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Formula 1® Monza Recap – Ferrari Flounders Against a Mercedes Masterclass

September 7, 2026

Action and drama marked the FORMULA 1® PIRELLI GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA 2026 in Monza, Italy, last weekend, as driver substitutions continued and Kimi Antonelli delivered a monumental victory despite starting from the back of the grid due to a power unit penalty.

Antonelli wasn’t the only driver given a grid penalty. Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, and Alex Albon also started from the pit lane and the back of the grid, also for power unit changes. The policy requiring these penalties was established to dissuade well-funded teams from perpetually supplying cars with new engines to improve reliability, ensuring competitive balance across the grid regardless of a team’s financial position.

As in the previous race in the Netherlands, Red Bull Racing driver Isack Hadjar was unable to drive due to a wrist injury, and Racing Bulls driver Lawson was reassigned to drive his car. Red Bull test and reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda once again filled in for Lawson, aiming to improve upon his 11th-place finish in the Netherlands.


FREE PRACTICE

Among the three free practice sessions that took place, the most notable incident centered around rookie Colton Herta, who drove Sergio Perez’s Cadillac for his third F1 drive of the season. Twenty minutes into free practice 1, the car experienced a suspected hydraulic problem, forcing him to stop on track. Track marshals were unable to easily roll him clear of the track, resulting in a slightly longer delay for the session to resume.

Later, Cadillac was summoned to the stewards, as the car’s clutch mechanism was found to be at fault. The team was handed a €30,000 fine, €25,000 of which was suspended, for violating a technical regulation requiring cars to disengage the clutch after coming to a stop.

F1 race driver in pink and black uniform

RACE QUALIFICATION

Heading into Saturday’s qualifying session, Antonelli’s aforementioned power unit-related grid penalty tempered expectations for his race results. This, therefore, firmly established his role as support for George Russell. Like other teams, Mercedes attempted to coordinate the pace of their drivers, enabling one to provide a tow to another. On a high-speed track like Monza, such efforts can result in a 0.1 to 0.3-second gain in a single lap.

Q1 claimed both Aston Martins, both Cadillacs, Albon, and Tsunoda. During Q2, pace and mechanical issues challenged teams and drivers alike, with Lando Norris contending with a brake problem and Max Verstappen complaining that his car was “undrivable” due to a reported “broken axle.” Ferrari could only secure P9 and P10, with Verstappen finishing P6.

The Q3 spotlight turned to Alpine, with Pierre Gasly claiming P1 and Franco Colapinto securing P8. Gasly’s performance was notable in that he wasn’t the fastest in any one sector, but was the best overall. His pole position was the first for the team since 2009. George Russell finished P2 ahead of Norris in P3, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finishing P4 and P5, respectively.


RACE

Sunday’s race began with a relatively clean start, free of substantial contact among any drivers. The calm was promptly interrupted on lap 3, however, when Leclerc lost traction while accelerating on the track edge, spun, and violently crashed into the wall in his fourth crash of the season. While he was uninjured, the subsequent red flag paused the action and brought the cars back for a second standing start, which was accomplished cleanly, without substantial contact or crashes.

During the three laps of racing between the first start and the restart, Antonelli delivered a glimpse of what was to come, advancing from P12 at the back of the pack to P7. Over the following ten laps, he climbed to P3 and secured P1 by lap 18. He and teammate Russell then swapped positions regularly, ultimately being instructed to stop “yo-yoing” when their quarreling enabled Verstappen to get within 0.7 seconds of them.

The rest of the race saw Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri fight among themselves for the final P3 podium spot. By lap 46, the group was within 1.3 seconds of each other during the three-way battle, maintaining a healthy lead of over 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

With only four laps to go, an error by Antonelli caused him to fall to 1.8 seconds behind race leader Russell. Just three laps later, however, Antonelli would take the lead and go on to win the race. Despite Russell’s best efforts to maintain P1, his tires were 47 laps old, making his ultimate P2 finish that much more notable.

checkered flag waving as the F1 car passes the finish line


FINAL STANDINGS

  1. Antonelli
  2. Russell
  3. Verstappen
  4. Norris
  5. Piastri
  6. Hamilton
  7. Gasly
  8. Lindblad
  9. Colapinto
  10. Tsunoda
  11. Bortoleto
  12. Hülkenberg
  13. Sainz
  14. Lawson
  15. Bearman
  16. Ocon
  17. Albon
  18. Perez
  19. Bottas
  20. Stroll (DNF)
  21. Alonso (DNF)
  22. Leclerc (DNF)

 

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