MONZA: Race Recap

The 2026 Italian Grand Prix at Monza delivered plenty of drama from start to finish. The main storylines being Italian Kimi Antonelli winning from 19^th in front of his home crowd, tensions between teammates, and Ferrari heartbreak.

Kimi gained 7 spots on the first two laps before a red flag was called after Charles Leclerc ended his race in a barrier. On the second restart he gained more positions and sliced through the pack to catch up to Russell, who at that point was leading the Grand Prix. Kimi, being on mediums while George was on hards, made use of a Virtual Safety Car to pit while Russell stayed out.

This left Antonelli charging back to front of the field on fresher tires. On lap 49 he made a move to overtake George once again but he understeered into the gravel. Luckily for the Italian he continued on and overtook his teammate with 3 laps to go to become the first Italian driver to win the Italian Grand Prix since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. Fittingly, his victory extended his championship lead to 66 points.

Although one Italian had a great day, Ferrari had a disaster. Charles Leclerc started in 3^rd  with Hamilton in 4^th. In turn two the pair were fighting for position and Lewis ended up on the gravel, accusing his teammate of shoving him off the track over the radio. Lewis lost places as Leclerc continued on but on Lap 2 he lost control of his car in the Parabolica and smashed his Ferrari into the barriers, triggering an early red flag.

For the rest of the race Lewis Hamitlon was the lone Ferrari and was struggling for pace. He managed to finish 6^th but post-race, he was clearly frustrated. He has now ruled out winning a title in 2026 and is publicly disappointed with Ferrari’s decisions.

Max Verstappen pulled of a podium, finishing P3. Red Bull were nowhere near Mercedes on the straights but like Antonelli, he made use of the VSC and managed to hang onto third on fresher rubber.

McLaren were in a state of damage control this weekend. The car was very slow on the straights and the car had some major flaws exposed. To make matters worse, Piastri started with  a grid penalty and Lando had a compromised final run in qualifying so they were not starting where they would have liked to be. Norris secured 4^th and Piastri 6^th regardless, but any talk of Norris potentially coming back to defend his title has been silenced.

Late in the race, Lance Stroll suffered a hydraulics issue in his Aston Martin. This resulted in a retirement for him. Fernando Alonso also retired with car damage, which caused the VSC that helped Kimi and Max because there was debris on the track.

Yuki Tsunoda has managed to claim a point. He is stepping in for Lawson while he covers for Hadjar at Red Bull. In his second race of the season he managed to finish 10^th which also promotes him to 20^th in the championship. Liam Lawson was not having as much fun as he ended up down in 14^th, scoring no points.

Gasly started on pole for the first time in his career. He finished 7^th but he did manage to hold onto his lead for a lap. Eventually he fought with Norris for a while but ultimately lost out. However, 7^th is still a good finish as he was the highest finisher outside of the McLaren’s, Mercedes, Max and Lewis. Franco Colapinto finished in 9^th after having to fight his way back into the points after suffering a spin.