Key events
Preamble
Italy loves Formula One. It is home to the most storied team in the sport’s history: Ferrari’s total of 16 constructors’ world titles is six better than McLaren’s, double the number of Mercedes’s. The first world championship race, at Silverstone in 1950, was won by Giuseppe Farina in an Alfa Romeo, and he went on to take the title; in 1952 and 1953, Alberto Ascari became the first driver to win back-to-back titles, and did so driving in a Ferrari.
Yet 73 years after Ascari’s second triumph, he remains the last Italian to win the drivers’ title, albeit the American Mario Andretti, the 1978 champion, was born in 1940 in what was then Italy, but is now Croatia. Only Michele Alboreto has come remotely close, finishing second in 1985 but a distance behind Alain Prost, who became France’s first champion with two races to spare.
Which brings us to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has been interviewed for us by Giles Richards:
The last Italian to win the world championship was Alberto Ascari in 1953 and the country has embraced their wunderkind in the German marque wholeheartedly. For all that Ferrari is a religion in Italy, in Monza Antonelli has brought Mercedes into the faith.
Antonelli is no longer a teenager – he turned 20 on 25 August, two days after the Dutch Grand Prix – but remains a sensation, on course to become F1’s youngest world champion by more than three years, arriving at his home race with a 59-point lead in the standings – and a new power unit, which means he will start the grand prix at the back of the grid:
This weekend Antonelli and Mercedes have already made one decision which is to put the title tilt first. The Italian is taking a raft of new engine components for which he will receive a penalty that means he will start from the back of the grid. He recognises that the overtaking opportunities at Monza made this the right choice, even as he deals with the weight on his shoulders as the home hero.
This means that qualifying is academic for the likely world champion. But not for Ferrari, for whom Lewis Hamilton is third in the title race, by virtue of having one fewer win than George Russell in the other Mercedes. As Giles reported:
Ferrari are bringing their second engine upgrade this weekend in expectation of narrowing the gap to title leaders Mercedes. Hamilton trails the championship leader, Kimi Antonelli, by 59 points, alongside Mercedes’ George Russell.
If Hamilton wins the Italian GP he will pass Michael Schumacher’s record of five wins at Monza, all of which the German scored with Ferrari. The team are honouring him this weekend with a special livery to mark 30 years since Schumacher joined.
I’ll be back from 2.30 BST for the buildup to qualifying at 3pm BST, with more background to the weekend. But for now, here is Giles’s interview with Antonelli in full: