Monza Mayhem: Antonelli Charges from 19th as Verstappen Takes Control

The Italian Grand Prix promised theatre. Monza delivered mayhem.

On a day that began with Ferrari hope and Mercedes frustration, the script flipped fast. By the time the race settled after a red flag and a bruising opening stint, it was Mercedes – not the Scuderia – dictating the story, and a 19-year-old points leader carving his way through the field.

Leclerc in the wall, Tifosi stunned

This was supposed to be Charles Leclerc’s day. A “Monza special” for the Tifosi, the red grandstands ready to erupt for their home hero.

Instead, they watched in disbelief.

Leclerc lost control, speared off the circuit and slammed into the tyre barrier, his Ferrari buried and his race over. The impact brought out the red flag and silenced the crowd in an instant. He climbed out quickly and appeared unhurt, but the damage to Ferrari’s afternoon – and the mood in Monza – was already done.

As the marshals cleared the wreckage, the stands that had been a wall of red felt suddenly flat. The home favourite was out, and the race had barely begun.

Russell vs Gasly, Verstappen lurks

Before the chaos, the start had already hinted at a wild afternoon.

At lights out, Pierre Gasly nailed the launch and swept through Turn 1 in the lead. Lewis Hamilton, by contrast, ran off the track and bled three places immediately. It set the tone for a scrappy opening for the seven-time champion, who had already been unhappy with his Saturday qualifying.

At the front, the early laps turned into a sharp duel. George Russell muscled past Gasly on lap 2. Gasly hit back, briefly reclaiming the lead, only for Russell to respond again and edge away, this time with a bit more authority.

Behind them, the threat was building. Max Verstappen, ominous as ever, climbed into third, sitting right in the slipstream of the front battle, waiting for the race to come to him.

Hamilton drops, the Tifosi’s day worsens

If the Leclerc crash gutted the Tifosi, Hamilton’s struggles hardly improved the mood of the neutral crowd.

By lap 4, the Mercedes star had fallen to eighth, his early off-track moment compounding a difficult weekend. The combination of a Ferrari in the barrier and a marquee name tumbling down the order left Monza restless. This was not the script they had come for.

Restart drama and a Mercedes surge

Once the FIA confirmed the restart time – 10:39 a.m. ET – the race reset. And with it, Mercedes reset their afternoon.

On the restart, Russell nailed it. Hamilton, this time, did too. Both Mercedes launched cleanly, Hamilton slicing through the pack and grabbing several places in one punchy burst. Behind them, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto slid off and tumbled down to 15th, a reminder that the track still had teeth.

The race began to splinter. Russell held firm at the front. Verstappen, relentless, kept pressing. And from deep in the pack, the real story started to gather speed.

Antonelli’s charge from 19th

Kimi Antonelli began the day buried in 19th. By the time the race settled into its second phase, the championship leader had turned damage limitation into an attacking masterclass.

He picked cars off, one by one. Clean moves, decisive lines, no hesitation. As others tripped over each other or slid wide, the Italian teenager simply kept coming.

First the midfield. Then the outskirts of the points. Then the sharp end.

He surged into fifth, then higher still. When the timing screens finally told the full tale, Antonelli was not just in the mix – he was in control of the race lead, dictating the tempo at Monza after a charge that felt almost unreal from 19th on the grid.

For Mercedes, it was everything at once: Russell at the front early, Hamilton fighting back into contention, and Antonelli turning the afternoon into a statement drive in the title race.

Verstappen strikes, Hamilton climbs

Just as Mercedes seemed to have the race in a headlock, the inevitable happened.

Verstappen took the lead.

The move underlined his instinct for the critical moment. Having stalked the front-runners, he finally pounced to move into first, reshaping the strategic picture again. It was the kind of swing that has defined so many of his races: patient pressure, then a ruthless strike.

Hamilton, meanwhile, completed his own recovery mission. From the despair of lap 1 and the drop to eighth, he fought his way back through the order and climbed into third, putting both Mercedes cars firmly in podium territory and back at the heart of the story.

From there, the race belonged to the brave and the bold. Verstappen in clean air. Antonelli, the points leader, having dragged himself from 19th to the front and then into a position of control. Hamilton, back where he expects to be. Russell, Gasly, and the rest fighting for whatever scraps Monza would still offer.

For the Tifosi, it was a brutal afternoon. For Mercedes and Antonelli, it felt like the kind of day that can tilt a season.