MONZA, Italy — Kimi Antonelli completed a spectacular comeback from 19th on the grid to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, passing Mercedes teammate George Russell in the closing laps to claim a home victory and extend his championship lead.
Antonelli took advantage of strong pace, several overtakes and a favorable strategy to fight his way to the front despite an engine-change penalty that forced him to start from the back of the field. Russell finished second, around four seconds behind his teammate, while Max Verstappen completed the podium.
The race got off to a chaotic start. Pierre Gasly, who had secured the first pole position of his career with Alpine, quickly lost the lead to Russell. Charles Leclerc then suffered a heavy crash on the second lap that brought out a red flag. The Ferrari driver escaped uninjured but was forced to retire from the race.
At the second start, Russell once again took control while Verstappen and Antonelli began moving through the field. Antonelli overtook several rivals and had reached the lead by Lap 18 after passing Russell. The two Mercedes drivers then engaged in an intense back-and-forth battle as differences in battery deployment affected their pace.
Antonelli made a pit stop for medium tires while Russell remained on track on used hard tires. The strategy allowed the Italian to close the gap in the final stages, although he briefly delayed his attack after running onto the gravel on Lap 49.
One lap later, Antonelli made his decisive move. He passed Russell between Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane on Lap 50 to secure the victory at his home race.
Lando Norris overtook Oscar Piastri to finish fourth, while Lewis Hamilton was sixth and became the highest-finishing Ferrari after Leclerc’s retirement. Gasly finished seventh, followed by Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda to complete the points-paying positions.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Nico Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Liam Lawson, Ollie Bearman, Esteban Ocon, Alexander Albon, Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas completed the classification. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll also retired after experiencing problems with their Aston Martins.
Formula 1 will now head to Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix, scheduled for September 11-13.
Read the original article in Spanish here.
Original article
Comments