On a track where very low tyre degradation used to generate long periods of a train of cars simply following each other, this was relentless overtaking and counter-attack.
And of course, the fairytale victory of Italian hero Kimi Antonelli who went from 19th on the grid into the lead just 18 laps later.
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His opening lap was a perfect combination of patience, guile and risk at the right moment. He was cautious into the first perilous chicane, and then behind Yuki Tsunoda's Racing Bull around the outside of the first Lesmo bend, and then again into the Ascari chicane, and then he squeezed down the right-hand side, close to the grass, of two cars down the next straight.
There have been two red flags at Monza F1 this century, in 2020 and 2026, both for Charles Leclerc crashing a Ferrari at the final Parabolica corner. Leclerc turned in a little wide after defending from Oscar Piastri's McLaren and then proceeded to accelerate hard towards the main pit straight.
Unfortunately, his left-rear tyre was on the green painted strip which includes a drain cover, and this put the Ferrari into a slide, and when he corrected the steering wheel by turning into that slide in the normal way, the front tyres suddenly found a lot of grip and twisted him hard into the barriers with a 60G crash. He was shaken and likely winded, but otherwise appeared to be largely in one piece, and hopefully fit for Madrid this coming weekend.
After the race I was told by a trusted source that the Ferrari has a propensity to spike a little in power in situations like that, even on the simulator, but that was not from the team.
The resultant red flag was a pain for George Russell who was leading nicely, having passed sensational pole-sitter Pierre Gasly's Alpine heading into lap two, and was setting about building a nice lead.
The red flag helped Kimi Antonelli nicely, he was already up to P12 and any field spread to the leaders was eliminated with a second standing start from the grid. Everyone was able to change tyres as per the regulations, which would mean a 50-lap run ahead on the same rubber for many drivers, including George Russell.
Leclerc was 'likely miffed' by Hamilton in first chicane incident
Leclerc had already had a skirmish on the first lap with team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari had promised and expected so much at this race, Hamilton even talking in terms of what it would mean to win in Monza for the team. But, in reality, they struggled throughout and just squeezed through Q2 qualifying into the top-10 shoot-out. Both drivers put a decent final lap together and with Piastri being penalised three grid spots for blocking Liam Lawson in Q2, and Antonelli confined to the back of the grid with power-unit penalties, the Ferraris lined up side by side on the second row.
Into the first chicane Hamilton released the brakes and rolled up the inside of Leclerc, forcing him wide and meaning a tight entry into the immediate Turn 2. They were side by side and Hamilton stuck it out around the outside. A likely miffed Leclerc understeered wide on that inside line and nerfed Hamilton off into the gravel. He could have given him more room most likely but clearly didn't want to.
There are necessarily comprehensive rules of engagement in general combat, and chicanes are often treated as one corner in that respect, but the whole scenario is seen through a different lens with the inevitable close contact on the opening lap. After all, we enjoy starting them as a tight pack.
The stewards reviewed it and decided no further action meaning it was a racing incident. Whatever the rules, if you're on the outside of Turn 2 in Monza at any point, you're highly likely to be run out of road and end up high on the exit kerb or in the gravel. We've all been there.
Russell will feel bruised by race-changing VSC
Antonelli cleared the rest of the pack in highly-impressive style and, I would imagine, much to Russell's surprise and chagrin, filling his mirrors. There then ensued a thrilling Mercedes cat-and-mouse game of overtaking and re-passing, always trying to maximise engine and battery energy for general lap time, attack and defence.
If within a second of the car in front they all get 'overtake mode' (at all circuits) which allows for charging the battery by an extra half a megajoule, and to keep a higher top speed for longer. All very handy with four long straights.
But as they fought this helped Max Verstappen stay in touch, as usual Max was driving the wheels off his Red Bull despite being fundamentally slower than the Mercs. He led at one stage and simply wouldn't give up. Finally, the Mercedes pit wall asked their drivers to stop racing each other and build a gap to Verstappen, and keep him well out of the overtake mode, and they duly obliged.
Then on Lap 28 there was a virtual safety car to recover Lance Stroll's stricken Aston Martin, and pitting under the safety car at this track and, with a very high speed straight passing the 50mph pit-lane zone, this saves nine seconds on the normal 24 seconds lost when everyone is otherwise at full speed out on track.
Russell was leading on the hard tyres and he wasn't called in. Right behind him his team-mate Antonelli and rival Verstappen did pit to shed their used medium-compound tyres. Russell said in the post-race interviews that he thought both cars were staying out. In the team press release he's quoted very diplomatically as saying the team split strategies as it was not clear whether track advantage ahead of all traffic was the right way to go, or taking on fresh tyres. My guess is he's feeling bruised by how that played out.
Antonelli set about the task of catching up the 15 seconds lost, including passing people like Norris and Hamilton, and once again he made impressive progress. Verstappen became embroiled in a battle with both McLarens, including the feisty Piastri and so it became effectively an all silver two-horse race. Game on.
Antonelli wins breathless race
Antonelli was catching at sometimes over one second per lap on his fresh tyres and passed traffic relatively easily. As he coasted up to the back of Russell for the second time that afternoon the pass seemed inevitable. Russell wasn't going to make it easy, braking very late into the first chicane, running slightly wide. Antonelli would drift wide in the left-hander immediately following and would also find loose stones from a surface which was breaking up.
The asphalt had been repaired Friday evening but after many races and much of the grand prix, it was failing again. Antonelli found himself far into the gravel but recovered to the racetrack still ahead of Verstappen. He had some catching up to do again which he quickly achieved. Heading up to Ascari chicane Russell hung left and Antonelli was through once more, to rapturous cheers from the crowd.
Both drivers had been asked to race clean, Russell even being told to 'bring it home'. Did Russell let Antonelli through hoping to pick up the overtake mode heading into the last corner? His tyres were 50 laps old by the chequered flag and in reality he was out of any credible options.
An Italian won the Italian Grand Prix for the first time in 60 years, and the crowd weren't going to waste the moment, it was electric.
The best duel at the finish was between the two McLarens of Piastri and Norris. Piastri had been less than motivated to give Norris a slipstream in qualifying, to say the least judging by a few factors, and Norris felt that Piastri had him on the grass at high speed heading towards the second chicane in the closing stages, although there wasn't much room to start with in reality.
Norris went over the first chicane on the final lap, which ironically may have helped him with energy deployment on the last lap, and he squeezed past the young Aussie to finish a mere two tenths of a second ahead. That all looked a bit personal.
The Theatre of Speed perhaps needs renaming the Theatre of Overtaking in this era of F1, but it was breathless to watch. Now we head to Madrid and a track which looks like it could be challenging for other reasons.
MB
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