Mercedes chose Monza weekend, Kimi's home race, to take the penalty. They chose Monza of all places because it has long straights, and it makes it easy to overtake. And on top of that, Kimi had a 59-point lead going into the race.
The lineup for the race was Pierre Gasly (who got his first pole position!), George Russell, and Charles Leclerc. Kimi Antonelli started in nineteenth. Gasly was able to hold onto the lead for a lap until George took the lead.
Ferrari had new engines, a home crowd, and a one-two in the first practice. It was looking to be a five star weekend for them. Until an unfortunate accident happened at Parabolica and Charles Leclerc crashed into the wall on lap 2. Hamilton finished sixth in the race, not the ideal hopes from the tifosi, but hey, points are points. What was unfortunate for Ferrari aside from Charles' crash, was that they had the upgrades and it gave them nothing.
Leclerc's crash triggered a red flag, and this gave drivers a chance to change their tires. Most everyone went with hards, but Mercedes kept Antonelli on his own strategy and went with mediums. He had already moved up from nineteenth to twelfth.
At the restart, Yuki Tsunoda accidentally triggered a false start, which was later reviewed by stewards and declared not a false start, but we got an extra formation lap anyways. The race finally restarted, and by lap sixteen, Antonelli was second. By lap seventeen, he stole the lead from Russell and they went back and forth taking the lead.
Mid-race, a VSC was deployed because Stroll had hydraulic issues and had to retire the car. During that time, Antonelli took a discount pitstop and pitted for fresh tires. He went down a couple of places, but worked his way back up. Within the last couple of laps, he was battling Russell again for first. Antonelli went to overtake and went into the gravel. Thankfully, he didn't crash, got back on track, overtook Russell, and brought it home for the big win.
Kimi Antonelli finished in first. The first Italian to win a home race since 1966. Just astounding.
George Russell finished second, and Max Verstappen finished third after a broken rear axle. Behind them was Norris and Piastri, Hamilton sixth, Gasly seventh after pole. Both Alpines in the points even after Colapinto went off into the gravel while running third, and he made an excellent comeback from sixteenth to ninth.
It's safe to say this is the most eventful and fun race we've had in a while. Kimi Antonelli, 20 years old, just won his home race, making it his seventh career win, with 26 overtakes in one Grand Prix. Second-biggest comeback to a win in F1 history, behind John Watson from 22nd at Long Beach in 1983. Forza Kimi!!!