For all that they could not enjoy a win for Ferrari, the tifosi at the Italian Grand Prix were treated to a moment that will live long in the memory. Their homegrown hero Kimi Antonelli produced an exceptional, extraordinary victory from 19th on the grid, definitively marking his arrival as a potential great of Formula One and putting him within reach of his first F1 championship. The 20-year-old Italian, in only his second season in F1, gave a performance of a seasoned veteran.
Antonelli has proved repeatedly this season that he has verve and skill vying at the front with abandon but his comeback drive here proved he has the racecraft, control and judgment to scythe through the field and deliver from a seemingly impossible position. In beating his Mercedes teammate George Russell – starting second on the grid, 17 places in front – into second and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third, Antonelli has ensured his place in the annals of the sport. Only one driver has come back to win from further down the grid, John Watson from 22nd at the Long Beach GP in 1983.
It made Italian hearts soar not only in the almost operatic scale of the victory but in the fact that Italy had not enjoyed a home winner at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti, 60 years ago in 1966. Yet not one of those fans would have considered whistling a few bars of “It’s coming home” before the race. Mercedes had hoped Antonelli, who had been handed a grid penalty for taking a new set of engine components before the race, might do well to come back to as high as fifth at best.
Yet the Italian once more exceeded their expectations. Little wonder the team principal, Toto Wolff, who backed the kid even when others questioned his rapid promotion to the team last season, was visibly moved by the victory. Wolff said he had really believed Antonelli could win: “because he’s going to walk on water here in Monza.” He duly did so.
Then other moments where you can see how the weekend is panning out, through the sessions, that a special moment could come.” Antonelli was understandably overjoyed, whooping at the success with an abandon that was a pleasure to behold and typical of the unbridled joy he brings to the sport. Yet there was the big picture here too, and when he wrings the champagne out of his overalls that will perhaps sit best. A weekend that had been expected to be damage limitation became one that has moved Antonelli a significant step closer to taking the world championship.
Russell had gone into the weekend expecting to claw something back from his teammate’s 59-point lead but is now 66 in arrears and must be shellshocked. Russell had been vying for the lead in the early stages only to find his teammate hurtling through the pack to catch him not once but twice – once from 19th to the pair exchanging places at the front within 17 laps, then once more when Antonelli took an extra pit stop and came back again this time from sixth, admittedly on fresher rubber and with what transpired to be the better strategy, to hunt him down again. The result was a huge return for Antonelli and demonstrated his tremendous ability to navigate through the field with control and decisiveness.
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