Monza, Sep 6 (IANS) Kimi Antonelli produced a sensational comeback drive at his home Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, storming from 19th on the grid to claim victory at Monza after overtaking Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell in the closing stages.

After receiving an engine penalty, Antonelli began the race towards the back, but he then moved quickly up through the field by means of excellent speed and bold moves to overtake other drivers. The Virtual Safety Car, which came into effect during the race, was important in his rise, since Antonelli used the caution period to stop and get a new set of medium tyres while Russell remained on the track with his used hards.

Antonelli's different tyre strategy gradually gave him the upper hand, enabling him to close in on Russell in the last stages of the race. Although he briefly went through the gravel when attacking his teammate, he managed to recover and secure a remarkable win over 53 laps at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Russell came in second place, about four seconds behind Antonelli, while Max Verstappen of Red Bull took third position after a determined race which involved a number of bold overtakes.

Lando Norris won a closely fought race against his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to end in fourth place, while Lewis Hamilton was the top-scoring driver for Ferrari, coming in sixth after Charles Leclerc had a serious crash at the last corner on the second lap.

The fact that Pierre Gasly had surprised the field by securing his first Formula 1 pole position during Saturday's Qualifying session meant that he was unable to keep up with the other drivers at the front and ended up in seventh place; Arvid Lindblad, Franco Colapinto and Yuki Tsunoda filled out the rest of the points-scoring positions.

Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg drove in the Audi cars, there being an incident in which Hulkenberg fought with Liam Lawson at Turn 4, and this was then looked into by the stewards. Carlos Sainz came in thirteenth for Williams, placing him ahead of Lawson, Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon, who are teammates at Haas, Alex Albon, and the Cadillac drivers Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were also among those who retired late, Alonso going back to the pits due to suspected damage to his car and Stroll pulling out because of a problem with the hydraulics.

The outcome marked a remarkable turnaround for Antonelli, who had been the championship leader at the start of the weekend but was obliged to start from 19th position due to his power unit penalty.

The Italian's recovery was all the more remarkable because of the strength of the opposition on the front row. During Qualifying, Gasly and Alpine had given one of the surprises of the season, the Frenchman taking advantage of the team's latest chassis improvements and the Mercedes power unit to get pole position.

Russell was starting in the front row as he had secured pole position ahead of Gasly and had in fact beaten the Frenchman at an online chess game earlier.

At the beginning Piastri qualified in third position but was given a three-place grid penalty for having impeded Lawson in Q2, which promoted Leclerc and Hamilton to the second row and raised Verstappen to fifth place.

As a result of receiving a penalty, Antonelli's position fell from seventh to nineteenth, and both Albon and Lawson were also given engine penalties. Lawson was subsequently required to start from the pit lane due to modifications made to the rear wing of his Red Bull under parc ferme conditions, and Alonso too had to start from the pit lane after changes to the power unit following qualifying.

Before the race, everyone was focused on whether Gasly would be able to turn his surprising pole position into a win, and Sebastian Vettel added to the excitement by driving Michael Schumacher's 2002 Ferrari during a special demonstration run.

The tyre strategy was another issue that was widely discussed. Gasly and Russell chose the medium tyres, while Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen went with the soft ones. Antonelli started with the hard tyres together with Tsunoda and Alonso.

With the lights turning off, Gasly managed a straightforward escape to keep the lead going into the first chicane; behind him, Leclerc and Hamilton were side by side, Hamilton seeming to be pushed onto the gravel and thus dropping in the standings.

Verstappen and Piastri also nearly made contact, Verstappen managing to get ahead and end up in fourth place.

--IANS

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