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

Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix on 6 September from 19th on the grid. The 20-year-old Mercedes driver crossed the line in 1:51:15.281, 3.857 seconds ahead of teammate George Russell and 14.718 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. He is the first Italian to win at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. The win is the 50th for an Italian driver in Grand Prix history and Antonelli’s seventh of the season.

He started at the back because of a 30-place grid penalty for a planned engine change. BBC Sport noted that only John Watson’s win from 22nd at the 1983 United States Grand Prix West began from further back. Antonelli was already on Russell’s tail and fighting for the lead within 16 laps.

The race that would not stay still

An early red flag bunched the field and let Antonelli jump cars that had qualified ahead of him. He and Russell then spent the middle of the race swapping places. Russell came out ahead after fitting hard tyres during the red-flag period and staying out when Antonelli pitted for new tyres on lap 29 under a virtual safety car. A gap of about 15 seconds opened. It did not last.

Antonelli closed on Russell with five laps remaining, ran wide at the first chicane on a track that was breaking up, and lost the move. He later said the gravel moment felt as if the chance had gone. It had not. He was back on Russell’s gearbox and passed him with three laps to go, on lap 50 after a failed attempt on lap 49. He then held the lead to the flag. Verstappen kept Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind him for third. Lewis Hamilton finished sixth for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll retired after 53 laps.

Pierre Gasly started on pole for Alpine and finished seventh. Arvid Lindblad scored points in eighth for Racing Bulls. Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda took the last two points places.

What the result does to the championship

Antonelli is championship leader. Russell is now 66 points behind with the season still running. Verstappen has his fifth podium of 2026 and remains the nearest threat from outside the Mercedes garage. For Italian spectators the afternoon was unusual. The Monza crowd ordinarily leans toward Ferrari. On Sunday it stood for a Mercedes driver from Emilia-Romagna who had started 19th.

Antonelli’s own words at the line were short. “I did not expect it. Unbelievable. I’m so happy. I could never have imagined to be here today.” He also said the gravel moment at the chicane had scared him in the car.

The historical comparisons will travel. Scarfiotti’s 1966 win was the last home victory. Alberto Ascari in 1953 was the last Italian world champion. Antonelli is already being written up as the most successful Italian Formula One driver since Ascari on win count. That sentence only holds if the season ends the way the points table looks tonight. A 66-point lead is large. It is not a title. What Sunday settled is narrower: an Italian won at Monza from the back of the grid, in a Mercedes, and the tifosi who came for Ferrari left talking about him.

Fastest lap went to Antonelli as well, 1:23.504, which added the extra point on the standard scoring sheet and made the afternoon complete on paper. The image that will be reused is simpler than the lap chart: a 20-year-old in silver passing a teammate at the Temple of Speed with three laps left, and a grandstand that does not usually cheer that colour doing it anyway.