I can’t think of a more beautiful spectacle in motorsport than the sea of red at Monza. Over 400,000 Italian fans lined the grandstands for this year’s Italian Grand Prix wearing their Ferrari colours in support of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with accents of black featuring Mercedes logos in support of the hometown hero, Kimi Antonelli.
With some Italian fans feeling divided, it was interesting to see which way the support went, and all I can say is at least they’re somewhat happy with the results from this weekend — somewhat being the key word. There were ups, downs, fantastic overtakes, and drama all weekend, so let’s get into the excitement that was the 2026 Italian Grand Prix from Monza.
Qualifying
It was the usual suspects near the front of the grid during Q1, but what shocked fans was the pace of the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto. With Gasly crossing the line in P1 and teammate Colapinto just behind in P4, it was a pleasant surprise considering the results Alpine has seen over the last couple of seasons. Where did this pace come from? It’s been noted that Gasly was testing an updated aero package in Zandvoort (Dutch Grand Prix), which has now been fitted to Colapinto’s car. This isn’t a small update either: both cars received an updated floor, diffuser, rear wing, and bodywork upgrade. This, paired with a low downforce setup, gave them the upper hand in terms of overall speed, which is needed for the extensive length of both back and main straights.
Q2 would see opposing teams bring more pace, with Kimi Antonelli exiting the session in P1, closely followed by the McLarens of Oscar Piastri in P2 and Lando Norris in P3. Gasly’s pace did drop off slightly, but nonetheless, an impressive P4 was followed by the Mercedes of George Russell in P5. Max Verstappen and his Red Bull were P6, with the Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad on his heels in P7, followed by Franco Colapinto in P8. There were desperate times in the Ferrari garage, as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton made it into Q3 by the skin of their teeth, causing Italian fans great concern and questioning the lacklustre pace of their home team. For reference, Hamilton made it into Q3 by only one-thousandth of a second, and Leclerc by eight-thousandths of a second.
In the final qualifying session, the Alpine of Pierre Gasly came back to life and found himself in P3 until a spectacular last-lap effort put him in P1, overtaking the Mercedes of George Russell by five-hundredths of a second, giving Gasly his first pole position in Formula One. Piastri maintained pace in his McLaren from Q2 and crossed the line in P3, and thankfully the Ferraris managed to find some pace: Charles Leclerc in P4 and Lewis Hamilton in P5. Max Verstappen brought his Red Bull home in P6, with the hometown hero, Kimi Antonelli, qualifying a surprising P7. To round out the session are Franco Colapinto in P8 for Alpine, Lando Norris in P9 for McLaren, and the Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad in P10.
Race
And the 2026 Italian Grand Prix is underway! Gasly launched off the line beautifully with Russell and the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton in hot pursuit. The tight and tricky Prima Variante (Turns 1 & 2) was surprisingly clean with all drivers making it through, but Ferrari fans held their breath as Leclerc and Hamilton entered side by side, with Leclerc running Hamilton into the gravel on the exit of Turn 2, causing Hamilton to drop rapidly to P9, “AGH! Charles — he pushed me off,” exclaimed a frustrated Hamilton. A couple of corners later, Piastri would attack Verstappen for P4, but Verstappen would defend with a beautiful outside pass entering Seconda Variante (Turns 4 & 5), and his pursuit of the podium was back on.
In an already action-packed race, Lap 2 would see the Mercedes of George Russell carrying heaps of momentum down the main straight, passing Pierre Gasly just before Prima Variante, allowing the Ferrari of Leclerc to set up for an overtake on Gasly on the inside of Turn 2. However, Leclerc depleted most of his battery, giving Gasly the chance to take back P2 through Curva Grande (Turn 3), and Verstappen to take P3 from Leclerc through the first corner of the Ascari Chicane (Turns 8, 9 & 10).
Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for Ferrari, it did. After losing out in the battle with Gasly and Verstappen, Oscar Piastri decided to have a go at Leclerc, throwing his McLaren down the inside of the Ferrari entering Parabolica (Turn 11). Leclerc defended by braking late, carrying too much momentum to hit the apex of Parabolica, causing him to run a bit wide on exit. The second the rear tires touched the outer portion of the track, Leclerc experienced an extreme and sudden snap of oversteer, sending his Ferrari rocketing into the barriers at 240 km/h (149 mph), causing an impact of over 60g.
For context, F1 drivers experience — at most — 5g of gravitational force, which equals five times their body weight in gravitational force. Leclerc, on impact, felt 60g, which is 60 times his body weight in force. “It was just my vision a little bit at first, the right eye was not showing me great vision. But now it’s all good. That’s the thing I was most worried of getting out of the car,” Leclerc said, and it was a relief to see him walk away from the initial impact. This accident would bring out the red flag for half an hour while crews repaired the barriers.
The red flag is clear, and we’re set to go racing once again. Five red lights on, five red lights off, the Italian Grand Prix is back on. Russell had a phenomenal start, holding off the Alpines of Gasly and Colapinto heading into Prima Variante. Verstappen would attack the Alpine of Colapinto on the entry to Turn 2 but lacked the momentum to make the move stick through Curva Grande. However, he would later make a brilliant move on the outside entering Turn 5 to take back P3. Colapinto would then have to defend from a hungry Lewis Hamilton and would overdrive into Lesmo 2 (Turn 7), sending his Alpine into the gravel.
Verstappen was on the charge, making a pass on the inside down the back straight on Pierre Gasly for P2, his sights now set on the Mercedes of George Russell, with less than a two-second gap between them. Verstappen was growing ever closer in the mirrors of George Russell, and on lap 13, Verstappen made a late-braking move into Prima Variante to take the lead from George Russell. While he did get the job done, most of his battery was depleted in the process, allowing Russell to retake the position on the entry of Seconda Variante.
While Verstappen and Russell were focused on their own battle, they hadn’t noticed the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli catching them in rapid succession lap after lap. The young Italian started P19 on the grid and was already within the podium positions. Now it was a waiting game. Antonelli saw the opportunity to pass Verstappen on the exit of Curva Grande and made the pass stick. Two laps later, the opportunity to pass teammate George Russell was there, making the move down the inside heading into Prima Variante—P19 to P1, an impressive feat to say the least.
Lap after lap, it was Antonelli vs. Russell, Mercedes vs. Mercedes in a phenomenal battle for the lead. Both drivers nearly made contact on a number of occasions, while Max Verstappen in his Red Bull got the best seat in the house, watching the teammates battle it out, hoping to capitalize on a mistake from either driver. On the exit of Parabolica, the stalled Aston Martin of Lance Stroll would bring out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC), opening the pit window, giving Antonelli the opportunity to pit for fresh tires, and bring the fight to Russell.
After chewing his way back to P2 from P6, Antonelli was back on the hunt, now glued to the gearbox of teammate George Russell. The clash of the final laps saw both drivers racing for a championship. With five laps to go, Antonelli made an attempt down the main straight and stuck to the outside line through Prima Variante, overdriving the car through Turn 2 and running into the gravel. Both Mercedes drivers were getting antsy, battling through every sector and every corner, prompting a radio message: “Keep it clean. No risk here,” which seemed to be ignored. Antonelli made a quick move to the outside of Russell just before Ascari, taking the lead and driving away, solidifying his victory on home soil.
The rest of the field: George Russell P2, Max Verstappen P3, Lando Norris P4, Oscar Piastri P5, Lewis Hamilton P6, Pierre Gasly P7, Arvid Lindblad P8, Franco Colapinto P9, Yuki Tsunoda P10.
The man who’s turned red hats into silver, Ferrari fans into Mercedes fans, was victorious from 19th position on the grid. Kimi Antonelli is the first Italian driver to win his home Grand Prix in 60 years; the last to do so was Ludovico Scarfiotti in his Ferrari 312 back in 1966. Antonelli has now extended his points lead over teammate George Russell by 66 points.
The 2026 season gets more and more interesting, and I predict it will be a final showdown between Antonelli and Russell when we get to Abu Dhabi, but that’s months away, and I should probably focus on the next race: the Spanish Grand Prix from the brand-new Madring Circuit in Madrid from September 11th – September 14th.
