Kimi Antonelli pips team mate George Russell to his first home victory in the closing laps after starting from 19th on the grid as other home favourite, Charles Leclerc crashes out.
The Mercedes Battle: Clean, Exciting… But Fair?
Starting from P19 on the grid after taking engine grid penalties, Antonelli had it all to do. A red flag to repair the barriers at the Parabolica on Lap 3 already saw Antonelli restarting the race in 12th after a storming first few laps with bold, but patient overtakes through the field.
Russell led the opening stages of the race once passing pole-sitter, Pierre Gasly at the start. Despite leading the majority, Russell struggled to shake the challenge of Max Verstappen in the early laps. The leading pair swapped the lead multiple times before Russell retained it around the outside of Curva Grande on Lap 12.
The battling brought his team mate into play and on Lap 19, with a clean move into the Rettifilo Chicane Antonelli took the lead for the first time in Monza.
The Mercedes duo exchanged P1 for multiple laps before eventually being told to cool it off and focus on pulling away from Verstappen. At this point, it was Antonelli behind and he obeyed and stayed behind his team mate in the lead.
Drama out front settled until a Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 28 to recover Lance Stroll’s Honda which had suffered a hydraulics issue. Mercedes pitted Antonelli from second and Verstappen in third followed him in with 25 laps left to go in the race on a track where overtaking is much easier than others.
Russell stayed out… but was that a fair decision for a team with two drivers in the championship fight and no number one driver assigned?
After the red flag, Antonelli had a set of medium tyres to get to the end of the race on while Russell was on hards.
With that context, it makes sense as to why the pit wall would choose to box one driver but not the other. Although it did seem almost inevitable that Antonelli would catch and pass him team mate who would have very little defense on 49 lap old hard tyres.
The brit did defend however at the first chicane, but Antonelli overshot the corner and found the gravel. He redeemed himself one lap later, repairing the broken tifosi hearts and made the move that made Monza erupt.
A Somber Sunday for the Scuderia
The opening stages of the Italian Grand Prix were nothing short of abysmal for the Scuderia at their home race. Starting third and fourth, the Ferraris had a great chance to challenge Gasly and Russell in front.
Hamilton placed his car on the inside of Turn 1, Lap 1 alongside his team mate in what would’ve been a bold move for third.
On the exit of the Rettifilo Chicane, Hamilton ran out of road trying to go around the outside of Leclerc and complained on team radio that his Leclerc “pushed him off” and he dropped down to tenth as a result.
Adding insult to injury, Leclerc crashed out at the Parabolica on Lap 3, bringing out the Safety Car. Defending from Oscar Piastri behind, Leclerc found himself off line and heavy on the throttle and eventually found the barrier.
Hamilton did all he could to finish P6, including an enthralling battle with Piastri but like Russell, he also questioned the team’s decision not to take advantage of a cheap pit stop under the VSC.
Above Average Weekend for Alpine
After taking a sensational pole position on Saturday, Gasly drove a stellar race to finish P7 for Alpine. He spent the majority swapping positions with McLaren’s Lando Norris despite a pace disadvantage.
His team mate, Franco Colapinto got up to second at the red flag restart, but lost his rears on the exit of the first Lesmo and got onto the gravel, dropping him down to 15th.
Although it’s not the finish that Jeremy Clarkson hoped for after Qualifying, the obvious pace and step forward for the team that were back of the pack last year is an incredible turnaround.
Mediocre Monza for McLaren
On the back of two back to back wins for Norris, McLaren probably didn’t expect a P4 and P5 finish for their drivers today.
Piastri spent the majority of the race battling seven time World Champion, Hamilton, for the podium places until his tyres dropped off and his team mate starting to catch.
Norris initially tried a move on the run down to the Ascari Chicane, but got on to the grass after going for a skinny gap alongside Piastri. McLaren reminded their Aussie driver to race cleanly and on the final lap, Norris took fourth with only one tenth separating them across the line.
Final Order
Yuki Tsunoda secures a point after jumping into the RB to cover Liam Lawson who failed to score for Red Bull today. Colapinto also managed to salvage some points after a disappointing race for him after losing P2.
Image: Formula 1 via X