2026 Italian Grand Prix

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Kimi Antonelli led the Drivers' Championship with 242 points, 59 points ahead of teammate George Russell in second and 59 ahead of Lewis Hamilton in third. Mercedes, with 425 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 338 and 265 points, respectively.^[7]

Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list, with the exception of Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, who injured his wrist leading into the preceding Dutch Grand Prix and was again unable to compete. He was again replaced by Liam Lawson. Red Bull reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda replaced Lawson at Racing Bulls.^[8][9]

During the first practice session, four teams fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations:^[10]

• Luke Browning for Williams in place of Alexander Albon.^[11]
• Paul Aron for Alpine in place of Pierre Gasly.^[12]
• Ayumu Iwasa for Red Bull in place of Max Verstappen.^[13]
• Colton Herta for Cadillac in place of Sergio Pérez.^[14]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli selected the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds—the softest three in its range, designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively—for teams to use at the event.^[15]

Qualifying report

Qualifying was held in dry conditions. Ferrari and Haas both brought significant upgrade packages for the event.^[16][17] Liam Lawson (Red Bull) was the first to leave the pit lane at the start of Q1 and set the initial benchmark. He was followed by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Oliver Bearman (Haas). The Ferrari drivers moved into first place consecutively, with Charles Leclerc setting the fastest time, followed by Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) then topped the timesheets. He was quickly displaced by Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who remained at the top for the rest of Q1, with his teammate, Franco Colapinto, in third. Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) improved late in the session to claim a position in the second part of qualifying (Q2). Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) was the fastest driver eliminated, ahead of Alexander Albon (Williams).^[18] Both Cadillac drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, also failed to progress alongside Stroll and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).^[19]

Lawson once again led the field out at the start of Q2 and briefly set the pace before Verstappen established the first representative benchmark. McLaren then assumed control for most of the segment, with Oscar Piastri in first place and Lando Norris in second.^[20] It was during the final round of laps that Piastri impeded Lawson, resulting in his three-place grid-penalty for the race.^[21] Antonelli moved to the top of the timesheets following his flying lap under the chequered flag. Hamilton also narrowly improved to tenth around the same time, beating Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) by 0.001 seconds.^[18] Oliver Bearman (Haas) qualified twelfth, followed by Lawson, Hülkenberg, Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams) and Esteban Ocon (Haas).^[19]

The Mercedes drivers were the first on the track in Q3. George Russell set the first timed lap after being given a tow by Kimi Antonelli early in the lap. Piastri held second after the opening runs, ahead of Gasly, Leclerc, Verstappen, Antonelli, Norris, Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), Hamilton and Colapinto. Hamilton and Colapinto moved to fifth and seventh respectively in their final attempt. Russell briefly took provisional pole, before being displaced by Gasly.^[18] None of the other drivers improved on their times.^[19]

This was Gasly's first career pole. It made him the first French driver to take one since Jean Alesi at the 1997 Italian Grand Prix, driving for a previous incarnation of Team Enstone, Benetton.^[22] He also became the driver with the second-most race entries before achieving their first pole position, with the Grand Prix marking his 191st start, after Sergio Pérez, who achieved his at the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after 219 entries.^[23] This was Team Enstone's first pole position as Alpine and their first since Alonso's at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix when they competed as Renault.^[19]

Qualifying classification

More information Pos., No. ...

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
				Q1	Q2	Q3
1	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Mercedes	1:22.612	1:22.077	1:21.786	1
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:22.779	1:22.161	1:21.846	2
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.924	1:22.017	1:21.966	6a
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:22.902	1:22.509	1:22.004	3
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:22.847	1:22.516	1:22.011	4
6	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	1:22.631	1:22.188	1:22.070	5
7	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:22.758	1:21.882	1:22.093	19b
8	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine-Mercedes	1:22.662	1:22.400	1:22.220	7
9	1	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:22.659	1:22.067	1:22.256	8
10	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	1:22.727	1:22.345	1:22.286	9
11	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:22.946	1:22.517	N/A	10
12	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	1:22.906	1:22.756	N/A	11
13	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	1:23.440	1:22.779	N/A	12
14	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	1:22.989	1:22.821	N/A	PLc
15	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	1:23.616	1:23.453	N/A	13
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	1:23.466	1:23.454	N/A	14
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	1:23.755	N/A	N/A	15
18	23	Alexander Albon	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	1:24.356	N/A	N/A	20d
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac-Ferrari	1:24.364	N/A	N/A	16
20	11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac-Ferrari	1:24.595	N/A	N/A	17
21	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	1:25.150	N/A	N/A	PLe
22	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	1:25.222	N/A	N/A	18
107% time: 1:28.394
Source:[24][25]

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Notes

• ^a – Oscar Piastri received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson in Q2.^[25][26]
• ^b – Kimi Antonelli received a 30-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[25][27]
• ^c – Liam Lawson received a 35-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. He required to start the race from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions.^[25][28][29]
• ^d – Alexander Albon received a 20-place grid penalty for exceeding his quota of power unit elements.^[25][30]
• ^e – Fernando Alonso qualified 21st, but was required to start the race from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions.^[25][31]

Race report

The 53-lap race took place in hot and dry conditions, with the track temperature reaching approximately 57 °C (135 °F). Twenty drivers formed on the grid, while Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Liam Lawson (Red Bull) started from the pit lane following set up changes to their cars. Pole-sitter Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was joined on the front row by George Russell, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton (both Ferrari) on the second row. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) started sixth following a three-place grid penalty following qualifying, alongside Max Verstappen (Red Bull) who had subsequently been promoted to fifth. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) began on hard-compound tyres, with the remainder of the grid almost equally split between the mediums and softs.^[32]

Gasly held the lead until the second lap, when Russell overtook him to take first place. Behind them, Verstappen crossed Leclerc, Hamilton dropped to tenth and Oliver Bearman (Haas) moved to ninth. Leclerc then ran over a drainage grill, spun out and crashed into the barrier at the Parabolica, the same turn that led to his retirement in 2020. Before the double yellows were waived, Franco Colapinto (Alpine) passed Piastri for fourth. Antonelli also managed to make seven places during this time. The race was ultimately red-flagged for approximately half an hour at the end of the third lap as the barrier was repaired, after which a standing start was confirmed. Tsunoda positioned his car at an angle inside his grid box at the end of the second formation lap, with the race director choosing to declare another formation lap out of an abundance of caution.^[33]

After the restart, Colapinto briefly reached third before losing numerous places after going off-track. Verstappen, Hamilton, Piastri and Antonelli overtook Gasly between laps 7 and 11, leaving him in sixth. Tsunoda also made up five places, moving from fourteenth to ninth by lap 15. Antonelli took the lead on lap 18, with Russell briefly overtaking him for a portion of lap 20, before ultimately regaining first position on lap 23. Alonso retired from the Grand Prix two laps later. Lance Stroll also retired after his car stopped at the first chicane on lap 28. This caused a virtual safety car that led to Antonelli, Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams), Esteban Ocon (Haas), Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas (both Cadillac) all coming into the pits. Prior to this, Verstappen and Antonelli both were within two seconds of race leader George Russell.^[34]

Race classification

More information Pos., No. ...

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	53	1:51:15.281	19	25
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	53	+3.857	2	18
3	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	53	+14.718	5	15
4	1	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+19.056	8	12
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	53	+19.253	6	10
6	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	53	+24.655	4	8
7	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Mercedes	53	+27.351	1	6
8	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	53	+45.136	9	4
9	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine-Mercedes	53	+47.353	7	2
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford	53	+58.187	15	1
11	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	53	+1:05.187	10
12	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	53	+1:06.187	12
13	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	53	+1:14.117	13
14	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford	53	+1:15.609	PL
15	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas-Ferrari	53	+1:18.958	11
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas-Ferrari	52	+1 lap	14
17	23	Alexander Albon	Atlassian Williams-Mercedes	52	+1 lap	20
18	11	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac-Ferrari	52	+1 lapa	17
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac-Ferrari	51	+2 laps	16
Ret	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	26	Hydraulics	18
Ret	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Honda	23	Mechanical	PL
Ret	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1	Accident	3
Source:[25][35][36]

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Notes

• ^a – Sergio Pérez received a five-second time penalty for failing to follow the race director's instructions. His final position was not affected by the penalty.^[35][37]