F1’s 20-Year-Old Rising Star Has a Problem at Monza — and His Rivals Are Ready
This weekend, the penultimate European grand prix of the Formula 1 season takes place at Monza, one of the great motorsport tracks, with a young prodigy from Bologna currently leading the championship. If you’re Italian, that’s amore.
Astonishingly, 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli leads the championship by 59 points after just one full season in GP. Born in Bologna, he’s a graduate of the Silver Arrows’ Junior Programme, which he joined aged 12, turbocharging his ascent to the top.
Antonelli has won six races so far this season (China, Japan, Miami, Canada, Monaco and Belgium), showing incredible maturity and an extremely cool head to match his undoubted driving skills. However, with eleven GPs to go, there’s plenty of points to play for and the pressure is starting to build with the chasing pack closing.
His chances of extending that lead this weekend are extremely slim, too. Antonelli will start at the back of the grid due to rules about excess engine changes, making a victory highly unlikely. Everything will be about salvaging a few points and damage limitation as far as he’s concerned.
That opens the door to his rivals – chief among them three British drivers. One of those is seven-time F1 winner Lewis Hamilton, now with Ferrari. The age gap is an astonishing 21 years, but the veteran’s hunger to win is restored by at last sitting behind the wheel of a competitive car.
Clive Rose/Getty Images
Ferrari will have extra incentive to win a home grand prix and, inevitably, they have plenty of history here, dating back to 1951. The Scuderia have won 20 GPs at the circuit in total, with Michael Schumacher leading the palmares with five during his career. Their last winning driver was Hamilton’s mercurial French teammate Charles Leclerc, also a winner in 2019. He sits fifth in the championship standings and counts the circuit as a favourite. Ferrari also arrive at Monza with an upgrade which should improve their straight-line speed. Both drivers looked very promising in practice, but will it be enough over a whole race?
Also in the mix on the same points as Hamilton (183, 59 behind Antonelli) is Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell, who has shaken off the bad luck that dogged him – and dented his confidence – after his opening weekend victory in Australia back in March. Third place at Zandvoort, in the Netherlands, in the last race was less than he expected after winning the sprint race there. Being forced to swap places with Antonelli under team rules must have stung, too. The race is a must-win for him.
Just behind in fourth spot with 159 points is current world champion Lando Norris. Self-effacing as he is, there is no way he’s going to concede his title without a fight as a very assured winning performance in the Netherlands demonstrated.
Norris, 26, renewed his contract with McLaren just weeks ago, a show of faith on both sides. The team started the season badly off the pace as they struggled with the new rules introduced this season, but a major upgrade has seen them win the last two races.
Monza is one of the classic F1 circuits, in play since 1921 and the only one apart from the British to feature in the championship since it began. It is rated as one of the fastest on the calendar, sometimes referred to as the ‘Temple of Speed’. The weather forecast is hot — in fact, it’s been declared a heat hazard — so it’s going to be a very rapid, competitive race. Let’s hope the rivals duke it out over all 53 laps.
2026 Italian Grand Prix, Sunday, September 6, 10 a.m. ET, Apple TV
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