The Miracles at Monza
All images submitted by Keerthana Gopi.
The Monza GP has always been an interesting race; nicknamed the “Temple of Speed,” the circuit is 5.793 km long and features 11 turns and 53 laps to the finish line. Lots of news preceded the weekend, with Isack Hadjar still out with his injury, Pierre Gasly having his penalties from Monaco reinstated (meaning he lost his podium), and Kimi Antonelli starting the weekend with a 30 place grid penalty, guaranteed to start in the back row for his home race.
Qualifying
Q1 of qualifying passed through with no incident. Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll all made an exit. In Q2 Liam Lawson had a very good lap until an incident with Oscar Piastri really slowed him down, and he got eliminated along with Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, and Estaben Ocon. The rest of the grid made it through to Q3 and, in a surprising turn of events, Pierre Gasly got his maiden pole at Monza. The rest of the top ten in order were George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli, Franco Colapinto, Lando Norris, and Arvid Lindblad.
Race
The starting grid started with a little shuffle as Antonelli moved to P19, and everyone else's places all changed. Lights off and away they went. Gasly was able to get a good start and kept his position ahead of Russell and Leclerc, who also tried to push ahead. Leclerc and Hamilton ended up side by side, and Hamilton got pushed off the track and into the gravel, losing multiple positions. On lap two, George Russell was able to pull ahead into P1 during the main straight and right behind was Charles Leclerc, who also pulled ahead of Gasly. But then, on the very same lap, Gasly retook second place from Leclerc. Verstappen, who was right behind them, also moved ahead of Leclerc, sliding into P3. While he attempted to take P3 back from Verstappen, Leclerc went a little off track and got into some gravel that caused him to completely barrel into the barriers. He was not majorly harmed, but reported temporary vision blurriness and overall body pain from a 60G crash.
This pushed the race into a red flag. On the restart, George Russell started P1 with Gasly right behind, and Colapinto was able to jump to P3 ahead of Verstappen, but Verstappen took P3 back in the first lap. Verstappen then took second place from Gasly and Hamilton; Piastri and Antonelli followed right behind pushing Gasly down into P6. Russell lost his lead to Max Verstappen in lap 12 of 53, but those who know the result of the race know that there is much more to come. Antonelli had been picking off drivers from the very beginning of this race and he did the same to Max Verstappen making the race a Mercedes one-two on Lap 18. Russell and Antonelli spent the next couple of laps fighting for the lead going back and forth. But a Virtual Safety Car involving Lance Stroll allowed Antonelli to gain a quick pit stop and fresher tires that were able to push him through the places he lost. He pushed ahead of Norris, Piastri, and Verstappen all the way back to P2 from P6.
In Lap 49 of 53 and in an attempt to gain back P1 from Russell, Anontteli made some sharp wide turns that pushed him into the gravel, but on Lap 50 Antonelli took back the lead and held onto it until the checked flag at Lap 53. Behind him was George Russell, and rounding out the podium was Max Verstappen. Then came the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri, which made up the top five. Kimi Antonelli broke the “Home Race Curse” and pushed himself even farther ahead in the Championship battle where he could possibly become the youngest winner ever.
