Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli produced a stunning comeback at Monza on Sunday, charging from 19th on the grid to win his home Italian Grand Prix and deal a major blow to Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell.
The 20-year-old became the first Italian to win at Monza since Ferrari’s Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. His victory was also the 50th by an Italian driver since the Formula One world championship began in 1950.
Russell finished second, 3.857 seconds behind Antonelli, after leading for much of the race. Max Verstappen completed the podium for Red Bull, finishing well behind the Mercedes pair.
Russell had hoped to close Antonelli’s 59-point championship advantage after the Italian incurred engine penalties and started from the back row. Instead, Antonelli extended his lead to 66 points after 13 rounds, moving closer to becoming Formula One’s youngest world champion and Italy’s first champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” Antonelli screamed over team radio after taking the chequered flag for his seventh win of the season.
“I could have never imagined to be here today. But we managed to pull it off and I’m really, really happy,” he said on the podium as the home crowd erupted.
Dramatic Comeback
Antonelli began on hard tyres and had climbed to 12th before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed heavily, bringing out the red flags and halting the race for around 30 minutes.
Russell led the restart from pole, while Antonelli switched to medium tyres. The Italian quickly surged through the field, reaching sixth after 10 laps, third after 13 and second after 16.
Antonelli first moved ahead of Russell on lap 18, but the lead repeatedly changed hands as the two Mercedes cars battled on Monza’s high-speed straights.
A virtual safety car on lap 29, triggered when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll stopped on track, gave Antonelli another opportunity. He pitted for fresh tyres while Russell remained out on the hard compound.
Antonelli then hunted down his teammate, reducing an 8.9-second deficit to less than a second in just 10 laps. His charge appeared to have unravelled when he ran into the gravel while attempting an overtake with four laps remaining.
But the Italian recovered immediately, retook the lead on lap 51 of 53 and pulled clear to secure a memorable home victory.
Russell admitted his ageing tyres left him unable to fight back.
“It was looking like a pretty strong race from us, and then I was just struggling with the tyres towards the end,” he said.
McLaren’s Lando Norris finished fourth after overtaking teammate Oscar Piastri on the final lap. Norris is now 96 points behind Antonelli in the championship.
Ferrari endured a disappointing home race, with Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth after dropping to 10th following an opening-lap incident with teammate Leclerc. Pierre Gasly was seventh, followed by Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda.
The Formula One season continues next weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid’s new Madring circuit.
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