2026 F1 Round 13 Italian Grand Prix Race: Antonelli Produces Epic Comeback from 19th to Win, Italian Driver Triumphs at Monza for First Time in 60 Years

On September 6, the 2026 F1 Round 13 Italian Grand Prix was held at Monza. Antonelli started from 19th after a power unit penalty and eventually beat his teammate Russell by 3.857 seconds, giving Mercedes a one-two finish; Verstappen was third. It was the first time an Italian driver had won an F1 Grand Prix at Monza since 1966.

Leclerc’s second-lap incident triggers red flag

Gasly, who started from pole, held the lead after the start. Hamilton and Leclerc fought for position through the first chicane, with Hamilton running into the gravel and losing several places. Russell overtook Gasly at the start of lap two to take the lead.

In the same lap, Leclerc lost control and hit the barrier while battling Piastri for position at Parabolica, bringing out the red flag as the barrier needed repairing. Leclerc was unhurt; when the race was stopped, Antonelli had already climbed from 19th to 12th.

After the restart, Verstappen and Russell fought for the lead, while Antonelli continued to move forward and join the lead group. Colapinto briefly passed Verstappen, then ran into the gravel at Lesmo, losing several places before eventually recovering to ninth.

Virtual Safety Car provides a tyre change window

After Stroll stopped with a hydraulic issue, race control deployed the Virtual Safety Car. Antonelli used the window to switch to a fresh set of mediums, and Verstappen also pitted for tyres; Russell stayed out on track, continued on hard tyres, and took the lead.

After rejoining, Antonelli had to get past Hamilton and Piastri again, then moved back up to second and chased down his teammate. In its post-race roundup, F1 quoted Mercedes engineering director Shovlin’s explanation: at the time the team believed a one-stop strategy held a slight advantage, but Antonelli’s pace made the two-stop plan work, and once he caught up, the tyre-age difference helped him complete the pass.

Decisive overtake completed on lap 50

On lap 49, Antonelli made a move into the first chicane, but ran wide into the gravel on exit and Russell temporarily held position. One lap later, Antonelli attacked again between Lesmo 2 and the Ascari chicane, completed the decisive overtake, and then kept the lead to the finish.

Mercedes take a one-two, Ferrari score 8 points

Antonelli set the fastest lap of the race on lap 53 with a 1:23.504 and completed all 53 laps to win in 1:51:15.281. Russell finished 3.857 seconds behind, and Verstappen was 14.718 seconds adrift. Mercedes’ two drivers collected 25 and 18 points respectively, bringing home 43 points in total.

Norris and Piastri finished fourth and fifth, separated by 0.197 seconds at the line. Hamilton was sixth, earning Ferrari 8 points; Gasly, Lindblad, Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda took the remaining points. Perez was given a five-second penalty for failing to follow the race director’s instructions, and the official classification placed him 18th.

After this round, Antonelli leads Russell by 66 points in the drivers’ standings. The next round will be held at Madrid’s Madring from September 11 to 13, as the season’s 14th round.

Full race results