Kimi Antonelli has made a significant move in the Formula One world championship, winning the Italian Grand Prix from 19th place after starting with an engine penalty. With this victory, he now leads his rival George Russell by 66 points with only 10 rounds remaining. This win marks another piece of history for Antonelli, who is on course to become the youngest Formula One world champion. Russell admits that it will be "exceptionally challenging" to catch up to Antonelli and says he's accepting his position behind in the championship battle.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-07,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Here's a summary of the news story:
Kimi Antonelli wins Italian Grand Prix from 19th place
At the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Kimi Antonelli, the 20-year-old Mercedes driver from Italy, made history by winning the race from 19th place on the grid. This was his seventh win of the season and extended his lead in the drivers' title race. Antonelli's victory is all the more remarkable given that he started at the back of the grid due to a grid penalty and had to overcome several challenges throughout the race.
Russell finishes second, 66 points behind
Antonelli's teammate, George Russell, finished second in the race but was unable to prevent Antonelli from extending his lead. Russell is now 66 points behind Antonelli with only 10 rounds remaining in the season.
Ferrari suffers a disappointing flop
The Ferrari team suffered a dismal performance at their home grand prix, with Charles Leclerc crashing out on lap two and Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth more than 20 seconds behind Antonelli. The Italian crowd was left disappointed and despondent by the team's performance.
Antonelli becomes favorite to win title
With this victory, Antonelli is now firmly in the lead to become Italy's first Formula One world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. He has won seven races this season, while Russell has only two victories. The momentum is clearly with Antonelli as he heads into the final stretch of the season.
This win will go down in Formula One folklore and cement Antonelli's reputation as one of the greatest drivers of all time.
Written for “F1 Monza Grand Prix Results” on 2026-09-07,
grounded in this article and the 7 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 5965 · logged 2026-09-07
George Russell admitted it is going to be “exceptionally challenging” to prevent Kimi Antonelli from beating him to the world championship after his rival produced a stunning fightback drive from 19th to win the Italian Grand Prix.
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rival → admit → Prix
Sixty years on and hit with an engine penalty, Antonelli began Sunday’s contest virtually at the back.
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Antonelli → hit → back
But the 20-year-old phenomenon capitalised on an explosive new power unit, a favourable strategy, and a demonstration of passing excellence, to see off a crestfallen Russell by passing him for the lead with just three laps left.
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laps → capitalise → lead
No driver since Ulsterman John Watson won the 1983 United States Grand Prix at Long Beach has taken the chequered flag from further behind.
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Watson → win → flag
It marks another piece of history for Antonelli who is firmly on course to become the youngest Formula One world champion.
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who → mark → course
For Russell, this was supposed to his year.
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this → suppose → year
This was supposed to be his Italian Grand Prix.
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This → suppose → ?
He started the race 17 positions ahead of Antonelli.
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He → start → Antonelli
However, he is now 66 points behind the Italian with just 10 scheduled rounds remaining.
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rounds → schedule → Italian
Russell has just two victories to Antonelli’s seven.
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Russell → have → seven
The momentum is with Antonelli and, to add insult to injury, Russell was jeered on the podium by the partisan Italian crowd.
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Russell → add → crowd
“It is definitely Kimi who is in control of it (the championship battle) and he is deserving to be in control,” said Russell.
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Russell → say → control
“I am not even thinking about a fight or a comeback.
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I → think → fight
“It is going to be exceptionally challenging to overcome that gap.
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It → go → gap
I am sort of accepting that is what it is.
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it → accept → ?
And I am going to try and enjoy it from here on in and win as many races as possible.”
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I → go → races
Russell will have earmarked the 13th round of the season as his golden chance to eat into Antonelli’s title lead.
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Russell → earmark → lead
But he will head for the inaugural Madrid race next weekend even further behind.
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he → head → race
The writing appeared on the wall by only the second lap of the restart – after Charles Leclerc crashed out at 160mph – when Antonelli was already up to sixth.
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Antonelli → appear → sixth
Russell and Antonelli traded position five times for the lead.
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Russell → trade → lead
The former remained in front only for a Virtual Safety Car to lean the fixture in his team-mate’s favour.
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Car → remain → favour
Antonelli was on the medium rubber – less durable than Russell’s hard tyres – before he was handed 25 laps on fresh mediums to catch and pass Russell.
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he → hand → Russell
Russell’s advantage after Antonelli stopped for new tyres stood at 14 seconds but with 10 laps to go, his margin had been trimmed to five seconds.
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margin → stop → seconds
He was looking increasingly vulnerable.
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He → look → ?
Antonelli looked to have blown his chance when he ran through the gravel at the Variante del Rettifilo as he attempted to wrest the lead off Russell on the 49th lap.
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he → look → lap
But Antonelli was immediately back on Russell’s gearbox and he made no mistake when he breezed past his wounded team-mate before crossing the line 3.8 seconds ahead.
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he → make → line
But the magnanimous Brit explained: “The VSC came out at that perfect point for the drivers (behind) to pull the trigger and take the pit stop.
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drivers → explain → stop
“I didn’t (consider pitting).
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I → consider → ?
I actually thought the guys behind me were going to stay out.
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guys → think → me
I am sure the team were quite nervous on the pit-wall watching our battle and they were probably happy to send us out on different strategies.
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they → watch → strategies
“I was on the hard tyre and Kimi was on the medium, so if one of us was going to pit, it was going to be Kimi and that is why I was a little bit annoyed with the timing of the VSC because it would have been tough for those guys on the mediums to have competed with anyone on the hards, but it takes nothing away from Kimi’s drive.
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it → go → drive
“And obviously when you are racing in somebody else’s home country that (the boos) is to be expected.
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that → race → country
I smiled it off.”
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I → smile → it
