The Italian Grand Prix had all the ingredients of an unpredictable race. A strong accident involving Charles Leclerc forced the competition to stop, there were two starts and several changes in the leading positions, until Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed an extraordinary comeback to take victory in Monza. Franco Colapinto, after a promising start and a mistake that made him fall back, managed to recover and crossed the finish line in ninth place.
The race began with Pierre Gasly defending pole position, although the first lap quickly changed the landscape. The Ferraris were involved in an intense battle at the exit of the chicane and Lewis Hamilton ended up off track, causing him to drop to tenth place. Meanwhile, Colapinto took advantage of the chaos and moved up to sixth place, behind Oscar Piastri and ahead of Lando Norris.
Unfortunately for Alpine, the lead did not last long for Gasly. George Russell overtook him at the start of the second lap and Charles Leclerc also managed to pass the Frenchman, although the French driver immediately regained second place.
However, just a few seconds later, the Monegasque lost control of his Ferrari after stepping on the green area outside of Parabolica while trying to defend against Piastri and crashed violently into the tire barriers. The driver was able to exit the car on his own, but the severity of the impact forced the race to be stopped with a red flag.
More than 25 minutes later, the cars returned to the track for a new standing start. Russell maintained the first position and Gasly was second, while Colapinto, who had taken another opportunity to overtake Piastri and was in fourth place before the interruption, had an aggressive start: he overtook Max Verstappen to move into third place, although the Dutchman quickly regained the position. In parallel to the action at the front, Antonelli had already made a great recovery, moving from nineteenth to twelfth place in just a couple of laps.
The race would change abruptly for the Argentine in the first lap after the restart. Colapinto lost control in the Lesmo area and ended up in the gravel, dropping from fourth to sixteenth place. From there, he began a new comeback that ultimately allowed him to get back into the points zone.
At the front, Mercedes and Red Bull were engaged in an intense battle. Verstappen managed to overtake Russell to take the lead, although the Briton regained the position shortly after. Meanwhile, Antonelli continued to advance at an impressive pace, reaching third place and then overtaking both Verstappen and Russell to become the leader.
The battle between the two Mercedes continued for a good part of the race. Russell and Antonelli exchanged positions until the team decided from the pit wall to manage the fight to try to gain an advantage over Verstappen. A neutralization with a Virtual Safety Car due to Lance Stroll's retirement changed the strategy again: Antonelli kept the medium tires while Verstappen switched to hard tires.
For his part, Colapinto began to gain positions at that moment and, with the green flag once again displayed, settled into tenth place. The Argentine continued to progress and, in the final stretch, overtook Yuki Tsunoda to move up to ninth place.
Meanwhile, Antonelli continued to close in on Russell. By lap 44, the gap between them was just four seconds and Verstappen had managed to overtake Piastri, although he was already far from the fight for victory. The decisive moment came on lap 49. Antonelli attempted to overtake Russell in the first chicane, but overshot the braking and ended up in the gravel. However, he managed to control the car and stay in the fight. Just a lap later he attacked again and this time he did manage to overtake his teammate before the Ascari chicane.
From there, the Italian was on his way to victory. He even set the fastest lap in the final lap and crossed the finish line 3.857 seconds ahead of Russell to give Mercedes a resounding 1-2 at their home track.
Further back, Verstappen completed the podium, 14 seconds behind the winner, while Norris finished fourth and Piastri fifth after an intense duel between the two McLarens. For Alpine, Colapinto managed to stay ninth and scored two points, while his teammate Gasly finished the day in seventh place with six points.
Results of the Italian Grand Prix
1st - Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)| +25
2nd - George Russell (Mercedes) | +18
3rd - Max Verstappen (Red Bull) | +15
4th - Lando Norris (McLaren) | +12
5th - Oscar Piastri (McLaren) | +10
6th - Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) | +8
7th - PIERRE GASLY (Alpine) | +6
8th - Arvid Linblad (Racing Bulls) | +4
9th - FRANCO COLAPINTO (Alpine) | +2
10th - Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls)| + 1
11th - Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) | +0
12th - Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) | +0
13th - Carlos Sainz (Williams) | +0
14th - Liam Lawson (Red Bull) | +0
15th - Oliver Bearman (Haas) | +0
16th - Esteban Ocon (Haas) | +0
17th - Alex Albon (Williams) | +0
18th - Sergio Pérez (Cadillac)| +0
19th - Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) | +0
20th - Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) | DNF
21st - Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) | DNF
22nd - Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)| DNF
