f1 race today: Antonelli wins Italian GP at Monza
Kimi Antonelli won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza after starting 19th, while Lewis Hamilton urged Ferrari to set clear “rules of engagement” after a costly…
MONZA — f1 race today delivered a shock at the Italian Grand Prix, with Kimi Antonelli charging from 19th on the grid to win at Monza, while Lewis Hamilton used the fallout from Ferrari’s messy race to call for clearer team rules. The result mattered well beyond Italy: Antonelli became the first Italian to win at Monza since 1966, and Hamilton’s frustration exposed fresh tension inside Ferrari.
The race flipped after Charles Leclerc’s crash brought out red flags, then Antonelli and the frontrunners battled through changing tyre calls and a Virtual Safety Car. George Russell led at one stage, Max Verstappen pressed the Mercedes pair, and Antonelli found enough pace on fresher tyres to close the gap and take control late. Fast. Messy. Decisive.
Antonelli’s comeback at Monza
Formula1.com said Antonelli’s victory came after an electric first lap that lifted him from 19th to 12th when the red flags came out, before another strong restart moved him to eighth. From there, he climbed toward the lead as the race settled into a tight fight between Mercedes and Verstappen.
Sky Sports reported that Antonelli was not expected to contend because of grid penalties linked to his engine allocation, but he kept moving through the field. The key swing came when he pitted under the Virtual Safety Car on Lap 29, while Russell stayed out on hard tyres. That strategy left Antonelli with fresher rubber for the final push.
Antonelli caught Russell with five laps remaining, ran wide at the first chicane, then recovered quickly and made the winning move with three laps to go, according to Sky Sports. Verstappen finished third after holding off the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Hamilton wants Ferrari to set team rules
Hamilton finished sixth after losing five places in the opening five corners in a wheel-to-wheel fight with Leclerc at the first chicane. Leclerc then crashed out on lap two, leaving Ferrari with a result that offered little comfort at home.
After the race, Hamilton said Ferrari needed “rules of engagement” between its two drivers. He pointed to Mercedes, where he said the team had written rules in place.
“It comes down to rules of engagement,” Hamilton said. “When I was at Mercedes, we had a written rule of engagement.”
He added: “Here there are no rules, and I think that's something that we need to try and address.”
Hamilton also said the title deficit had become too large to ignore. His gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli rose to 76 points after the Monza race, while Leclerc fell to 112 points off the leader.
For Ferrari, the immediate damage went beyond points. Hamilton said the opening-lap battle cost the team ground in the title fight, and he made clear he did not think better coordination would arrive in time to change the season’s direction.
“From today, we've just lost so much ground to them on points,” Hamilton said. “It's far too late for those decisions to come.”
The next race will come with that tension still hanging over Ferrari. And for Monza, the number that will linger is 1966.
