Italian Grand Prix: Race Update and Context

George Russell leads the grand prix, with all cars in the pits with the red flag.

Just before the red flag came out, Oscar Piastri lost a position to Alpine's Franco Colapinto. Piastri is fifth.

Lando Norris is up to sixth after starting ninth, while Lewis Hamilton has dropped to eighth.

F1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli has had a great start, up to 12th after starting 19th.

Russell

Gasly

Verstappen

Colapinto

Piastri

Norris

Lindblad

Hamilton

Bearman

Ocvon

Bortoleto

Antonelli

Hülkenberg

Tsunoda

Lawson

Sainz

Pérez

Albon

Bottas

Stroll

Alonso

OUT: Charles Leclerc

Evening Michael. Still trying to understand Oscar’s penalty. The stewards acknowledged that based on what he knew the situation was ‘unavoidable’ and ‘accidental’. Don’t know of any other sport where such a ruling would result in a penalty. ?

- Phillip

G'day Phillip.

Thanks for joining me on the live blog and thanks for your question.

So, you want to know why Piastri was penalised even when the stewards deemed that, with the information he had, any obstruction on Liam Lawson in qualifying was done "inadvertently" — the stewards' statement is below.

It is true Piastri did not mean to obstruct Lawson when the Kiwi was trying to complete a flying lap. Piastri wa sent out of the pits and essentially could do nothing but be at the apex of the first turn when Lawson arrived, and his team seemingly did not give him enough warning.

But, no matter how it happened, Piastri still impeded Lawson and under no circumstances should he have done so.

Piastri was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and it ruined another driver's lap.

It sucks, but it is a penalty — unfortunately.

And there are plenty of sports where such a ruling would result in a penalty. High contact in footy is often accidental but still penalised.

On leaving the pits, the driver of Car 81 (Piastri) was advised that ‘Verstappen, Lawson and Sainz just crossing, Sainz has pitted, just Verstappen and Lawson, watch out for them as you join’.

The driver of Car 81 stated that he was not alerted to the fact that VER and LAW were on push laps, but realised as he was almost at Turn 1 that VER was on a push lap. He slowed significantly and kept to the right to allow VER to pass, but was unable to do anything to avoid impeding LAW who was close behind.

The stewards accept that with the information he had, and the situation he was placed in, the driver of Car 81 had, at this stage, no other options available and hence, inadvertently, and also unnecessarily, impeded Car 30.

Few race tracks in the world are more beloved than the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. It is known as the Temple of Speed for a reason.

F1 drivers are completing this 5,793-metre circuit in rapid time — less than 80 seconds for several drivers during qualifying last year.

The cars are at full throttle for around 80 per cent of the lap, so the best overtaking chances are in the hard-braking zones.

Shaped like a boot, the start of the lap is a long straight before a hard-braking chicane for turns 1 and 2. This is an excellent overtaking opportunity, coming after the first of four Straight Mode sections.

The chicane of turns four and five presents the next best chance for a pass. Oscar Piastri made a brilliant move on his teammate Norris at this chicane in 2024.

Turn eight is another opportunity for a driver to lunge up the inside and take a position.

The final corner, turn 11, is one of the great sights in F1. Drivers are getting on the power as early as they can while still turning the car, trying to make sure they can reach their maximum top speed on the start-finish straight.

Circuit length: 5.793km

Number of turns: 11

Number of laps: 53

Race distance: 306.720km

Lap record (in race): 1:20.901s — Lando Norris (2025)

Ferrari is celebrating the legacy of Michael Schumacher this weekend at its home race, with a special livery dedicated to the seven-time Formula 1 world champion.

This year marks 30 years since Schumacher joined the Scuderia, and 20 years since his final F1 victory in the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix.

With Schumacher at the wheel, Ferrari rose to the top of F1 after years spent without championships.

Ferrari's constructors' championship win in 1999 ended a 16-year wait in the teams' competition, while Schumacher's drivers' championship triumph in 2000 made him the first Ferrari race to become world champion since Jody Scheckter in 1979.

Schumacher won five of his seven drivers' championships with Ferrari, from 2000-2004.

This weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, a race Schumacher won five times with Ferrari, the Scuderia has a one-off livery which pays tribute to the F1 champion.

Among the features are seven stars on the nose of the car, representing Schumacher's world titles, and drivers Lewis Hamilton — the sport's other seven-time world champion — and Charles Leclerc will wear racing suits that also feature the seven stars and Schumacher's logo.

Kimi Antonelli has celebrated his 20th birthday as the Formula 1 drivers' championship leader, and heads into his home grand prix tonight with a significant 59-point advantage over his two nearest rivals.

But he has a lot of work to do to finish near the front this evening.

Mercedes announced during the previous race weekend in the Netherlands that Antonelli will take an engine penalty this weekend.

F1 teams have an allocation of power unit components they can use in a season. When a driver is fitted with a power unit component that exceeds the allocation, they are handed a penalty at the first event that new part is used.

Mercedes has had multiple power unit issues this year, with Antonelli failing to finish in Barcelona and teammate George Russell suffering issues in Canada and Belgium.

Despite the Italian Grand Prix being Antonelli's home race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said now was the right time to do it for the championship leader.

"Our calculations say that that's the best track to take it," Wolff said.

"Obviously, algorithms don't take their nationality into consideration. We're here to fight for a championship and not get the most PR. So yeah, that's what we're going to do."

Monza, known as the Temple of Speed, is expected to be a strong track for Mercedes, which is likely why it is taking the penalty now.

With long straights, there should be plenty of opportunities for Antonelli to pass with his impressive Mercedes power unit.

Monza has been the scene of impressive drives through the field in recent years.

Pierre Gasly won from 10th on the grid driving for AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls). Max Verstappen won in 2022 after taking a five-place grid penalty, while Lewis Hamilton charged from the last row on the grid to place fifth.

Last year, Isack Hadjar started in the pit lane for Racing Bulls and was able to finish 10th.

— reporting by ABC and Reuters

What a few days it has been for Pierre Gasly.

On Friday he lost his third place finish from the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7, then last night he drove his Alpine to pole position. the first of his F1 career.

Let's start with losing his Monaco podium.

Gasly lost the podium to Isack Hadjar for the second time after penalties from the Monaco Grand Prix were reinstated following a successful appeal by two Formula 1 teams.

As a result, Gasly dropped from third to seventh place in the June 7 race after a pair of five-second penalties were applied. Initially, the penalties for speeding infractions had been rescinded one week after the race.

McLaren and Red Bull appealed to the FIA's International Court of Appeal, with a hearing held in Paris on Aug. 25. The decision to reinstate the original finish order was announced Friday.

Red Bull's Hadjar, in turn, and McLaren's Oscar Piastri were elevated to third and fourth, respectively, ahead of the Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad.

"The team expresses its disappointment and frustration with the outcome reached by the FIA International Court of Appeal relating to the result of the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix," Alpine said in a statement.

"While we disagree with the decision, and still fully maintain that (Gasly's) Car 10 did not exceed the Pit Lane speed limit at any point during the race, the team acknowledges the decision of the judging panel from the recent hearing in Paris.

"While the result is not what we had hoped for, as we feel that we have been unjustly punished, the team is firmly focused on continuing to improve its performance on track and remains in a close and very competitive Championship fight. This outcome will not deter the team's efforts and motivation in achieving its objectives by the end of the season."

Now, let's talk about the pole position

Galsy loves Monza. It is the scene of his only win in F1, a stunning upset in 2020 driving for AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls).

Alpine has been running in the midfield this season, but my word they found some pace in Monza on Saturday.

From the start of qualifying both Alpine drivers, Gasly and Franco Colapinto, were in the top 10, but Gasly was really threatening pole.

On his final flying lap, the Frenchman put it all together. None of his sector times were the overall fastest in the session, but he was the driver who nailed a lap with three excellent sectors to secure a stunning result.

Oscar Piastri qualified third fastest for tonight's Italian Grand Prix.

But an incident in Q2 last night, where the Australian was in the way of Kiwi Liam Lawson when the Red Bull driver was on a flying lap, led to the Aussie copping a three-place grid penalty.

It was tough for Piastri, who had just come out of the pits and really had nowhere to go but be on the apex of the first corner when Lawson was trying to produce a quick lap.

Piastri seemed resigned to the fact he was copping a penalty before it was handed down.

“It was a tricky situation to manage. I was coming out of the pits and got told that Lawson and Verstappen were coming, but I kind of had to jump on the brakes pretty heavily to get out of Max’s way, and then I was just stuck in a very awkward spot with Liam.”

Now starting from the third row, Piastri is hoping for a wild start tonight.

The Australian said he did not believe the McLarens were as quick as Mercedes of Ferrari over longer runs, but was remaining optimistic he can gain positions.

“Looking ahead to tomorrow, our long run pace isn't as quick as the Mercedes and the Ferraris, but the first few laps here are usually chaotic and the fastest car won't necessarily be the one leading after that. It could be an interesting one.”