Antonelli wins 2026 Italian Grand Prix from 19th on the grid to extend championship lead at Monza

A home win from the back of the Monza grid

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 FIA Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 6 September 2026, recovering from 19th on the grid to beat Mercedes team mate George Russell by 3.857 seconds, with Max Verstappen third for Red Bull. The FIA's own race report described Antonelli's decisive pass on Russell as coming between Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane on lap 50, after an earlier attempt at the first chicane on lap 49 ended with all four wheels in the gravel. ⁶⁵

The final classification issued by the stewards (Document 70, timed 20:25 on 6 September) confirms Antonelli's winning time of 1:51:15.281 over 53 laps, with Russell second and Verstappen 14.718 seconds behind the winner. Antonelli also set the fastest lap, a 1:23.504 on lap 53. ⁵

formula1.com's race report described the winning move as capping a comeback built on raw pace and smart strategy, noting a mid-race Virtual Safety Car in which Antonelli pitted for fresh medium tyres while Russell stayed out on used hards that faded late. Both cars came perilously close to contact through the Curva Grande on lap 22 during their intra-team battle. ⁷

Qualifying shock and a heavily revised starting grid

Qualifying delivered the shock of the season, per formula1.com's race report, when Pierre Gasly took his first career Formula 1 pole position for Alpine with a 1:21.786, aided by recent chassis upgrades and a Mercedes power unit. Russell qualified second on 1:21.846 and Oscar Piastri initially third on 1:21.966. ²⁷

The starting grid differed substantially from the qualifying order. formula1.com's grid document records Piastri dropping three places to sixth for impeding Liam Lawson during Q2, promoting the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to an all-Ferrari second row and Verstappen to fifth. Antonelli, seventh in qualifying on 1:22.093, was required to start from the back after using additional power unit elements, alongside Alexander Albon; Alonso and Lawson were sent to the pit lane after power unit changes and cars modified under parc ferme conditions. ³

The weekend used the traditional Grand Prix format without a Sprint, culminating in Sunday's 53-lap race. ¹²

Red flag, restart and the anatomy of the comeback

Drama struck early: Leclerc and Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel into the first chicane, Hamilton ran through the gravel and dropped down the order, and on the second lap Leclerc lost control of his Ferrari exiting the Curva Alboreto and crashed heavily into the barriers. The FIA report records that Leclerc emerged unhurt, that barrier repairs forced a red flag, and that Antonelli had already climbed seven places to 12th at the stoppage. ⁶⁷

After a standing-start restart — extended by one formation lap after Yuki Tsunoda initially lined up out of position — Russell held the lead from Gasly. The FIA account records Verstappen and Russell trading the lead through the chicanes amid differing battery deployment strategies, with Antonelli taking the lead on lap 18, and later a Virtual Safety Car for Lance Stroll's hydraulic failure allowing Antonelli to pit for fresh tyres while Russell stayed out. ⁶⁷

Gasly's race pace faded against the front-runners; he ultimately finished seventh, the last car on the lead lap classified ahead of Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad, Alpine's Franco Colapinto and Tsunoda. formula1.com reported Verstappen complaining over the radio that his car was 'completely broken on the rear axle' as he watched Antonelli close on Russell, and noted the stewards investigated then dismissed a potential yellow-flag infringement against Russell. ⁷⁶

Retirements were Leclerc on lap one of the classification (crash damage), Alonso on lap 23 with suspected car damage and Stroll on lap 26 with a hydraulic issue, per the FIA final classification. ⁵

Penalties and classifications

The FIA final classification notes Sergio Perez received a five-second time penalty for failing to follow Race Director's instructions (Stewards' Document 64), leaving him 18th and a lap down in the Cadillac, ahead of Bottas. The classification also carried a note that the result was subject to notice of intention to appeal by Audi Revolut F1 Team against Stewards' Document 69; the retrieved coverage does not record the substance of that decision or its outcome. ⁵

Tsunoda retained his tenth place and single point. GPFans reported that Tsunoda was investigated post-race for an alleged start procedure infringement — lining up in the wrong grid box for the post-red-flag restart — but stewards judged he had correctly positioned himself once moved across, absolving him under the rules. ⁹

Championship standings after Monza

The contemporaneous FIA championship-points document (Document 71, issued 20:30 on 6 September) lists the drivers' standings after Monza as: Antonelli 267, Russell 201, Hamilton 191, Norris 171, Leclerc 155, Verstappen 127, Piastri 116, Hadjar 71, Lawson 51 and Gasly 41 completing the top ten. The document confirms Antonelli's lead over Russell at 66 points, with Hamilton a further ten behind Russell. ⁴

The constructors' table in the same FIA document reads: Mercedes-AMG Petronas 468, Scuderia Ferrari HP 346, McLaren Mastercard 287, Oracle Red Bull Racing 204, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls 75, BWT Alpine 62, TGR Haas 21, Audi Revolut 16, Atlassian Williams 11, Aston Martin Aramco 3 and Cadillac 0. ⁴¹⁰

Crash.net's standings report framed the significance: Antonelli's seventh win of the 2026 campaign made him the first Italian to win at Monza since 1966, and the article noted Hamilton's championship hopes had suffered after a difficult race, with the seven-time champion sixth and 76 points off the lead. Oscar Piastri, seventh in the standings on 116 points, took fifth at Monza and ten points after being edged to fourth by McLaren team mate Norris by just 0.197 seconds, per the FIA classification. ⁸⁵

Formula 1 moved immediately to a new venue after Monza: formula1.com and GPFans both reported that the championship headed to Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit on the weekend of 11-13 September, the 14th round of the season. ⁷⁹