The first local victory in an Italian Grand Prix in 60 years wasn't the only milestone performance at Monza this year. Let’s take a look at some of the key events from a race weekend in Italy that saw records fall, droughts broken and, for Charles Leclere, an unfortunate case of deja vu.

Pierre Gasly surprised everyone on Saturday claiming pole position

GASLY’S SHOCK POLE

If you had told Pierre Gasly going into qualifying that he would end Q3 in pole position, the Alpine driver would likely have not believed it. Nor would anyone else, for that matter. It was career-first pole for Gasly that’s been a long time coming – the 2026 Italian Grand Prix was his 192nd start in F1. The Frenchman has had to endure the second-longest wait for a first pole position in grand prix racing history (behind Sergio Perez, with 16 races).

Gasly secured his surprise pole by a slender 60 milliseconds over Mercedes’ George Russell and 180 milliseconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Liam Lawson’s flying lap at turns one and two during Q2, dropping the Australian to sixth on the grid. However, the talk around the Monza paddock was centred on Gasly’s pole, and what it might mean for the race – particularly in light of the coincidental fact that his one grand prix win had come at this very circuit, back in 2020.

Kimi Antonelli returned to the top step of the podium, claiming his first win since Belgium

ANTONELLI RACE WIN BREAKS RECORDS

Sixty years after Ferrari driver Ludovico Scarfiotti won at Monza, Kimi Antonelli finally brought celebration to Italian fans – and in the most spectacular fashion. The Mercedes driver defied all the odds to win the Italian Grand Prix and become the first Italian winner since the Scarfiotti. Not only that, but he is now also the lowest-starting driver to win at Monza, having taken a grid penalty due to a planned power unit change and starting Sunday in 19th.

Antonelli managed to climb to 12th by the end of lap two. Then, after the race restart, he was up to sixth five laps later. Very quickly, the 20-year-old Italian made it to the front, having overtaken both Max Verstappen and Mercedes team-mate Russell by lap 18. The two Mercedes drivers interchanged the lead multiple times before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed due to Lance Stroll’s hydraulic issue going into the first chicane, where Mercedes pitted Antonelli onto new medium tyres, saving the Italian 10 seconds compared to a standard pit stop.

This was crucial to Antonelli’s race. On fresher rubber, he'd managed to catch his team-mate by the beginning of lap 50, assuming the lead a lap later. He went on to complete a wonderful comeback weekend, turning the seemingly doom and gloom of a grid penalty into a success which Antonelli – and his adoring Italian fans – will never forget. A glum Russell at least managed to hang on to second place, while Verstappen impressed with his hard-fought third-place finish.

A weekend to forget for Charles Leclerc

AN UNHAPPY CASE OF DEJA VU

They say lightning never strikes the same place twice, but the Italian Grand Prix became the setting for Charles Leclerc to go out in a near-identical spot on the track, and in a near-identical way, to his retirement back in 2020. The Monegasque driver was looking to make it two race wins for the year and three in total combined with team-mate Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari, but it wasn’t to be. Nearing the end of lap two, Leclerc ran slightly wide around the Parabolica while defending his position from Oscar Piastri. His rear tyres lost traction, causing him to lose control and spinning off and into the tyre barrier – in almost identical fashion to his exit from the 2020 race.

A lap earlier, Leclerc found himself starting the race in third alongside his team-mate, completing a Ferrari second-row grid start. But coming down the first straight, the two found themselves locking horns at turns one and two, with Leclerc seemingly pushing Hamilton into the gravel and down into 10th. Hamilton would go on to finish in sixth, but the weekend will definitely feel like a lost opportunity for Ferrari, considering the optimism the Scuderia would have felt seeing the Drivers’ Championship leader starting so low.

MCLAREN DISAPPOINTMENT AMID PREVIOUS PROMISE

After back-to-back wins in the previous two races, Lando Norris found himself qualifying in eighth, while also slightly improving on that result in the race come Sunday, finishing outside the podium spots in fourth. There was much anticipation and promise for both McLaren drivers following the recent performance upgrades, but it wasn’t to be, as Piastri finished a spot below in fifth.

The two Papayas were locked in a seemingly never-ending battle come the close of the race, which nearly ended in a catastrophic finish. As Norris looked to overtake Piastri to his left, the Aussie looked to have pushed Norris off the track and onto the grass, in the opinion of the Brit. But on a second look, Sky Sports co-commentator Martin Brundle thought the gap “was barely more than the width of a McLaren”. The battle becomes another chapter in the story between the McLaren team-mates, which will almost certainly continue come Madrid this weekend.

Formula 1 travels to Spain for the first-ever Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring on September 13.