Kimi Antonelli Defeats Even the Incompetent
It took sixty years to see an Italian driver triumph once again at the Italian Grand Prix (Clay Regazzoni, who won at Monza in 1970 and 1975 driving a Ferrari, was from Ticino, and therefore Swiss, not Italian as some incompetent person wrote in recent days).
And this long drought couldn’t have ended in a more spectacular way: Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed victory at Monza, in front of the Italian crowd, completing an extraordinary comeback from 19th on the grid.
A feat destined to go down in the history of Italian Formula 1. Before the young Mercedes driver, the last Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix at Monza was Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966, in a completely different era of motorsports.
Sixty years later, the Italian flag returns to the top step of the podium at the “Temple of Speed.” Bringing it back to us is a young man born in Bologna in August 2006, who, in front of his home crowd, wrote one of the most thrilling chapters in the recent history of Italian motorsport.
The comeback was anything but smooth. In the final stages of the race, at the Prima Variante, Antonelli experienced a nail-biting moment: after ending up on the gravel and then in the gravel trap, it seemed he had ruined any chance of victory. But the 20-year-old from Bologna immediately regained his rhythm, resumed the chase, and took the lead. “I realized victory was within my reach after the restart. I told myself: I have to win this one, I have to win this one. I believed in it, especially when I was behind George. I could see the whole crowd in the stands cheering me on, and that really fired me up,” said an extremely emotional Antonelli right after the race, adding: “This is a dream come true. There’s still a long way to go; we have to keep our heads down. But for now, I want to enjoy this victory.”
Behind the winner, teammate George Russell finished second after a long battle with Antonelli, while Max Verstappen rounded out the podium in his Red Bull. Just off the podium were the two McLarens driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. It was a bitter day for Ferrari at their home race: Lewis Hamilton finished sixth, while Charles Leclerc had a disastrous start, colliding with his teammate on the first lap and retiring on the third.
