La Pista Magica Delivers Antonelli's Historic Italian Victory
Kimi Antonelli came out on top after a chaotic start to the Italian Grand Prix, being the first Italian to win their home race in 60 years.
The start to the race weekend in Monza was as usual. The Tifosi was out in full force, ready to support the beloved home team, Ferrari. The grandstands were full of seas of red the entire weekend.
Red Bull kept their same line up from Zandvoort with Liam Lawson in the Red Bull and Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bull while Hadjar is in recovery from a wrist fracture. All three practice sessions went as expected with the usual suspects topping the timing sheets. The Ferrari duo locked it in, showing the pace in FP1; Mercedes’ George Russell rounded out the top three. The cards flipped slightly in FP2. Russell claimed the fastest time with Leclerc in 2nd and Antonelli in 3rd. In FP3, Russell kept the fastest time, followed by Hamilton and Verstappen.
The drama that followed the podium in Monaco came to visit in Monza. Alpine issued an appeal after the Monaco Grand Prix to review the penalties handed to Pierre Gasly, which caused him to lose out on his podium, which was inherited by Isack Hadjar. Gasly’s podium was reinstated on June 12th. After the podium was reinstated, another review was opened up by Red Bull and Mclaren. During the Monza weekend, the podium was then reinstated back to Hadjar.
Qualifying was set to go on as normal. Antonelli was set to start at the back of the grid, no matter where he qualified, due to component changes. In Q3, no one was able to improve their time, except for two drivers. George Russell, who was already on provisional pole, was able to slightly improve his time, maintaining his grasp on the ideal starting position. The other was a driver no one expected. Pierre Gasly had been flying throughout qualifying. Gasly secured his first ever career pole position with a lap time of 1:21.786.
Emotions were high come race day, the starting order was set. The first start off the line was magical for Gasly. Unfortunately, the race start was short lived as Charles Leclerc suffered a brutal 50G crash into Parabolica while trying to defend his position against the Mclaren of Oscar Piastri. The race was red flagged as marshals recovered the Ferrari of Leclerc, who came out of the car complaining of eye pain, but was cleared by the medical team.
When the race restarted on lap 5, Russell maintained the lead of the race. As the race went on, Antonelli had fought his way up the grid from P19 to put himself in a crucial fight for the race win against his teammate. The pair battled it out for countless laps towards the end of the race. Antonelli got around Russell and won his home race with a 3 second gap behind him to his teammate.
The race win from Antonelli was a masterclass. No one had won Monza starting from P19. Even more historic, Antonelli became the first Italian to win his home race in 60 years, when broadcasting races live did not exist.
The fans erupted in cheers for the young Italian as he stood on the top step of the podium, followed by the proud singing of the Italian National Anthem. Following the conclusion of the podium celebrations, the crowd and Antonelli celebrated by singing Sara Perche Ti Amo.
The win was something most thought would not be possible considering Antonelli’s starting position, but it was crucial to the drivers' championship. The win brought Antonelli’s total points to 267, putting a 66-point gap between himself and Russell. The gap that appeared to be slowly shrinking between the two teammates grew tremendously, displaying how impactful one win can be to the championship battle. The battle further down the order continues, as the gap of points continues to shrink between Russell, Hamilton and Norris.
Leading into the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix, the stakes are even higher before as the championship goes onto race on a brand-new track. Red Bull have opted to keep their current line up as Hadjar recovers. After the Formula 3 test session had 19 red flags over the 2-day test session, interest is high to see how the 22-car grid will go about the brand new MadRing. Will we see the same people come out on top? Or will MadRing crown a new winner at its inaugural race?
Written by Natalie
Comments