MILAN – For 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli, the 2025 Italian Grand Prix at Monza feels like a full-circle moment that few could have predicted just two years ago. The young Mercedes driver, who only celebrated his 20th birthday last week, now enters his home race as the unexpected leader of the Formula 1 World Championship, chasing a piece of history no Italian driver has claimed in nearly six decades.
It was at this very same high-speed temple of speed two years ago that Antonelli made his unceremonious F1 debut. What was supposed to be his first on-track taste of grand prix racing ended after just 10 minutes, when a high-speed crash in first practice sent him limping back to the paddock, his introduction to the sport cut dramatically short.
“That definitely was not the way I wanted to introduce myself into the sport,” Antonelli reflected ahead of this weekend’s race. “If someone, while I was walking off in the gravel, would have said, ‘in two years you’re going to be leading the world championship in this exact moment,’ I would have said ‘shut up … don’t joke with me.’ But, you know, it’s happening. And I’m very, very, very happy, very grateful. And just got to keep pushing.”
Antonelli is already writing new storylines before the race even starts: he is the first Italian driver to enter his home grand prix at Monza atop the championship standings since legendary racer Alberto Ascari achieved the feat back in 1953. He is also bidding to become the youngest world champion in F1 history, and end a 62-year drought for Italian winners at Monza — no Italian driver has stood atop the podium at the Italian national circuit since 1966.
His path to that historic win has hit a major setback, however. Mercedes opted to fit a brand-new power unit to Antonelli’s car this weekend, a proactive swap to avoid potential reliability issues in the second half of the championship. The change triggers a heavy grid penalty, forcing the championship leader to start the race from the very back of the grid.
While starting from the back has dimmed his odds of victory, Antonelli says it has also stripped away the weight of expectations that comes with being a title contender racing in front of a home crowd. “I’d very much rather fight for pole and start at the front,” he admitted. “But in some ways, I feel like it makes me a bit more relaxed going into the weekend. And I think that’s why I’m going to be able to enjoy more the driving and the weekend itself. Of course, the goal is always the same, and we’re going to try to maximize the result … but definitely I feel very free mentally going into this weekend. I’m actually very excited, very much looking forward to it, but with no real pressure.”
The layout of Monza works partially in Antonelli’s favor: the long straightaways favor Mercedes’ power unit, which has proven strong in straight-line speed this season, and the track’s design makes overtaking far easier than at most modern F1 circuits. Fans are already anticipating a thrilling charge through the field as the young Italian looks to carve his way from last place to a potential race-winning position.
Heading into the weekend, Antonelli holds a comfortable 59-point lead over his Mercedes teammate George Russell, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in third just behind Russell. Defending champion Lando Norris of McLaren sits a further 24 points behind Hamilton, still riding momentum after back-to-back wins at the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix.
The Italian Grand Prix is always the most anticipated weekend of the year for Ferrari, with the 5.793-kilometer Monza circuit packed full of tens of thousands of passionate tifosi clad in the team’s iconic red. This year, the team has extra cause for celebration and commemoration: both of Ferrari’s cars finished on top of the timing sheets in Friday’s opening practice session, with Charles Leclerc posting the fastest lap, 0.173 seconds clear of his teammate Hamilton. Russell finished third, with stand-in Red Bull driver Liam Lawson — filling in for the injured Isack Hadjar for the second consecutive race — in fourth, while Antonelli rounded out the top five with his new power unit.
Ferrari is also marking the 30th anniversary of Michael Schumacher’s first Italian Grand Prix victory with the Scuderia, rolling out a special commemorative livery for both cars this weekend. Both Hamilton and Leclerc will also wear custom race suits featuring the seven stars that once adorned Schumacher’s helmet, a tribute to his seven world championship titles.
Looking to defend his title, Norris has dismissed any concern over Ferrari’s new engine upgrade, which the team introduced to boost its chances of winning at its home track for the second time in three years. “I’m not worried at all,” the McLaren driver said. “I mean they’ve been very competitive, it probably will make them more competitive. Good on them, they’ll make our life a bit trickier. It’s not a worry, we just have to keep focused on our own job. We know it’s a different track … we’ve won two races but it’s not like we’ve been competitive the whole season and we know that there are things we still need to work on.”