Whatever your feelings about the 2026 Formula 1 cars, that was a cracking Italian Grand Prix, one of the very best I've been lucky enough to commentate on in 30 years. On a track where very low tyre degradation used to generate long periods of a train of cars simply following each other, this was relentless overtaking and counter-attack. And of course, the fairytale victory of Italian hero Kimi Antonelli who went from 19th on the grid into the lead just 18 laps later.
His opening lap was a perfect combination of patience, guile and risk at the right moment. He was cautious into the first perilous chicane, and then behind Yuki Tsunoda's Racing Bull around the outside of the first Lesmo bend, and then again into the Ascari chicane, and then he squeezed down the right-hand side, close to the grass, of two cars down the next straight. There have been two red flags at Monza F1 this century, in 2020 and 2026, both for Charles Leclerc crashing a Ferrari at the final Parabolica corner.
Leclerc turned in a little wide after defending from Oscar Piastri's McLaren and then proceeded to accelerate hard towards the main pit straight. Unfortunately, his left-rear tyre was on the green painted strip which includes a drain cover, and this put the Ferrari into a slide, and when he corrected the steering wheel by turning into that slide in the normal way, the front tyres suddenly found a lot of grip and twisted him hard into the barriers with a 60G crash. He was shaken and likely winded, but otherwise appeared to be largely in one piece, and hopefully fit for Madrid this coming weekend.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player After the race I was told by a trusted source that the Ferrari has a propensity to spike a little in power in situations like that, even on the simulator, but that was not from the team. The resultant red flag was a pain for George Russell who was leading nicely, having passed sensational pole-sitter Pierre Gasly's Alpine heading into lap two, and was setting about building a nice lead. The red flag helped Kimi Antonelli nicely, he was already up to P12 and any field spread to the leaders was eliminated with a second standing start from the grid.
Everyone was able to change tyres as per the regulations, which would mean a 50-lap run ahead on the same rubber for many drivers, including George Russell. Leclerc had already had a skirmish on the first lap with team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari had promised and expected so much at this race, Hamilton even talking in terms of what it would mean to win in Monza for the team.
But, in reality, they struggled throughout and just squeezed through Q2 qualifying into the top-10 shoot-out. Both drivers put a decent final lap together and with Piastri being penalised three grid spots for blocking Liam Lawson in Q2, and Antonelli confined to the back of the grid with power-unit penalties, the Ferraris lined up side by side on the second row. Into the first chicane Hamilton released the brakes and rolled up the inside of Leclerc, forcing him wide and meaning a tight entry into the immediate Turn 2.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
