The Italian Grand Prix was supposed to give George Russell a major opportunity to reduce the gap to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who had been forced to start 19th following an engine change. Instead, Kimi Antonelli produced an extraordinary recovery and was already directly behind George Russell after only around 15 or 16 laps before going on to win at Monza.
Kimi Antonelli’s race pace was exceptional, but there were also clear technical and strategic reasons why the Italian held an advantage over his team-mate. A fresher power unit, a set-up focused much more heavily on race performance and the tyre opportunity created by the Virtual Safety Car all contributed to a situation in which even one of George Russell’s strongest performances of the season was not enough.
Why Kimi Antonelli had an advantage over George Russell at Monza
The first major factor was the power unit. George Russell’s unit has reached the latter stages of its usable life, and the British driver will also soon have to replace it and take a grid penalty. Kimi Antonelli, by contrast, had a fresh power unit for Monza after the change that sent him towards the back of the starting grid.
The second important factor was the car set-up. Because Kimi Antonelli did not need to prioritise qualifying after knowing he would start near the back, his Mercedes could be configured with greater emphasis on competitiveness over the race distance.
Those conditions, combined with an almost flawless race from Kimi Antonelli apart from an excursion through the gravel late on, left his rivals with little chance. The Bologna-born driver worked his way through the field and ultimately defeated everyone in front of him, including George Russell.
However, while George Russell was criticised by some for failing to win despite having the considerable advantage of starting much further up the grid, his own performance should not be overlooked. The British driver produced an outstanding race. In fact, he was comprehensively beaten on what may have been his strongest day of the season.
Even one of George Russell’s best races was not enough
The decisive strategic difference emerged when Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen were among the few drivers to make a pit stop during the Virtual Safety Car caused by Lance Stroll’s technical retirement.
That stop allowed both drivers to fit fresh tyres, placing them in an even stronger position relative to George Russell for the closing stages. By remaining on track, George Russell completed 50 laps on a single set of hard tyres. Kimi Antonelli, meanwhile, reached the chequered flag after a 25-lap stint on the C4 medium compound, while Max Verstappen completed a 25-lap long run on the C3 hard.
The tyre advantage was substantial. Kimi Antonelli was consistently at least half a second per lap faster than George Russell, with the difference often approaching a full second.
Yet George Russell’s own pace remained impressive. Despite being on considerably older and less favourable tyres, he was still faster than Max Verstappen, who eventually finished more than 10 seconds behind second place.
Fresh tyres helped Kimi Antonelli complete his remarkable comeback
The Virtual Safety Car therefore strengthened an advantage that Kimi Antonelli had already built through outright race pace. His fresher medium tyres gave him significantly more performance for the closing phase, while George Russell was required to manage a hard compound that had already completed a very long stint.
George Russell nevertheless delivered an exceptional performance and arguably suffered his heaviest defeat to Kimi Antonelli precisely when he himself was producing some of his best driving of the year.
For Kimi Antonelli, everything came together. The new power unit offered an advantage over George Russell’s older unit, his race-oriented set-up helped him maximise the Mercedes over a long stint, and the VSC created the opportunity to switch to fresher tyres at a critical stage.
George Russell could face the same power-unit penalty later in 2026
There is another aspect of Kimi Antonelli’s comeback that could become important later in the season. George Russell is expected to reach the point where he too will need a new power unit, which would leave him facing a grid penalty at one of the upcoming Grands Prix.
Whether George Russell could reproduce the kind of recovery Kimi Antonelli delivered at Monza is another question. Starting 19th, the Italian combined strong race pace with a favourable set-up and strategy to produce an exceptional charge through the field.
At Monza, the result was particularly striking because George Russell did not have a poor race. Quite the opposite: he performed at an extremely high level, even remaining comfortably quicker than Max Verstappen despite his heavily used tyres. Kimi Antonelli was simply operating with a combination of pace, equipment and strategy that proved impossible to overcome.
The one-two finish further underlined Mercedes’ strength in 2026, while Kimi Antonelli’s latest victory added another major result to a championship campaign that has placed him at the top of the Formula 1 drivers’ standings.
