Kimi Antonelli wins 2026 Italian Grand Prix over Russell

Kimi Antonelli started from P19 after taking a engine penalty for today's grand prix to help him get through the remainder of the season and help secure his first world championship.

That penalty didn't matter in the end as Antonelli went on to win the Italian GP over his teammate, George Russell, after a brief battle that saw Kimi briefly go off the track before finally completing the pass with 4 laps to go.

Max Verstappen held off the McLaren's of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to get third place.

Charles LeClerc went off the track on just lap 2 and DNFed in almost the exact same spot where he crashed back in 2020. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton collided with LeClerc on the race start and ended up sixth place.

Pole sitter Pierre Gasly couldn't keep up with the normal front runners and ended up 7th place.

Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad ended up 8th while Franco Colapinto, who was running 4th at one point but had an incident that slid him down to 17th, rallied to finish 9th ahead of Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda finished 10th, getting his first points in his substitute role in filling in for Liam Lawson, who is substituting for Isaac Hadjar with the senior team, who missed his second race due to a wrist injury.

Kimi Antonelli's victory is his 7th of the campaign and was the first Italian driver to win the Italian GP since Ludovico Scarfiotti won the 1966 Italian GP. It was also the lowest starting grid position to win a race since John Watson won the 1983 Long Beach Grand Prix starting from 22nd on the grid.

Antonelli now has a 66 point lead over teammate George Russell and a 76 point lead over Lewis Hamilton in third place. Lando Norris is the only other driver within 100 points of Kimi, being 96 points behind the Italian.

Mercedes 1-2 finish also sees their constructors' points lead swell from 87 points to 122 points due to The Scuderia's struggles. McLaren trail Ferrari by 59 points.

Next Race: The Spanish Grand Prix at The Madring in Madrid next weekend, September 11-13, 2026.