Antonelli's Monza climb from 19th hailed a 'drive for the ages' as championship lead hits 66 points
A climb that will go down in folklore
Kimi Antonelli produced one of the great Formula 1 drives to win the Italian Grand Prix, his home race, climbing from 19th on the grid to the top step of the podium at Monza — a result that stretched his lead at the head of the drivers' championship to 66 points over Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Max Verstappen, in the Red Bull, finished third to complete the podium.
The Mercedes driver wasted no time picking his way through the field, minimising any loss of race time from each overtake — a skill many of his rivals could only envy on a Sunday when passing a car of similar performance and immediately pulling away proved beyond almost everyone else. BBC Sport branded it a win that "will go down in F1 folklore" — a performance for the ages in the mould of Lewis Hamilton in Brazil in 2021, Verstappen in Brazil in 2024 or 2025, or Fernando Alonso in Valencia in 2012.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella — who has worked with Michael Schumacher and Alonso and knows a thing or two about drives of this calibre — was full of praise.
"While he had a very competitive car, we have to say that he beat a team-mate starting second on the grid. It's a very special day, very important for his championship. But for his career and for the fans, motorsport in general, this will be an iconic day. This will be remembered in the years to come."
Why Russell was not offered the VSC stop
One burning question after Monza was why Russell, as the lead driver on track at the time, was not at least given the choice of pitting when the virtual safety car was called mid-race. In reality, there was no controversy behind the decision.
At the time, Russell was leading on the hard tyre — fitted at the red flag with the express intention of going to the end — with Antonelli second on the mediums, a few laps after Mercedes had advised the pair to call off their 'yo-yo' scrapping in order to optimise their pace and build a gap to Verstappen's Red Bull.
Without a VSC, the question was whether the mediums on Antonelli's car would last to the end — probably not — and what Mercedes would do about it. With or without the intervention, the race result was up in the air.
Russell said he had given no thought to changing tyres when the VSC arrived: "I didn't. I actually thought the guys behind me were going to stay out as well. But I'm sure the team were quite nervous on the pit wall watching our battle and were probably quite happy to send us on different strategies."
"And of course, when we had Max in the mix as well, from a team perspective, you're covering off both scenarios. If either of us were to pit, it was going to be Kimi. And that's why I was just a little bit annoyed with the timing of that VSC because I think it would have been tough for those guys on the medium to have competed with anybody on the hard tyre. But it takes nothing away from Kimi's drive."
Team principal Toto Wolff confirmed Mercedes' strategy software favoured staying out: "We didn't know what was the better strategy. At that stage, the system said that the one-stop comes out ahead. That two-stop was coming close to the end, but didn't catch it. That's what the software said."
What next
The analysis came ahead of round 14 of the 2026 season in Madrid, Spain, where Antonelli arrived with a 66-point cushion over Russell at the top of the drivers' standings.