Kimi Antonelli turned Monza into a personal coronation march, storming from 19th on the grid to win the Italian Grand Prix and seize firm control of the 2026 world championship race.
On a circuit that has broken the hearts of generations of Italian hopefuls, the 20-year-old ripped up the script. No Italian had won at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. Antonelli did it from the back row.
By the time the chequered flag fell, he hadn’t just won his home race. He had ripped open a 66-point lead over team-mate George Russell in the drivers’ standings – almost three full grands prix in hand with the season still alive.
From last to legend
Starting 19th at Monza usually means damage limitation. Survival. A handful of points if everything falls your way.
Antonelli went after something far bigger.
He carved through the midfield, kept his nose clean in the early chaos and stayed close enough to the front to be ready when the race tilted on its axis. That moment came with a virtual safety car, the kind of tiny window that decides titles as much as races.
His team rolled the dice. Antonelli dived in.
The stop dropped him behind Russell but crucially gave him fresher tyres for the final sprint. From there, it became a hunt. Lap after lap, the gap shrank. Monza’s old grandstands, starved of a home hero for six decades, sensed what was coming.
The decisive move
On Lap 50 of 53, the pressure finally told.
Antonelli, reeling in Russell since that VSC stop, launched his attack and swept past his team-mate to take a lead that felt inevitable by the time he claimed it. Russell, once in control of both race and championship picture, could only watch the title momentum swing away in real time.
Behind them, Max Verstappen salvaged third for Red Bull, a solid result but a distant subplot on a day owned by the tifosi’s new idol. The three-time champion stood on the podium looking up at a grandstand that roared for someone else.
Lewis Hamilton brought his car home in sixth, beaten by both McLarens, as their orange cars muscled into the top five. For pole-sitter Pierre Gasly, the afternoon was a slow fade: from the dream of victory at lights out to seventh at the flag, swallowed by the relentless pace around him.
A championship tilting red, white and green
When Scarfiotti won here in 1966, Italy had no idea it would wait 60 years for the next one. The drought ended with a drive that felt like the start of something bigger.
Antonelli leaves Monza not just as a home winner, but as the clear favourite for the world championship. A 66-point cushion over Russell is not decisive yet. But it’s the kind of margin that forces everyone else to start counting races, not just points.
On a circuit built for speed and legends, an Italian from 19th on the grid just put one hand on the crown.
