Kimi Antonelli Calls Stunning Monza Win From 19th on the Grid a ‘Dream Coming True’

• Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after starting the race from 19th on the grid.
• The victory made the 20 year old the first Italian driver to win his home race in 60 years.
• Antonelli now leads George Russell by 66 points in the drivers’ championship after his seventh win of the season.

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A Dream Antonelli Could Barely Believe Was Real

Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Sunday, driving from 19th on the grid to become the first Italian driver to win his home race in 60 years.

Antonelli had taken new power unit components ahead of the race, sending him to the back of the field before a wheel had turned. His prospects of a first victory on home soil looked slim. Then the race turned on its head.

A Charge Through the Field

Antonelli made up seven places inside the opening laps. Charles Leclerc’s heavy crash at the final corner then brought out a red flag, and by that point the Mercedes driver had already reached 12th. He kept climbing at the restart, making his first move on team mate George Russell for the lead on lap 18 of 53.

A mid-race Virtual Safety Car gave Mercedes the chance to split strategies. Russell stayed out on his old hard tyres while Antonelli pitted for a fresh set of mediums. With four laps left, the fresher rubber let him reel in and pass his team mate for the lead.

“I Could Never Have Imagined to Be Here”

“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,” Antonelli said immediately after the race. “It’s a dream coming true.”

He explained how his belief grew through the closing laps. “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 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.”

Antonelli called it one of the best drives of his career so far. “The best race has yet to come, but I feel like it was one of the best races I’ve done so far and one that I will remember forever,” he said, adding a thank you to those closest to him. “Couldn’t do it without my team, my family, and everyone who supports me.”

A Scare at the First Chicane

Antonelli and Russell nearly made contact in the closing stages at the first chicane. Antonelli ran onto the gravel on the exit before recovering to complete the pass on Russell on the run to the Ascari chicane.

“It was quite scary during the moment,” Antonelli said. “I thought I could still do the corner but once I went over a bit of gravel I went straight, and I was like maybe I’ve lost my chance, but then luckily we still had the pace and managed to bring it home.”

Wolff: “Nothing That Would Have Stopped Him”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff praised the way Antonelli managed the recovery drive. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 afterward, he said: “He kept his head down, took no risks at the beginning with the restart, and then one by one, one by one [passed his rivals]. I must really say, an amazing drive.”

Asked whether the early red flag, which came while Antonelli was still running on hard tyres, had ended up working in his favour once the Virtual Safety Car allowed the pit stop, Wolff said: “It was after all… the two stop was the best, but we didn’t think it was the case. That was good for him, actually. But, you know, today there was nothing that would have stopped him. Obviously George fought with worn out tyres at the end, but I’m really happy for the one and two, it’s great.”

The win was Antonelli’s seventh of the season and moved him 66 points clear of Russell in the drivers’ championship, with Mercedes now 122 points ahead of Ferrari in the teams’ standings. It also means an Italian driver has triumphed at Monza for the first time in 60 years, a feat last achieved by Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966, and it stands as the second-lowest grid position a Grand Prix win has come from in Formula 1 history.

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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