Kimi Antonelli maintained his lead at the top of the Formula One standings thanks to a dramatic win in the Italian Grand Prix.
The home driver started way back on 19th in the grid but came out on top during a drama-laden race at Monza.
Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell started second and was leading with just three laps to go only for the Italian to narrowly pip him to first place.
The victory – Antonelli’s seventh race win – extends his Championship lead to 66 points with 11 races of the 2026 season to go. The 20-year-old also became the first Italian to win at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti back in 1966.
Antonelli caught up with Russell with five laps remaining although there was a slight worry when he ran off the track at turn one with four laps to go after Russell blocked his inside attack. Antonelli lost his grip on the loose rubber off line and slid into the gravel trap – which dropped him to 1.7secs off again.
However, a lap-and-a-half later he would eclipse Russell on the straight between the second Lesmo corner and Ascari, and that was enough to seal a famous win. A jubilant Antonelli said afterwards: “It’s one that I will remember forever. Definitely the fans gave that little bit extra to push more. The support has been great this weekend.
“Definitely seeing the grandstand cheering every lap it gave that little bit of extra to push more and to try and do even better to win it.”
Russell reflected on his near-miss, saying: “I was on the hard tyre and Kimi was on the medium tyre [when the VSC came], so if either of us were to pit, it was going to be Kimi.
“I guess, why I was just a little bit annoyed with the timing of that VSC because, like Max (Verstappen) said, I think it would have been tough for those guys on the medium to have competed with anybody on the hard tyre. But, it takes nothing away from Kimi’s drive altogether.”
Red Bull’s Verstappen came third whilst Pierre Gasly, who earned a surprise pole position in qualifying, ended up seventh.
Next on the schedule is the Spanish Grand Prix, which gets underway on Friday.
