Antonelli wins the Italian Grand Prix from 19th, first home victor since 1966

Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, 6 September, from 19th on the grid. He passed Mercedes teammate George Russell at the Ascari chicane on lap 50 of 53 and took the flag in 1:51:15.281. Russell finished 3.857 seconds behind. Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, 14.718 seconds back. No Italian had won the race at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. No one had won a Grand Prix from 19th since John Watson won from 22nd at Long Beach in 1983.

Antonelli turned 20 two weeks earlier. He took new power-unit parts and the grid drop that comes with them. Pierre Gasly started on pole for Alpine. Russell lined up second. Charles Leclerc put a Ferrari third and did not finish. Antonelli's race engineer and the timing screen showed a long list of passes. The world feed counted 25 overtakes before the last chase. He led on lap 18, dropped behind after a pit stop, then hunted Russell down in the final stint.

The official classification paid 25 points to Antonelli, 18 to Russell, 15 to Verstappen, 12 to Lando Norris, 10 to Oscar Piastri and 8 to Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari. Gasly held on for sixth after the pole. Arvid Lindblad scored fourth for Racing Bulls in eighth. Franco Colapinto took two points in ninth. Yuki Tsunoda took the last point. Antonelli's fastest lap was 1:23.504. He pitted twice. Russell pitted once.

The championship picture after Monza is a Mercedes lock at the front. Antonelli leads Russell by 66 points. Hamilton sits ten further back in third. Seven wins in a season at the age of 20, including a home race from the pit-lane side of the grid, is the record Toto Wolff now has to manage inside one garage. Wolff told reporters he had thought one of the two Mercedes cars would win. The one that started 19th did.

Ferrari's afternoon was a home crowd in red and a retirement for Leclerc. Hamilton's sixth place kept him on the board and off the podium. McLaren's Norris and Piastri boxed each other into fourth and fifth. Verstappen's third was a typical Monza result for a car that could not live with the Mercedes race pace once the tyre offset unwound.

The next round is the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit in Madrid. Antonelli will arrive there as the man who ended a 60-year wait for an Italian winner at Monza and as the points leader by a margin that survives an ordinary weekend. Russell will arrive as the teammate who led late and lost the place at Ascari. That is a winter-level tension arriving in September.

The result sheet does not need colour. Grid 19. Pits 2. Time 1:51:15.281. Gap to Russell 3.857. Wins this year 7. Lead 66 points. Last Italian winner at Monza: Scarfiotti, 1966. Last winner from as far back: Watson, Long Beach, 1983. Age 20. Those lines are why the grandstands stayed after the flag.