George Russell’s first words to Kimi Antonelli in the Italian GP cooldown room say a lot.
George Russell’s first words to Kimi Antonelli in the Italian Grand Prix cooldown room said a lot about how the race went. Antonelli, starting at the very back, ended up winning the Grand Prix. The 18-year-old quickly moved up to 12th place in the hectic first laps. Then, after a red flag pause, he was able to catch and pass more drivers once the race started again.
Antonelli caught up to Russell with just a few laps left. While trying to overtake him on the outside at turn two, Antonelli locked his front tires and went into the gravel. Luckily for him, racing in front of his home crowd at Monza, he recovered and passed Russell the second time around.
Russell came into the weekend hoping to close the 59-point gap to Antonelli at the top of the Drivers’ Championship. Antonelli had a power unit penalty that pushed him to the back of the grid, but he still made it into Q3 on Saturday. Russell qualified second, just behind Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who took a surprise pole.
Russell quickly got past Gasly at the start and was aiming for a big race win. But seeing Antonelli pass him late in the race may hurt his title chances. Now, there’s a 66-point difference between the two, with 10 races left. There’s still time for Russell to catch up, but Antonelli showed at Monza how strong he really is compared to the rest.
In the cooldown room, Russell’s first question to Antonelli was about his strategy mode—the setting that controls power use in the car. After they watched footage of Charles Leclerc’s crash, Antonelli asked Russell what mode he used. Russell said, “Erm… 7 and 4,” and Antonelli replied, “I was in eight.” Russell laughed and said, “Ah… you were flying.”
Russell had some car problems during the race, but his engineer told him to stick with the same mode.
Formula 1 is back next weekend (September 13) for the first-ever Madrid Grand Prix at Circuito de Madrid. From next year, this race will be called the Spanish Grand Prix, with the Circuit de Catalunya sharing hosting duties in 2028, 2030, and 2032.
Charles Leclerc hopes to be fully recovered for Madrid after his big crash on lap 3 in Monza. The crash measured about 50G. Although he was cleared by medical staff, Leclerc said his eyes still gave him some trouble right after leaving the car. “I’m okay, just a bit of eye trouble,” he said. “I’m not hurt—everything else is fine.”