Formula 1 world championship leader Kimi Antonelli has taken a sensational home win at the Italian Grand Prix, coming from 19th on the grid to defeat Mercedes team-mate George Russell.
In an action-packed display of battery-led yo-yo racing, Antonelli overcame a grid penalty and a mid-race pitstop to scythe through the field and defeat long-time leader Russell, with Max Verstappen beating the McLaren to the final podium spot.
The race started with a huge blow for the sold-out tifosi-filled grandstands. As shock polesitter Pierre Gasly held firm against Russell, Lewis Hamilton attempted to pass team-mate Charles Leclerc down the inside of the tight Turn 1 chicane, with Leclerc pushing the Briton wide on exit, costing Hamilton six positions as he dropped to 10th.
The incident was noted by race control, but on the end of lap 2 Leclerc suffered a huge crash on the exit of the Parabolica corner as he fended off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Leclerc skated across the gravel and veered into the outside wall at high speed, escaping unhurt but bringing out the red flag for lengthy barrier repairs.
Russell had been able to pass Gasly on the front straight earlier on the lap, ensuring the Mercedes driver would take the restart from pole, while Verstappen and Franco Colapinto worked their way up to third and fourth at the expense of Piastri.
All drivers were afforded a free tyre change under the red flag, with Verstappen the only frontrunner to pick mediums instead of hards. Following an extra formation lap for Yuki Tsunoda being out of position, Russell defended the lead from Gasly, while Colapinto passed Verstappen in the second Alpine for third. But after Verstappen retaliated with a trademark move around the outside of the second chicane, Colapinto went off the track in the first Lesmo right-hander, dropping the Argentinian down to 16th.
In the melee behind the pair, Hamilton moved up to fourth at the expense of Piastri, who was battling team-mate Norris and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad. After a rocket start, Antonelli took advantage of that fight to motor to sixth with a double pass on Norris and Lindblad on the main straight.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
On lap 7 Alpine’s hopes of a shock win for Gasly dwindled further when he was passed for second by Verstappen. Three laps later the Frenchman also lost third to Hamilton, and he was powerless to keep Piastri and Antonelli behind as the Alpine man dropped to sixth.
Clearing Gasly quickly was supposed to hand Russell a clear path to victory, but on an afternoon where slipstreaming was key, the Mercedes man was unable to break away from Verstappen and instead started coming under pressure from the Dutchman, with the pair trading the lead two more times on lap 12 and 15.
But rather than Russell, Antonelli quickly emerged as the more likely of the two Mercedes drivers to take victory despite starting from 19th. As the last driver of a gaggle of three cars, some two seconds behind the leaders, Antonelli had already picked off Hamilton and Piastri in quick succession.
Russell’s jousting with Verstappen allowed Antonelli to rapidly close in on the lead battle, snatching second away from the Red Bull man on lap 16. Antonelli only needed one attempt to pass Russell for the lead, claiming control on lap 18 at Turn 1.
The yo-yo racing, with battery levels dictating straightline speeds, continued at a breathless pace, with Russell twice retaking the lead on lap 22 and 23. Suggestions from the pitwall to halt the yo-yo racing and build a gap to Verstappen were met with a grumpy reply from the young Italian, but he did comply as he tucked in behind Russell and conserved his more brittle medium tyres.
The story of the race changed when Lance Stroll ground to a halt in his Aston Martin, with Antonelli and Verstappen using the virtual safety car to rid themselves of their medium tyres and switch to new rubber. The pair came out in sixth and seventh, just 15 seconds behind Russell, who was nursing his hard tyres to the end.
By lap 37 of 53, Antonelli had worked his way past Hamilton and then Piastri to second place, giving himself 16 laps to close the nine-second gap to his leading team-mate while Verstappen followed him through into third.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Antonelli was quick but not initially catching Russell fast enough to close the gap, as the Briton escaped for action for a suspected yellow flag infringement. But Russell’s hard tyres started showing worsening signs of wear towards the end of the race, allowing Antonelli to close the gap by the end of lap 47.
The first clash followed at the start of lap 49, with Russell cutting Turn 2 as he desperately tried to keep Antonelli behind. But the Italian went off as well, drifting through the gravel trap on the outside, allowing Russell to retain the lead.
Not best pleased by the Turn 1 skirmish, Antonelli tried again on the following tour but opted for a more straight-forward pass between Lesmo 2 and the Variante Ascari.
The 19-year-old held onto his hard-fought lead until the finish, winning his home race at the second time of asking. Russell was a defeated second, with Verstappen joining them on the podium.
Norris beat Piastri at the line for fourth, while Hamilton dropped back on worn medium tyres to finish sixth. From pole, Gasly eventually salvaged seventh at the finish ahead of Lindblad and Colapinto, with the second Racing Bulls car of Tsunoda claiming the final point in tenth on his second weekend as a replacement driver.
In breathtaking fashion, Antonelli is the first Italian winner of the Monza race in 60 years as he reinforces his championship lead by seven points, now heading Russell by 66 points into next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix on the newly-built Madring in Madrid.
F1 Italian GP – Race results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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