Kimi Antonelli wins in Monza after a legendary comeback starting from 19th place

Cry well, dear Kimi. In Monza the twenty-year-old Italian driver achieved an authentic masterpiece. His Mona Lisa, his 'Once upon a time in America', his 'In the blue, painted blue' which, coincidentally, plays on the podium before the tears after Mameli's anthem. The comeback of records, a legendary race.

Started 19th, finished first. Sixty years later Ludovico Scarfiotti, the last Italian to celebrate at home to the highest degree: his son Luigi, fate or coincidence, was a special guest at the racetrack this weekend.

It was 1966: England had just become world champions and the Beatles had not yet broken up. Antonelli today becomes the youngest winner ever, at just twenty years old, in the 'temple of speed': surpassing Vettel, one of his idols. Hands on Monza after 26 furious overtakings, a message and a blow to Russell for the World Championship: stripped on the track three times, starting 18 positions behind. Now the drivers' ranking is +66. Another seven points advantage put in the box in a match where the priority was to defend, due to the penalty to be served. What seemed like an insurmountable handicap makes everything even more epic. And in Baku, after his debut in the Madrid Circus, it will be the Englishman's turn to replace the power unit and start from the back of the grid.

Another great opportunity to stretch. Of course, to make history you also need a bit of luck. It never hurts. Leclerc's accident on lap three gives him a second start which threatens and regroups the group. Gasly's fairy tale had already ended, sucked up by the big names. At that moment, Antonelli was already twelfth, after a first lap in which he jumped his opponents like skittles. Verstappen helps him, battling in the lead with Russell, thus not letting him get away.

At the tenth lap he rises to fifth, third after 13 and first at 18th. However, Russell's hard tires have more life and second wheel to wheel rewards the Englishman. But it is above all Stroll's knockout that favors the feat. The Virtual Safety Car in 29th allows Antonelli to vary his strategy compared to his teammate, caught off guard: Kimi's wall calls him back to the pits, he changes the averages with other, fresher averages and he can go back to the hunt. “I will be a hammer,” he promised. It's his word. He comes back in sixth and it's a Rossini crescendo: in two laps he eats 5 seconds from Russell and overtakes the McLarens. Hamilton helps him by finishing wide at the first braking point and then away behind the Englishman's exhausts: the 16-second deficit is soon nibbled away. The computers predict 13 laps for a new fratricidal battle in Mercedes, Kimi takes just 9. The first attack is a thrill: Russell goes wide at the first chicane, but Antonelli loses the rear and ends up in the sand. Breathless but the car doesn't get bogged down. Just one lap is enough and the superiority becomes clear: exit from the Lesmo 2 at double the speed and overtaking with power just after the Serraglio. Monza explodes. Even those wearing Ferrari red - faded from the disappointment of an unhappy race - cannot help but be enthusiastic.

It is a record comeback: the victory in Monza starting further back on the grid (beaten Gethin, P11 in 1971), second only to John Watson, winner from 22nd place in 1983 in Long Beach. But the final image counts more than the numbers. Antonelli crosses the finish line, he can't believe what he has achieved: the first radio team, the emotion, the awareness of having just written an unrepeatable page. Monza all standing. For a Mercedes, Ferrari's historic rival. Sixty years of waiting are over. Scarfiotti is no longer the last Italian to have won here. Now there's Kimi Antonelli. And his is not simply a victory. It's a feat of legend.