging, but now both the drivers have different strategies in place. Antonelli is flying as he gets past Norris. On lap 32, Russell is 6 seconds ahead of Piastri and is seven tenths quicker than Antonelli. Soon, Russell is taken into investigation for a yellow flag infringement.

On lap 35, Hamilton misses the chicane, which makes an easy pass for Antonelli into P2. On lap 37, Antonelli pushes past Piastri and now has a gap of 8.9 seconds behind Russell. Verstappen at the back gets past Hamilton and will be charging for Piastri next. Piastri is informed about Russell's potential penalty and is given a hurry-up in case he gets the time penalty.

On lap 39, Red Bull has put out a decent pace as Verstappen passes Piastri in P2. Good news for Russell, as he has been cleared of the potential penalty by the stewards. On Lap 41, Verstappen locks up in the chicane, during which Norris makes a pass.

The Scarfiotti Legacy: Antonelli Ends Italy’s Sixty-Year Drought

At P2, Antonelli is told he needs to catch up, meaning time to put his foot down if he wants a home win. On Lap 43, the gap between Russell and Antonelli is now 5.5 seconds

On lap 46, Russell is told that the team can see his tyres opening up, so take no risks and bring it home. With just 5 laps left, Antonelli is in overtake mode, chasing Russell, who has 44-lap-old tyres. He gets close enough to be able to overtake Russell but locks up and runs wide into the gravel.

Antonelli is within a second behind on lap 50, and he takes the lead into Ascari (Turn 8). All eyes on the front now; if Ferrari can’t win at Monza, a win for the Italian will do just the trick for the Tifosi. On the last lap, Antonelli has a lead of 1.8 seconds, crosses the line and wins at Monza. The first Italian to win at the temple of speed since 1966, after Ludovico Scarfiotti. Behind him, Russell takes P2 and Verstappen P3.

P1: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

P2: George Russell (Mercedes)

P3: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

Driver of the day: Kimi Antonelli Fastest Lap: Kimi Antonelli (1:23.504) Top speed: Sergio Perez (351 Km/h) DNFs: Stroll, Alonso, Leclerc