Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix despite starting from 19th position and extended his championship lead.
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| Photo: Clive Rose |
One week before the Spanish Grand Prix on a brand-new circuit, we had one stop at one of the most classic racetracks in the world - Monza, the so-called Temple of Speed.
Monza is unique for its passionate Italian fans, who head there to support what we can call the second religion in Italy - Ferrari. Another reason why Monza is so special is its track layout. From long straights where cars are travelling at more than 300 km/h, you have to brake within a few metres for very slow chicanes. This means the circuit represents a true challenge for both drivers and cars.
Pierre Gasly was the one who managed to deal with this challenge the best in qualifying, as he secured his first-ever pole position in Formula 1. Six years ago, he also won his first-ever race there, and hopes that he could do it again were on the table. However, at the start of the race, he had George Russell behind him, who overtook him during the second lap.
But the real drama came right after the start, as Charles, who started third, forced Hamilton off the track at the first corner, and Lewis, who started fourth, lost several positions. Anyway, Charles didn't last long in the race, as he lost control in the Parabolica corner and heavily crashed into the barrier, which caused a red flag.
At that moment, Antonelli, who started from 19th, was already in 12th position. After the 40-minute red flag, Kimi continued in his wild drive, and on lap 13, he was in third position, right behind his teammate George Russell. On lap 18, Kimi managed to get ahead of Russell for the first time; however, George managed to protect first place for the time being.
Russell changed his tyres during the red flag, so his plan was to finish the race on hard tyres. On the other side of the garage was Kimi, who had to stop one more time. After his visit to the pits, he closed the gap to Russell, and on lap 49, he tried to overtake him at the second corner - Prima Variante, but he went into the gravel. A lap later, his move on George was finally successful, and he retook the lead.
After a career-defining performance, Kimi Antonelli became the first Italian driver in 60 years to win the Italian Grand Prix.
"Unbelievable, I'm so happy and I could never have imagined to be here today but we managed to pull it off and I'm really happy," said Antonelli immediately after the race, who added "it's a dream coming true.
"After the second restart I was up there and I knew I could have a shot for the win. Definitely I believed in it, especially when I was behind George but it was really difficult because it was really difficult to break away with the tow being so strong.
"At the end, we pitted and he [Russell] stayed out and he struggled a bit with his tyres at the end. With fresher tyres I was able to increase the pace and managed to win it," said Kimi after the race.
The two Mercedes drivers were joined on the podium by Max Verstappen in third.
In the championship, Kimi extended his lead to 60 points.