Winners and losers from the 2026 Italian Grand Prix

MONZA – Kimi Antonelli produced the defining drive of his career so far with victory at Monza, all but putting the championship entirely out of everyone else’s reach.

Here is PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from the 2026 Italian Grand Prix.

Winners and Losers from the 2026 Italian Grand Prix

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

What is there to say that hasn’t been said about Kimi Antonelli’s performance at Monza?

Yes, the car is fast. Yes, the power unit is potent. Yes, he had a fresh one, and it turned out that making the extra stop for medium tyres was the faster strategy than Russell’s.

But it would have been all too easy for Antonelli to get caught up in the excitement of the moment, show a flash of petulance or impatience in negotiating his way past another car, and end his home race parked at the side of the road with damage.

Despite the pressure, despite all the noise, the fuss, the weight of expectation, Antonelli utilised the pace of the W17, even on the slower hard tyre, to move up to 12th before the red flag intervention – even just these two laps were enough to have brought him into the mix before the race reset.

With the two Mercedes drivers going on inverse tyre strategies as Antonelli swapped to the medium, and Russell settled in at the front to make it to the flag on the hard, the decisive VSC allowed Antonelli the chance to stop for another fresh set of tyres.

Any potential for Lewis Hamilton to hold up Antonelli’s charge ended the moment the seven-time F1 World Champion ran deep at the first chicane, while Oscar Piastri was powerless to stop him breezing past; as was Russell when Antonelli did finally catch up, even after the near-disaster as he ran into the gravel.

That moment could have been akin to Hamilton’s 2007 Chinese GP disaster but, fortunately for Antonelli, he managed to extricate himself and continue – the only blemish in what was an otherwise perfect Grand Prix weekend.

If any weekend was likely to see Antonelli stumble on his path to a maiden title, a fightback from the back of the grid at his home race while badly, badly wanting to show his best were the perfect ingredients for a driver still in the early days of a career to make a critical error. Instead, Antonelli produced the drive of a lifetime; similar to drives we’ve seen from the likes of Verstappen and Hamilton in the past.

It’s all in stark contrast to just 12 months ago, when team boss Toto Wolff was giving his rookie driver a wake-up call after a “terrible” display at Spa-Francorchamps.

“But never doubting,” Wolff explained after the chequered flag.

“That’s why we gave him the opportunity. Then he came out after the winter, out of the blocks in a way that no one saw coming. The ability, how he processed last year, he’s been at all the races.

“He’s seen the pressure of the media, the attention that he gets. It’s in a way that the system has been processed and saved, and that’s why the results that we’ve seen afterwards.

“But it is still a surprise and amazing to see how quickly he develops. It’s like an AI agent that continuously self-improves and learns!

That’s the speed, and his age is also beneficial – the ability, cognitively, intellectually, to constantly become better.”

A 66-point lead is formidable at this stage of the season, particularly with George Russell seeming to have no answer to Antonelli’s relentless pace, and, with the youngster now showing there are no signs of the wobbles he had last year, it seems to be a matter of when, not if, he wraps up his destined title.

“I thought a podium was possible, but then obviously with the red flag I was already P12, and then I knew that I could have had a shot at it,” Antonelli said after the win.

“But, of course, then I found myself at the front and battling, but it was very difficult to break away, basically impossible.

“So I knew it would have been difficult. Then with the VSC we pitted, and then we had to close the gap and, yeah, then in the end to bring it home, very happy with that.

“It’s a dream coming true, and what an incredible day. Couldn’t do it without my team, my family and everyone who supports me. And, yeah, still a few races to go, so we’re going to keep our heads down.”

Loser: Ferrari

With McLaren slightly off the pace at Monza, Ferrari’s throwing everything at the weekend with its new ADUO-updated power unit needed a cohesive and collegial approach from the team to have any chance at toppling Mercedes.

Particularly for Lewis Hamilton, whose admission that the light in the tunnel of a championship tilt is dimming, the seven-time F1 World Champion could probably have done without his teammate doing his best to ensure that Ferrari’s slim hopes have all but ended.

Leclerc may be the epitome of a Ferrari driver, suave, sophisticated, glamorous, and jaw-droppingly fast, but, of the top drivers, it is never a shock to see him crash all by himself. Six years to the day after making a near-identical mistake at Parabolica, Leclerc binned his SF-26 at high speed, having touched the drainage channel on the outside of the corner just as the factors of torque, weight, and grip all came together to ensure he got spat out towards the barriers.

The fact that this came just minutes after a lack of cooperation towards his teammate forced Hamilton into the gravel and cost him dearly only makes the optics of the crash even worse.

What’s the thinking behind not trying to help? Is Leclerc attempting to stave off the moment at which he becomes the supporting act at a team that has been his for over half a decade?

It may not be an appetising prospect for him, but if there’s to be any hope of topping Antonelli, Ferrari has needed to throw all its weight behind Hamilton, at least since the summer break.

While Leclerc may insist that the narrative of discord between himself and Hamilton is a narrative being pushed, Hamilton himself did little to dispel the theory with some hard comments after the chequered flag.

Hamilton is well-known for his ability to acknowledge his own shortcomings and errors, an admirable quality, so it makes it all the more damning for Leclerc that Hamilton laid all the blame on him.

“I was ahead in Turn 2. By the apex, I was ahead. There was no ‘we’ in it,” he said, bluntly.

“I don’t race dirty. I’ve always raced clean and fairly, and always left space.

“So I don’t think they should be worried about me. I’ve come into the team and tried to be respectful of space and definitely not put the team in jeopardy. I stand by that. That’s all I can talk about on my side.”

Hamilton pointed to how decisions of this nature start at the top: “You have to speak to Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari team principal] about the other side and decisions that are taken there.

“It trickles down, and so that starts with Fred. There’s only so much you can say, so much you can push and shout from the mountains that we’ve got to push.

“Yesterday, I said that we’ve got to look at just how we communicate, because if we continue to travel the same path, we get the same result. We keep getting the same result. We’ve got to change things because this is not helping us to move forward.“

Intriguingly, a comment from Hamilton was later removed from the audio files distributed to on-site media, with the file uploaded by Ferrari removing the seven-time F1 World Champion hinting that rules of engagement could be needed going forward.

“I think it comes down to rules of engagement,” he said.

“When I was at Mercedes, we had written rules of engagement, so we never really, really got too bad.”

Perhaps remembering that time period with rose-tinted glasses, Hamilton said, “There was a moment maybe with me and Nico [Rosberg] a couple of times, but, more often than not, it was good. I mean, battles were good.

“Here, there are no rules, and I think that’s something that probably needs to try and fix that.”

With Vasseur having been reluctant to impose team orders on his drivers, the implication after Monza is that the time may have come: Leclerc has seriously blotted his copybook by seriously compromising Hamilton’s race, before destroying his car just a few moments later.

It’s a step too far, a mistake too common, for a driver at this level, and Leclerc may have to swallow his pride and realise that, for the benefit of Ferrari, it’s time to help Hamilton.

“The outcome of Turns 1 and 2 is not good for the team. The question now is to see if we have a team order or whatever.

“I think that a good comparison is that last year Piastri was leading McLaren at this stage of the season, and, if McLaren put everything on Piastri, Max Verstappen would have been champion.

“But for sure, at one stage, you have to make a decision, but I think it was too early to take a decision before Monza. Now we have time to discuss with the guys.”

A key difference in his comparison is that Piastri was an unproven quantity: Ferrari has a seven-time F1 World Champion, who can and will deliver if the opportunity is there. Not only that, Hamilton is one of the drivers best equipped to go to war with a teammate, even if that means disharmony and tension. Is that a fight Leclerc wants to have?

Winner: Max Verstappen

Having stealthily climbed into contention through the weekend, Max Verstappen’s stellar start to the race saw him outfox Piastri into the Variante della Roggia to go around the outside of the Australian before picking off Charles Leclerc on the second lap.

He quickly dispatched the two Alpines on the restart, after a good move from Franco Colapinto to get ahead of the Dutch driver, repeating his earlier move on Piastri to go around the Argentine, before picking off Pierre Gasly on the run to Parabolica.

Verstappen even managed to catch and pass George Russell to take the lead for a few laps, but he couldn’t keep the two Mercedes drivers behind him for long, somewhat inevitably.

With Antonelli and Russell battling at the front as the Italian came through the pack, Verstappen was able to keep the pace as the duo squabbled, showing enough speed to keep the Mercedes pitwall on their toes and instruct their drivers to work together to pull away from the Red Bull.

Once they started doing that, Verstappen wasn’t quite able to hang on and had to settle for a relatively distant third, looking over his shoulder at the McLarens behind him by the chequered flag.

As can be expected from the four-time F1 World Champion, it was a typical display of maximising the result possible for him, with Red Bull having not looked on the pace earlier in the weekend.

Having had to get inventive with his overtaking, Verstappen said he hadn’t enjoyed the straight-line stuff quite so much.

“Not a lot when people just drive by you like you’re a turtle!” he said.

“But, yeah, just send it back around the outside. The car is good on the brakes, so that helps, so good confidence to attack the braking zones.

“And two times, at the start, I managed to do that in Turns 2 and 4. So, yeah, I mean, it is enjoyable, but at the same time frustrating, you know. But I just try to maximise everything that I can.”

It’s drives like these that prove Verstappen remains at the peak of his powers, even if the spotlight is currently on Kimi Antonelli.

More from the Italian Grand Prix

Italian GP driver ratings: Another costly Leclerc mistake and an Antonelli masterclass

Italian GP conclusions: Shameless Hamilton playing dangerous game, painful Russell defeat

Loser: George Russell

Starting from the front row, with Antonelli in 19th, Russell may have felt reasonably confident about closing down a few more points on his teammate in the championship fight.

Russell did exactly what was expected of him, taking the lead from Gasly at the end of the first lap, and stayed at the front at the restart before being passed by Verstappen.

But with Antonelli having done so well in the early stages, the Italian was in the mix in no short order, leading to a tremendous back-and-forth between the two Mercedes drivers in a fight reminiscent of the Canadian battle – a battle that seemed to be going in Russell’s favour thanks to the longevity of the hard tyre.

How might it have played out without the VSC? Well, Antonelli would have been further back from Russell, meaning the British driver likely would have been able to massage it home.

Mercedes is not McLaren and didn’t engage in any equalising tactics, such as double-stacking their drivers to take on the mediums for the post-VSC stint: a scenario which would likely have seen the duo go tete-a-tete to the chequered flag.

With the shorter pit stop time, Antonelli not losing time to the likes of Hamilton and Piastri, and being able to exploit the raw pace of the medium tyre, Russell’s win looked in danger from the moment Mercedes called him in, and, even with Russell’s own pace on the hard being consistent and impressive, the strategy split paid off in Antonelli’s favour.

If there were any hard feelings or frustrations about this, Russell didn’t show it: he shrugged off the pantomime booing, congratulated his teammate, and was an all-round good sport in defeat.

“I would have loved to have continued on the same strategy because I felt in a good position in that battle,” he said.

“I sort of knew exactly what I needed to do with the energy management to defend, but also when to attack and make those moves, and I put a lot of preparation into this race in that regard. Then, of course, when the VSC came out, it kind of came out at that perfect point for the drivers to pull the trigger and take the pit stop.

“I was on the Hard tyre, and Kimi was on the Medium tyre, so if either of us were to pit, it was going to be Kimi,” he said, revealing he’d been surprised that anyone had pitted under the VSC at all.

“And that’s, I guess, why I was just a little bit annoyed with the timing of that VSC because I think it would have been tough for those guys on the Medium to have competed with anybody on the Hard tyre. But, you know, it takes nothing away from Kimi’s drive altogether.”

Russell appears to be taking satisfaction in the fact that his performance level of earlier in the season has been restored. It’s just unfortunate for him that, at present, Antonelli appears to be able to reach a higher ceiling.

Loser: Aston Martin

Monza was always earmarked as being a difficult weekend for Aston Martin, after the ‘highs’ of Hungary and Zandvoort.

And so it played out, with the two cars qualifying at the very back before a double retirement: although neither of these was due to Honda-related issues.

Alonso retired due to a compromised car: “I went off at the second Lesmo over the kerb, and, since that moment, the car was not feeling the same anymore.

“So probably I got some damage underneath, and it was not worth it to keep on going. We were slow and, with damage on the car, no point.”

Lance Stroll was also out moments later, with a hydraulic issue.

With a power deficit, Monza, Baku, and Las Vegas are the circuits upon which the updated AMR26 will still struggle, but there is hope for the likes of Singapore and Brazil, perhaps Imola, that there are some high points between now and season end.

Winner: Pierre Gasly and Alpine

Off the back of its upgrade package at Zandvoort, Alpine’s arrival near the head of the pack at Monza was something of a surprise, but no fluke.

The unique nature of the circuit clearly played to the strengths of the A526 package, with the Mercedes power unit, and Pierre Gasly firmly delivered on that with his pole position.

Of course, over a race distance, it was always going to be more difficult to keep up, and Gasly ended up exactly where might be expected in seventh place, at the head of the midfield and benefiting from difficult races for Leclerc and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson.

“The part of me that is realistic is very satisfied,” Gasly smiled afterwards.

“Basically, starting on pole, you must have a side of you which thinks, ‘Okay, what can happen over 54 laps, this and that’.

“But I gotta be honest, before the race, we knew that the pace in the race would be extremely difficult to stay up there and fight with the top guys.

“I’m very happy with the two starts. We took two great starts. Managed to keep the lead on the first one. Great on the second. Battled slightly, stayed in the right train for the first 10 laps, which was really good, and yeah, I had a battle with Lando, who won the last two races.

“Where we come from, it’s very positive, and I finished three seconds behind Lewis, who has been fighting for podiums this year. So I’m not gonna be disappointed with that. Obviously, the end result is P7, and you’ll wish you could get slightly more out of it.

“But I think overall, we just gotta take all the positives from the weekend because there were many, and try to build from that.”

Underlining that positivity was Franco Colapinto’s performance, with the Argentine rewarding Alpine’s faith in him at the start of the race as he climbed up near Gasly to tantalise his team about the prospects of both cars being near the podium.

Unfortunately for Colapinto, he made a mistake immediately after being overtaken by Verstappen, flying off into the gravel and slumping down out of the points.

It was a high-profile mistake, and the Argentine was overcome with emotion when he returned to the media pen afterwards, but the reality is that his final result, ninth place, was perhaps only one position lost relative to where he likely would have ended up without the mistake (or perhaps two, if he’d had the legs on Gasly).

He knew he’d fumbled the result, keeping his head and voice low as he spoke to the media, admitting he’d thrown it all away and didn’t really know what he’d done wrong to go off in the first place.

Having picked up damage, he managed to find an equilibrium to persevere and salvage his race, but the knowledge that he’d had to learn another hard lesson was written all over his face as he fought his emotions.

“That’s why it’s so frustrating, P7 to P3, I got four of the top teams’ cars, and that’s why it hurts so much to throw it away,” he said.

“I aim just to learn from it and try to improve for the next time I get a chance like this.”

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