Monza delivered everything Formula 1 promises and rarely gives you all at once, a historic home win, a shock pole, a tearful teenager, a furious seven-time champion, and two kids who stole the show. But the moment that will live longest wasn’t a pass or a crash or a podium. It was a 20-year-old Italian, standing on the top step of the Temple of Speed, eating spaghetti al pomodoro out of his winner’s trophy. Some drivers drink champagne from the silverware. Kimi Antonelli preferred pasta. Add in Jack Wolff and Penelope Kvyat running the paddock like they owned it, and you had the best ingredients for an unforgettable Italian Grand Prix.

Forza Kimi: Antonelli ends Italy’s 60 year wait, with a side of pasta

Kimi Antonelli produced one of the great Monza drives, charging from 19th on the grid to victory, the first Italian to win at Monza since Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966, ending a 60-year wait.

The 20-year-old passed Mercedes team-mate George Russell with three laps remaining to extend his championship lead to 66 points. It was his seventh win of the season and the 50th Grand Prix win by an Italian in history. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff described it as a circle closing , two years after Antonelli crashed in free practice at the same circuit, a moment Wolff called the toughest of the youngster’s career.

But it was what happened after the chequered flag that truly captured the imagination. Some drivers drink champagne from their trophies. Others fill their racing boots with bubbly and spray the crowd. Kimi Antonelli filled his with spaghetti al pomodoro. Before the race, the teenager had reportedly promised that if he won at Monza, he would eat pasta from the trophy, and true to his word, he returned to the top step of the podium with the cup filled with spaghetti and a fork in hand. Photos shared on his social media the following day went viral, with Antonelli describing it as a dream with open eyes. Fitting, really, that the Monza trophy, already famous for its design inspired by a stack of dishes in a sink, should end up doing what it was always meant to do: holding dinner.

Pierre on pole

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly claimed the first pole position of his Formula 1 career on Saturday, edging George Russell by six hundredths of a second.

Also read: Gasly grabs career first pole at Monza

It was a stunning result for the Frenchman in his 190th grand prix, nine years into his F1 career, and the first pole for the Alpine name. Gasly, who lives in nearby Milan, addressed the crowd in Italian afterwards and said the result had exceeded all expectations.

Max back on the box, and the young ones stole the show

Max Verstappen returned to the podium with a battling third-place finish, his fifth podium of a difficult 2026 season. The four-time champion had retired from his home Dutch Grand Prix two weeks earlier, making Monza an immediate chance to recover. He now sits sixth in the championship on 127 points, 140 behind Antonelli. Verstappen admitted Red Bull lacked straight-line speed and energy deployment compared to the Mercedes-powered cars, but was pleased to be back on the podium.

Away from the racing, the paddock’s youngest stars captured the headlines. Toto Wolff’s son Jack and Penelope Kvyat , daughter of Kelly Piquet and former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat, and Verstappen’s stepdaughter, were spotted together throughout the weekend.

Toto took Penelope for a ride on his scooter before bringing her into the Mercedes garage, with footage widely shared on social media.

Charles crash: Family first

Charles Leclerc’s race lasted less than two laps. The Ferrari driver lost control at the Parabolica at an estimated 240 km/h, with the impact measured at close to 50G, bringing out the red flag. He was taken to the medical centre and released with no detected injuries, though he reported temporary blurred vision in his right eye and will undergo further checks before Madrid.

Leclerc’s wife Alexandra, who is in the later stages of her pregnancy, was watching from the paddock, a reminder that beyond the helmet and the headlines, there is a man and a growing family for whom every barrier hit carries a weight no stopwatch can measure.

Hamilton to Leclerc: There was no “we”

Lewis Hamilton’s frustrations with Ferrari boiled over after a first-lap clash with team-mate Leclerc sent Hamilton into the gravel, dropping him to 11th. Leclerc suggested both drivers had gone too far. Hamilton was blunt in response, insisting he was ahead at the apex and there was no shared blame. He went further, calling for written rules of engagement at Ferrari, contrasting the situation with his time at Mercedes where such rules existed. Team principal Frederic Vasseur admitted the incident was not good but said it was too early to make decisions on driver priority. Hamilton recovered to finish sixth, more than 20 seconds behind winner Antonelli.

Colapinto’s tears: The highs and lows

Franco Colapinto’s Monza was a rollercoaster. The Alpine driver started seventh, climbed to third at the restart after passing Verstappen, and briefly looked capable of fighting for a podium.

But a mistake at the Lesmo corner sent him through the gravel and dropped him to 16th. He recovered to ninth and salvaged two points, but was visibly emotional afterwards, breaking down in tears in the media pen. On team radio, he called himself an idiot and apologised to his engineer. His race engineer refused to let him dwell on it, reminding him he had gone from 16th to ninth with a damaged car.

Norris launches LN4 fusion

Ahead of the race weekend, Lando Norris announced the launch of LN4 Fusion, a junior single-seater racing team co-founded by the 2025 F1 World Champion. The team will compete in Italian Formula 4, the Formula Regional European Championship, and Formula 3 from 2027, with an application submitted to join the Formula 2 grid. Norris also launched the separate LN4 Legacy Programme, a fully-funded driver development initiative aimed at helping young talent reach the top level. The team has acquired selected assets of AIX Racing and appointed René Rosin as team principal.

This report was compiled using AI assistance. It was fact-checked and published by an editor.