Kimi Antonelli Wins Italian Grand Prix From 19th on the Grid at Monza

MONZA, Italy. Kimi Antonelli won his home Italian Grand Prix on Sunday from 19th on the grid, passing Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell late in the race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Russell finished second, 3.857 seconds back, and Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull Racing.

Antonelli dropped to the back of the grid with a power unit penalty. He was 12th when the race was red-flagged on Lap 2, then worked through the field over 53 laps.

"Unbelievable! I'm so happy," Antonelli said. "I could never have imagined to be here today, but we managed to pull it off. It's a dream coming true. What an incredible day. I couldn't do it without my team, family and everyone who supports me."

Gasly's pole and a Ferrari crash

Pierre Gasly took a surprise breakthrough pole for Alpine, with Russell second. Gasly held the lead at the start, but Russell passed him into the first chicane on Lap 2. Further back, the two Ferraris went wheel to wheel at the start, and Lewis Hamilton was forced into the gravel. "Charles pushed me off!" Hamilton said on the radio.

On the second lap, Charles Leclerc lost control exiting the Curva Alboreto and hit the barriers hard. The Safety Car came out and the race was then red-flagged, with Russell leading the queue into the pits from Gasly and Verstappen. Leclerc climbed out unaided.

The VSC call that decided it

A mid-race Virtual Safety Car shaped the result. Antonelli pitted under caution for fresh medium tyres, while Russell stayed out on used hards that faded. Aside from a brief trip through the gravel as he attacked Russell, Antonelli was faultless.

Lando Norris beat McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to fourth. Hamilton recovered to sixth, and Gasly faded to seventh. Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda completed the points for Racing Bulls and Alpine.

Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were 11th and 12th for Audi. Liam Lawson, in his second weekend subbing for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, started from the pit lane and finished 14th, ahead of the Haas pair of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon. Both Aston Martins retired along with Leclerc.

Antonelli followed it with another win in Madrid a week later.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 13 of the 2026 season. It came after Norris' win at the final Dutch Grand Prix and before Antonelli's win at the Madring. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Richard Pardon / Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team