Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix 2026 at the Monza Circuit on 6 September 2026, driving for Mercedes after starting 19th on the grid. The 19-year-old Italian passed his teammate George Russell with three laps left to complete a Mercedes one-two, with Max Verstappen of Red Bull finishing third. The victory made Antonelli the first Italian to win at home since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966.
Who Won the Italian GP 2026?
Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix 2026 for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team in a time of 1 hour 51 minutes 15.281 seconds over 53 laps. His teammate George Russell finished second, 3.857 seconds behind, while Max Verstappen of Red Bull finished third, 14.718 seconds behind the winner.
The result gave Mercedes a dominant one-two finish at Monza. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren finished fourth and fifth, while Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari finished sixth at his home race for Ferrari. Surprise pole winner Pierre Gasly of Alpine finished seventh.
| Position | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:51:15.281 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | plus 3.857 seconds |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | plus 14.718 seconds |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | plus 19.056 seconds |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | plus 19.253 seconds |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | plus 24.655 seconds |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | plus 27.351 seconds |
How Did Antonelli Win from 19th on the Grid?
Antonelli started 19th because of a grid penalty for using extra power unit parts. A power unit is the full engine and hybrid system of a Formula 1 car. Teams are allowed to use only a fixed number of parts in a season, and using more pushes the driver toward the back of the starting grid. Antonelli had qualified seventh, but the penalty dropped him to the rear.
The starting grid itself produced a shock. Pierre Gasly took a surprise pole position for Alpine after strong upgrades to the car, with Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton behind him and Russell beside them. On the opening laps, Leclerc crashed heavily and brought out a red flag. A red flag stops the race completely so the track can be cleared. A few laps after the restart, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin stopped at the first chicane and caused a virtual safety car. A virtual safety car forces all cars to slow down without a full stoppage.
Mercedes used that moment smartly. Antonelli stopped for fresh tyres while Russell stayed out to protect track position. Antonelli came out sixth, about 15 seconds behind Russell, with 24 laps left. On newer rubber, he passed Gasly, Norris, Hamilton and Piastri in quick succession. He first took the lead from Russell on lap 18 during the early charge, lost it during the pit stop phase, and then closed in again in the final laps.
With five laps to go, Antonelli caught Russell but ran wide through the gravel at Turn 1 after Russell defended the inside line. He lost about 1.7 seconds but recovered quickly. On lap 50 of 53, he swept past Russell on the straight between the second Lesmo corner and Ascari and pulled clear to the flag. He also set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap with a time of 1 minute 23.504 seconds.
What Is Formula 1 and How Is the World Champion Decided?
Formula 1, often written as F1, is the highest class of single seater car racing in the world. It is governed by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Paris, France. The first Formula 1 World Championship was held in 1950. Each season has a series of races called Grands Prix, and the 2026 season has 24 Grands Prix across five continents.
The starting grid is the order in which cars line up at the start, decided by a qualifying session held a day before the race. The fastest qualifier starts first in a position called pole position. In the race, drivers must complete a fixed number of laps. They have to make pit stops to change tyres, and teams plan tyre age and timing to gain an advantage.
The Drivers World Championship goes to the driver with the most points at the end of the season. The Constructors World Championship goes to the team with the most points from both its cars added together. If two drivers finish level on points, the one with more wins is ranked higher, followed by more second places and then more third places.
Points are given to the top ten finishers in each Grand Prix. The winner gets 25 points, second place gets 18 points and third place gets 15 points. Points then reduce to 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 for fourth through tenth. Short sprint races held on some weekends give points to the top eight, with 8 points for the winner down to 1 point for eighth.
Where Is Monza and Why Is It Called the Temple of Speed?
The Italian Grand Prix is held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, located in the town of Monza near Milan in northern Italy. Milan is the economic capital of Italy and the centre of its largest metropolitan area. The circuit sits inside the Parco di Monza, a large public park that also houses the Royal Villa of Monza.
Monza was built in just 110 days and opened on 3 September 1922. It was the third permanent race track in the world after Brooklands in Britain and Indianapolis in the United States. It has hosted the Italian Grand Prix in every Formula 1 season since 1950, except in 1980 when the race moved to Imola during refurbishment. Because of its long straights and very fast corners, it is known as the Temple of Speed.
The current track is 5.793 km long, has 11 corners and hosts a race of 53 laps covering 306.720 km. It has the second fewest corners on the calendar and demands the lowest downforce setup of the year. Downforce is the push that holds the car to the track in corners, and teams reduce it at Monza to gain top speed on the straights. The official race lap record is 1 minute 20.901 seconds, set by Lando Norris in 2025, while the fastest qualifying lap ever was 1 minute 18.792 seconds, set by Max Verstappen in 2025 at an average speed of about 264.6 km per hour.
Who Is Andrea Kimi Antonelli?
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was born on 25 August 2006 in Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. He is called Kimi by almost everyone, while Andrea is his official name on his racing licence. His father Marco Antonelli is a former sports car driver and team owner, and his mother Veronica has worked in motorsport management since the late 1990s. His race number in Formula 1 is 12.
Antonelli joined the Mercedes Junior Team in April 2019 at the age of 12. He won back to back European karting titles in 2020 and 2021. He then moved to car racing and dominated Italian and German Formula 4 in 2022 with 22 wins, followed by the Formula Regional European and Middle East titles in 2023. He stepped up to Formula 2 in 2024 and became the youngest multiple winner in that series with victories at Silverstone and Budapest.
Mercedes announced at Monza in 2024 that Antonelli would replace seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who moved to Ferrari for 2025. Antonelli made his Formula 1 debut at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix at 18 years and 203 days, becoming the third youngest starter in history and the first Italian on the grid since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021. He scored three podiums and 150 points in his rookie season and finished seventh. In 2026, his second season, he took his first win at the Chinese Grand Prix, became the youngest pole winner in China and the youngest leader of the World Championship after Japan.
Antonelli vs Russell: How the 2026 Title Race Stands
The Monza win was Antonelli’s seventh win of the 2026 season. He had earlier won five of the first six races and taken the championship lead in Japan, the third round. After 13 of 24 rounds, he has 267 points against 201 points for Russell in second place. The gap grew from 59 points before Monza to 66 points after Monza, because Antonelli gained 25 points for the win and Russell gained 18 points for second.
Lewis Hamilton is third with 191 points, followed by Norris with 171 points and Leclerc with 155 points. Verstappen, a four time world champion, is sixth with 127 points and has yet to win in 2026. In the teams standings, Mercedes leads with 468 points, ahead of Ferrari with 346 points and McLaren with 287 points. The Mercedes lead over Ferrari is now 122 points.
| Position | Driver (Team) | Wins in 2026 | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) | 7 | 267 |
| 2 | George Russell (Mercedes) | 2 | 201 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) | 1 | 191 |
| 4 | Lando Norris (McLaren) | 2 | 171 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) | 1 | 155 |
The comparison between the two Mercedes drivers is now central to the season. Russell, the senior driver, has two wins and started at the front at Monza. Antonelli, in only his second full season, has taken six pole positions and seven wins and has consistently finished ahead since the middle of the year. With Russell also expected to take grid penalties for extra parts later in the season, Monza may prove decisive in the title fight.
Why This Home Win Matters for Italy and Mercedes
For Italy, this was a wait of 60 years. No Italian had won the home race since Scarfiotti in 1966. The Monza crowd is traditionally dominated by Ferrari fans, known as the tifosi, but they rose to cheer an Italian driving for a rival team. The win was also the 50th Formula 1 victory by an Italian driver.
For Mercedes, it was the team’s 250th Grand Prix victory as a power unit manufacturer and its eighth win at Monza, the first since 2018. The result underlined the team’s strength under the new 2026 regulations. From this year, cars are shorter, narrower and lighter, with a minimum weight of 768 kg against 800 kg in 2025, and power is split almost equally between the 1.6 litre V6 turbo engine and the electric motor. The fuel is now 100 percent advanced sustainable fuel made from sources such as carbon capture, municipal waste and non food biomass. Mercedes also supplies engines to McLaren, Williams and Alpine, which helped Gasly take pole at Monza.
Ferrari had a painful home weekend by contrast. Leclerc retired after his early crash and Hamilton finished sixth after being pushed into the gravel in the same incident. The team remains second in the constructors race but is now more than a hundred points behind Mercedes.
The Way Forward
The championship now moves to the final phase of a long 24 race calendar. The next round is the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid on 13 September 2026, a new venue on the calendar, followed by races in Azerbaijan, Singapore and the United States. The 2026 season also features new teams and suppliers, with Audi taking over Sauber and Cadillac joining as the eleventh team, while Ford has partnered with Red Bull on power units and Honda has returned with Aston Martin.
For Antonelli, the task is to protect a 66 point lead with 11 rounds left. A lead of that size equals more than two race wins, so consistent podium finishes would be enough even if Russell wins several races. For Russell and Hamilton, the need is urgent wins and Antonelli retirements to reopen the contest. For neutral fans, the key question is whether Ferrari and McLaren can use the remaining high speed and street circuits to break the Mercedes run before the season ends in December.
Key Takeaways
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the Italian GP 2026 at Monza on 6 September 2026 for Mercedes after starting 19th on the grid.
- Antonelli passed teammate George Russell on lap 50 of 53, with Max Verstappen finishing third for Red Bull.
- He became the first Italian winner at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966 and claimed his seventh win of 2026.
- The Monza Circuit is 5.793 km long and hosts 53 laps covering 306.720 km near Milan.
- After Monza, Antonelli leads with 267 points, 66 points ahead of Russell, while Mercedes leads Ferrari 468 to 346 in the constructors standings.
