Antonelli Wins 2026 Italian GP From 19th - First Italian Since 1966
On the Monza grid, Kimi Antonelli lined up 19th - a grid penalty for a power unit change, hard tyres bolted on to stretch as far as possible before a stop. Fifty-three laps later he stood on the top step of the podium as the first Italian to win his home Grand Prix since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. Between the start and that moment: a red flag after a Leclerc crash, a restart, five lead changes in five laps, an extra pit stop, and a gravel excursion with four laps to go. This is the race the tifosi will be telling stories about for decades.
Five moments that decided the 2026 Italian GP
- End of lap 2: Charles Leclerc loses the rear of his Ferrari exiting Parabolica and hits the tyre barrier. Red flag, a half-hour delay for barrier repairs.
- The restart: George Russell leads from pole; Antonelli lines up 12th, having already gained seven places in the three laps before the stoppage.
- Lap 17: Antonelli takes the lead coming out of Parabolica - 18 positions gained from where he started. The battle with his teammate begins.
- Virtual Safety Car after Lance Stroll parks his Aston Martin on track: Antonelli pits for a second set of mediums, drops to sixth, 15.5 seconds behind Russell.
- Lap 50: after a failed lunge at the first chicane that sends him through the gravel, Antonelli passes Russell exiting the second Lesmo and drives to victory.
The Leclerc crash and the red flag that rewrote the race
Ferrari's Sunday went wrong almost immediately. At the first chicane, Lewis Hamilton tried to pass Leclerc around the inside, ran off track, and dropped to ninth. Over the radio he said his teammate had pushed him wide. Things got worse shortly after. Late in lap 2, Leclerc was defending third from Oscar Piastri when he lost the rear exiting Parabolica, skipped across the gravel, and hammered the tyre wall - nearly a frame-by-frame replay of his crash at the same corner in 2020.
Leclerc climbed out under his own power and walked away, then sat briefly with the track marshals. He was checked at the medical centre and released. After the race he said his right eye vision was briefly affected by the impact and his arm hurt, but that he felt OK. Additional tests were scheduled for Sunday evening and Monday, and he expects to start normally in Madrid.
Repairing the barrier took around half an hour. Stewards allowed all drivers to change tyres under the red flag, which scrambled every strategy. Russell took hards and could run to the chequered flag without stopping. Antonelli, who had started on hards, switched to mediums and knew he would have to pit again. Minutes earlier that had looked like a setback. It turned out to be an advantage.
From 19th to the lead in 17 laps
Even before the red flag Antonelli had carved his way from 19th to 12th. After the restart he picked up five more positions by lap 8, and by lap 13 he was third and closing on the leading pair. Up front a separate fight was playing out: Max Verstappen, who restarted third, dispatched Pierre Gasly quickly and grabbed the lead. The Dutchman defended hard enough that Russell could not get clear, and that bought Antonelli the time he needed to reach the front.
On lap 15 Russell used better battery deployment through Curva Grande to pass Verstappen. A lap later Antonelli did exactly the same thing. Then at the end of lap 17, with a strong exit from Parabolica, the young Italian drove into the lead. Eighteen positions in seventeen laps.
Russell had no intention of handing his teammate a win. Over the next five laps the two exchanged the lead five times. The Briton defended around the outside at Curva Grande to kill Antonelli's momentum. Antonelli nearly tagged the back of his car, then cut right and passed him around the outside through the Roggia chicane. By lap 23 Russell was back in front, and the scrap had let Verstappen back into contention. Mercedes put out a ceasefire order until both drivers had built a cushion over Red Bull. Antonelli agreed, reluctantly.
Pit stop, chase, and the decisive three laps
The decision to pit was made for him by the Virtual Safety Car after Stroll parked his Aston Martin. Antonelli got a cheap stop for a second set of mediums, but it still dropped him to sixth, 15.5 seconds behind Russell. From that moment he drove like the championship was on the line at every corner. He dealt with Gasly and Norris without a fight, inherited third when Hamilton made an error on lap 35, and passed Piastri on the main straight at the start of lap 37.
With 17 laps to go he had 8.8 seconds to make up. When Russell got clearance to push harder on the hard tyres, the gap stopped shrinking for a while. But on lap 42 Russell radioed that his tyres were going away. His pace fell sharply, and by lap 48 Antonelli was right on his gearbox.
The first pass attempt came on lap 49 at the first chicane. Russell braked late, Antonelli had an opening, but he turned in too tight on the exit and went through the gravel. Four laps left, and the position stayed with the Briton. A lap later Antonelli left nothing to chance: he passed Russell exiting the second Lesmo and led well before Ascari. The grandstands erupted. By the end of that lap he had a second in hand, and on the final tour he set the fastest lap of the race - as if he needed to underline the point.
After the race Antonelli said he had not expected this and that it was a dream come true. Russell offered his teammate a straight-up compliment: when he saw on the pit board that Kimi was up to fifth, he knew he would be fighting for the win.
What this result means for the standings
It is Antonelli's seventh win of the 2026 season and the 50th Formula 1 victory by an Italian driver in the sport's history. He now has 267 points in the drivers' championship, 66 ahead of Russell, who came to Monza hoping to cut the gap and leaves with a larger deficit. With a handful of races remaining, Russell himself admitted after the race that Kimi controls the title fight.
The recovery from 19th is the second-longest journey to a Grand Prix victory ever recorded. Only John Watson went further back, winning the 1983 United States Grand Prix from 22nd. Among Italian drivers, only two-time world champion Alberto Ascari has more wins, with thirteen.
The rest of the field: Verstappen on the podium, Gasly seventh from pole
Verstappen could not respond to Antonelli after his own stop, but he managed the gap comfortably to bring home third. Lando Norris passed Oscar Piastri on the final lap in the fight for fourth; both McLaren drivers had already pushed Hamilton back to sixth. Pierre Gasly, Saturday's star with pole position, dropped into the midfield after the restart and finished seventh, ahead of Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto, and Yuki Tsunoda. Stroll and Fernando Alonso joined Leclerc on the retirement list.
Sixty years of waiting
The last Italian to win at Monza was Ludovico Scarfiotti in a Ferrari, in 1966. Since then the tifosi came here mainly to cheer for red cars, regardless of who was driving them. On Sunday they got something different: a kid from Bologna, twenty years old, in a silver Mercedes, winning his home race from the second-to-last row. Fans in red Ferrari shirts cheered a Mercedes driver. That alone tells you what the moment meant.
FAQ: 2026 Italian Grand Prix
Why did Antonelli start from 19th at the 2026 Italian GP?
A power unit change triggered a grid penalty that dropped him to 19th place. He also started the race on hard tyres.
Who was the last Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix before Antonelli?
Ludovico Scarfiotti, in 1966, driving for Ferrari. Antonelli ended a 60-year wait.
What happened to Leclerc in the race?
Leclerc crashed into the tyre barrier exiting Parabolica at the end of lap 2. He got out of the car under his own power and was examined at the medical centre before being released. He reported briefly impaired vision in his right eye and arm pain after the impact, but said he felt fine. He has additional tests scheduled and expects to race in Madrid.
What does the 2026 drivers' championship standings look like after the Italian GP?
Antonelli leads with 267 points. Russell is second, 66 points back.
Who stood on the podium at the 2026 Italian GP?
Antonelli, Russell, and Verstappen. Norris finished fourth, Piastri fifth.