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

Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix from 19th on the grid on Sunday, the first Italian to take the home race since Ludovico Scarfiotti for Ferrari in 1966. The 20-year-old Mercedes driver passed teammate George Russell with three laps remaining and finished 3.857 seconds clear. Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, 14.718 seconds back.

Antonelli started at the back after an engine-component penalty. Two other drivers began from the pit lane, so he lined up 19th. Mercedes had spoken before the race of a realistic target around fifth. He was on Russell's gearbox within 16 laps. BBC Sport recorded the drive as the second-longest climb to a Grand Prix win after John Watson's victory from 22nd at the 1983 United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach.

The race turned early. Charles Leclerc crashed heavily at Parabolica at the end of lap two and walked away. The restart put Russell, who had qualified second behind Pierre Gasly, into the lead. Antonelli took a second stop for fresh tyres under a virtual safety car in mid-race, cutting a 15-second gap to nothing. He ran through the gravel with four laps left while trying to pass, then took the lead on lap 51 of 53 and pulled away.

The official result sheet from Monza listed Antonelli's race time as 1:51:15.281, with a fastest lap of 1:23.504. He scored 25 points. Russell took 18 from second. Verstappen scored 15. Lando Norris was fourth and Oscar Piastri fifth for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton finished sixth for Ferrari. Gasly, who had taken his first Formula One pole on Saturday by 0.060 seconds from Russell, came home seventh. Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda completed the points.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired for Aston Martin. Leclerc did not finish. Championship mathematics moved the other way from what Russell needed. Antonelli arrived at Monza 59 points ahead after 12 rounds. He leaves 66 points clear after 13. Russell had hoped the engine penalty would give him a night to close the gap on home soil for the Briton's teammate. Instead the gap grew.

"I did not expect. Unbelievable. I am so happy, I could never imagine being here today," Antonelli said after the flag. On the radio he shouted the same surprise. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff answered: "Our Italian hero. So deserved. That was a fantastic lap. I hated the last one, but it was fantastic." It was Antonelli's seventh win of the 2026 season.

The grandstands, which usually roar for Ferrari, stood for a Mercedes car with an Italian in it. Scarfiotti's 1966 win had been the last time that combination of passport and Monza trophy existed. Sixty years is a long drought for a circuit that still sells itself as the Temple of Speed. Antonelli is 20. He is also the championship leader, and the man who just drove through half the field after an engine change that was supposed to bury his afternoon.

Gasly's pole remains a first for Alpine and the first French pole at Monza since Jean Alesi in 1997. It did not become a win. Ferrari's afternoon ended in the barriers and in sixth place. The points table now asks whether Russell can still hunt a teammate who keeps converting bad grids into trophies. Round 14 will arrive with that 66-point gap intact and with an Italian crowd that has a new name to shout.