Kimi Antonelli’s stunning Italian Grand Prix victory felt like a key moment in this year’s championship as he landed a psychological blow on his title rivals by winning from 19th.
Antonelli now leads George Russell by 66 points, Lewis Hamilton by 76 points and Lando Norris by 96 points with 10 scheduled rounds remaining.
Without doubt, the Italian is favourite for the championship – and would be the youngest driver ever to become world champion should he do it – but the season is far from over yet…
Monza was a one-off track
The long straights at Monza put high emphasis on a strong power unit and Mercedes have been the benchmark in this department, even though the FIA ruled earlier this year that Red Bull have the best engine.
It is the deployment of the Mercedes though – which was not measured by the FIA – which stands out and they were effectively able to get more out of the electrical side of their power unit to excel on the straights.
There are no further tracks that will be reliant on the power unit to the extremity of Monza, although Baku later this month and Las Vegas in November feature long full throttle sections. However, both circuits have more corners than Monza.
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Highlights from the 2026 Italian Grand Prix
“I’m quite happy, first of all, that we were able to perform in Monza like we did, because we weren’t sure. Ferrari brought an engine upgrade and others on the chassis side, and this is a development race,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
“But we have to consider the fact that Monza is an outlier on the track. It’s on one end, and then there is Monaco on the other.”
This weekend’s new race in Madrid is a complete unknown but the track layout looks very twisty and cars that are strong in the corners – which should suit McLaren and Ferrari – will be fast.
Azerbaijan follows, which can be a chaotic race, then the more traditional tracks of Sepang in Malaysia, Austin in the USA and the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico should see the field be much closer – depending on upgrades…
Lots to play out in development race
The two races prior to Monza saw McLaren with a car that was capable of winning as Norris drove superbly to victory in Hungary and the Netherlands.
Most teams have gained big chunks of performance when fitting new parts to the car and Mercedes are not bringing any upgrades until Malaysia at the start of next month.
“We must not get ahead of ourselves now, thinking, ‘well, we can wait for the upgrade until Malaysia’. We know that it’s going to be a big fight in Madrid. Our car hasn’t got the performance levels that it has in Monza for the next race in Madrid,” said Wolff.
“We know that our upgrades would help a lot in Madrid but we haven’t got them. So we just need to do our best and that could mean that some of the race weekends, not winning, but just scoring points.”
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Kimi Antonelli wins the Italian Grand Prix from 19th on the grid
McLaren boss Andrea Stella says the team’s realistic target is to “consistently” be in the fight for wins until the end of the season.
“I think our tracks will be more the likes of Malaysia, Austin, Brazil. I think where we have some long corners, the car seems to express its potential well,” said Stella.
“We have some new upgrades that we will take to Baku, but we still think that tracks like Baku and Madrid where you have to be very precise with the trajectory, short corners, maybe they don’t play to the best of our car. Yet we have to say that in Zandvoort and Hungary we were in a position to win races and in Monza while we were not, we know that it’s a special race.
“The drag will be less important in Madrid, there’s a much higher density of corners, so we will definitely give it a go, but from a championship point of view I think we have to remain very realistic, don’t get conditioned by looking at the classification, just focus on one race at a time.”
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First look at F1’s newest circuit – the ‘Madring’
Will Antonelli crack under increasing pressure?
Right now the answer is a firm no. Antonelli is a generational talent with bundles of speed and it’s his sheer pace which has made the difference this year.
He’s only 20 years old though and in his second season, so most drivers would still be making costly mistakes at this stage of their career.
There has been no sign of that from Antonelli though but you would expect that he will be tested several times in the remaining races – whether that’s due to the closeness of the field and being on the right side of the stopwatch, or a rainy Sunday where a small error can suddenly fire you into the barriers.
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Kimi Antonelli reflects on his sensational 19th to first Monza victory, catching teammate George Russell to claim a landmark home win and strengthen his championship lead
“Definitely it’s been a very strong year so far, but still many races left and so, still anything can happen,” said Antonelli.
“And we’ve seen how things can swing very quickly. So, on my side, as I said many times, just take it race by race, focus on things that I can control and just maximise every opportunity I get.
“In Monza we were fastest, but we never know. We might go to another track and all of a sudden, McLaren is the fastest, or Ferrari is up there, or even Red Bull, with Max.”
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Sky Italy’s commentary when Kimi Antonelli won at Monza
Indeed, should McLaren or Ferrari suddenly have the fastest car for consecutive races, and Antonelli is not on the podium – Hamilton or Norris could gain double figures in points from one Grand Prix, then the pressure will inevitably ramp up too on Antonelli.
The outlook is actually bleaker for Russell as he has the same equipment as Antonelli but does not have the pace to match his team-mate.
It is harder to see how that changes, whereas – as Antonelli points out – McLaren or Ferrari may have the best car over the final 10 rounds.
Perhaps Wolff sums up best how the F1 title race stands when he stated: “It’s motor racing. It’s a technical sport. Things can break, accidents can happen and that’s why we have to do our best job for both drivers. Continue to bring our best game.”
Formula 1 heads to Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit, with every session live from this Friday on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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