Antonelli surprised himself: “I had not imagined being here today”

Kimi Antonelli today became the first Italian driver to win the Italian Grand Prix since 1966, when Ludovico Scarfiotti He did it for Ferrari. Before the race I probably didn’t think it would be possible, since I started from 19th position on the grid. “Incredible, I am very happy, I had not imagined being here today, but we have achieved it and I am very happy”he declared for F1 after getting out of his car.

It joins in this way to Giuseppe Farina (1950, 1951), Alberto Ascari (1952) and Scarfiotti himself as the only ones to win as Italians in Italy. “After the second restart, I was up there and I knew I could fight for victory. I’ve believed in it, particularly when I was behind George.”

He was helped by the second start after the red flag, caused by the accident of Charles Leclerc in Parabolica, with which he placed himself in sixth position and by lap 16 he was already behind his teammate. A George Russell who had trouble getting rid of Max Verstappen and that allowed him to get closer to Antonelli, who showed no mercy on lap 18 to put himself first for the first time, but he couldn’t distance himself. “It’s been really difficult, because It was very difficult to get distance. In the end I stopped; He was left out and it was a little difficult for him to handle the tires and we were able to increase the pace with new ones and we won.”

At Mercedes they stopped Antonelli, leaving Russell out. The Italian was cutting seconds until he attempted the overtake for the first time on lap 48, but the condition of the track sent him on an excursion through the gravel. “The truth is that I was scared at that moment, since the asphalt was like cracking. I was able to make the curve, but as I hit the gravel, I went completely straight.”

The chance of winning may have been gone at that moment, but Antonelli was simply too fast for Russell. “I thought: Maybe here I’ve lost my chancebut fortunately we had the rhythm and we were able to finish the job.”

Coming back from 19th position makes him equal the second best record in that regard. The first is John Watson in the 1983 US West GP, from 22nd, and the one who equals is Bill Vukovich in the Indianapolis 500 when this event counted for the F1 world championship, in 1954.

In the DAZN microphones you could see how important this victory is for Antonelli: “This is a day that I will always remember, it is really difficult to find the words for how I feel, it is even more special than the first victory.” He’s only 19, so he doesn’t have as many to choose from as others, but he still concludes with: “It’s the best day of my life”.