The 2026 Italian Grand Prix offered perhaps the clearest demonstration yet of Mercedes’ power unit advantage, while Kimi Antonelli showed virtually everything expected of a potential Formula 1 champion – including a timely dose of good fortune. On the most power-sensitive circuit of the season, Mercedes appeared to operate on another level, and Antonelli exploited that performance to produce a historic victory from 19th on the grid.
Monza also highlighted the defining characteristics of Formula 1’s new technical era. The 2026 regulations have placed the power unit and electrical energy management at the heart of car performance, and the Temple of Speed magnified those differences more than almost any other circuit. The result was a race filled with dramatic changes in pace, frequent overtaking and the kind of “yo-yo” action that has become closely associated with this generation of cars.
Mercedes power unit advantage becomes impossible to ignore at Monza
From an objective standpoint, Monza produced more movement through the field than Formula 1 has seen at the Italian circuit for years. It combined some of the strengths and weaknesses of the 2026 rules: the much-discussed deployment effect created enormous variations in speed, but the narrower and more agile cars, combined with high downforce when the wings were closed and an overtaking mode more effective than the DRS system used in previous seasons, also encouraged genuine racing.
If further evidence was needed of the scale of the Mercedes power unit advantage this season, Monza provided it emphatically. The Brackley team – and particularly the way it was able to use its power unit around the lap – looked to be operating in a different category from its rivals.
The advantage was so significant that an extraordinary Kimi Antonelli was able to win after starting 19th, slicing through the field and repeatedly passing his rivals as he climbed towards the front.
Kimi Antonelli combines a veteran’s composure with relentless aggression
It should be made clear that Antonelli drove a historic race. He produced two superb starts, remaining extremely careful not to become involved in contact or run off the circuit while still taking every opportunity to gain positions quickly.
His race pace was relentless, yet he never appeared to make even the smallest meaningful mistake. There was an almost endless succession of overtakes, including a long and tense mid-race fight with Mercedes team-mate and former championship rival George Russell, but without a lock-up, contact or significant error.
For completeness, Antonelli’s brief off-track moment a few laps from the end was caused by a strip of damaged asphalt that had created a trap for anyone who moved away from the normal racing line. The Italian had left that line because George Russell had run deep ahead of him.
Antonelli showed the composure and concentration of a veteran, the determination of a ruthless winner and the talent of an exceptional driver. Yet this came from a 20-year-old contesting only his second Italian Grand Prix, arriving at Monza as the Formula 1 championship leader before being forced to start from the back.
Antonelli undoubtedly had comfortably the best car available at Monza. There is little reason to argue otherwise. But performances of this kind still require something more from the driver, as Formula 1 has repeatedly seen from great champions throughout its history.
There remains a very long road ahead before Kimi Antonelli can genuinely be compared with the biggest names in the sport. Nevertheless, an important chapter in that journey was written at Monza.
Antonelli also gets the fortune champions sometimes need
The young Bologna-born driver also benefited from good fortune – the kind that can appear from nowhere and create an opportunity that still has to be seized when it arrives.
The two restarts gave Antonelli the chance to recover numerous positions while losing relatively little time, but more importantly they produced an unavoidable change to Mercedes’ original strategic approach.
Antonelli had started on the hard tyres, while George Russell began on mediums. Both compounds were capable of covering a very long distance, so during the red-flag period Mercedes switched the compounds between its drivers in order to satisfy its tyre strategy requirements. Antonelli therefore found himself on the medium compound before the Virtual Safety Car appeared at almost precisely the moment he needed another tyre change.
At that point, Mercedes needed to differentiate its strategies to minimise risk. George Russell was on the hard compound and had no fresh tyres remaining, making it natural to leave the British driver on track until the finish.
It was a combination of circumstances that can sometimes create the impression that fate has already chosen who will be given the next opportunity to become a champion. But fortune alone did not produce the result: Antonelli still had to convert that opportunity with pace, overtaking and faultless execution.
His approach immediately after the victory was equally revealing. Rather than becoming consumed by the celebrations, Antonelli quickly returned to his usual routine, including another day behind the wheel of a kart, as detailed in how Kimi Antonelli returned to karting immediately after his historic Monza win.
Mercedes customer teams also show power unit strength
Mercedes was not the only team using the German manufacturer’s power unit at Monza. Some customers appeared willing to extract a little more performance from the available potential, which is not normally exploited to its absolute limit because of reliability considerations.
Alpine and Pierre Gasly were one example. The French team produced an unexpected pole position, with Gasly taking the first qualifying pole of his Formula 1 career. Alpine then converted its pace into a double points finish on Sunday, with Franco Colapinto even running fourth at the restart.
Gasly ultimately finished seventh, an achievement he considered close to the maximum Alpine could extract from the race after the faster cars came through. His weekend is explored further in Pierre Gasly’s reaction to his maiden F1 pole and Monza points finish.
McLaren, meanwhile, finished just outside the podium positions after spending much of the Grand Prix fighting for a top-three result. That came despite a car carrying considerable aerodynamic drag and using the shortest gear ratios in the field, both significant disadvantages at a circuit such as Monza.
Why energy recovery became so important for McLaren
McLaren appeared to understand during qualifying how best to exploit the energy-recovery phase, and that knowledge provided a major benefit during the race.
The possibility of recovering large amounts of electrical energy around a lap particularly favours the most efficient power units. Although that may initially sound counter-intuitive, the underlying principle is relatively straightforward.
When a substantial amount of energy can be harvested, a highly efficient system can recover the available energy while spending less time in the harvesting phase. A less efficient power unit either fails to recover everything available or has to sacrifice considerably more lap time to achieve a comparable amount.
The consequence is that the advantage of the more efficient power unit can begin to multiply. It spends less time harvesting while simultaneously having more electrical energy available to deploy at the points where it provides the greatest performance benefit.
At Monza, where long straights make deployment particularly important, that difference became enormous.
Red Bull-Ford strong but still behind Mercedes on track
Red Bull appeared to have the second-best power unit package at Monza, albeit at a significant distance from Mercedes. Combined with a relatively low-drag car that found a favourable operating window at the Italian circuit, that allowed Max Verstappen to secure a podium.
Verstappen nevertheless admitted that Red Bull could not match Mercedes, particularly in the way the cars were able to deploy energy on the straights. His route to third place, including the battles with McLaren, is detailed in how Max Verstappen overcame the RB22’s limitations to reach the Monza podium.
The competitive performance of the Red Bull-Ford power unit was also reflected in the double points finish for Racing Bulls, with Arvid Lindblad enjoying another excellent weekend and Yuki Tsunoda producing a strong race.
What Monza did cast further doubt on, however, was whether the ADUO assessment identifying the Milton Keynes power unit as the benchmark truly reflects overall performance on track. The FIA’s Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system assesses specific agreed parameters, and it is important to remember that those parameters were established collectively by the teams and power unit manufacturers.
Monza does not define the season, but its message is difficult to ignore
Monza cannot be treated as a definitive representation of the competitive order across Formula 1 because it exaggerates characteristics that carry far less importance at other circuits. At the same time, that is precisely why it acts as a magnifying glass for what the 2026 regulations have placed at the centre of performance: the power unit, its efficiency and, above all, the management of electrical energy across a lap.
From that perspective, the message from the Italian Grand Prix was difficult to misinterpret. Mercedes currently possesses a major advantage not simply in outright power, but in the overall utilisation of its hybrid system. At a circuit that demanded virtually everything from the power unit, that advantage became particularly pronounced.
That does not mean Mercedes will necessarily dominate every remaining race in the way it did at Monza. Chassis performance, aerodynamics, tyre management and individual circuit characteristics will regain much greater importance at the coming rounds.
But when the regulations and the circuit place the power unit at the centre of performance, Mercedes currently appears to possess Formula 1’s technical reference point.
Even then, somebody still has to turn that advantage into something memorable. Mercedes clearly had the strongest weapon at Monza. Kimi Antonelli simply demonstrated that he is already the kind of driver worth entrusting with it.
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