Monza GP 2026: Russell Takes Control After Leclerc's Crash
The Temple of Speed rarely does quiet. On a feverish afternoon at Monza in 2026, it flat-out refused.
The Italian Grand Prix was red-flagged after Charles Leclerc suffered a huge crash at the Parabolica, a shuddering sideways impact that ripped into the barriers and left the wall too damaged for the race to continue under normal running. The Monegasque climbed out on his own and looked physically fine, but he cut a lonely, shattered figure as he took a moment by himself at the edge of the circuit.
Before the silence, the race had been pure chaos.
Gasly’s Dream Start, Russell’s Relentless Response
From pole, Pierre Gasly had one job: survive Turn 1. When the five lights went out, he sliced across to the inside, shutting the door and clinging to the lead as the field barrelled towards the Rettifilo chicane. Behind him, the first flashpoint arrived immediately.
Lewis Hamilton was muscled onto the gravel at Turn 1 after a squeeze involving Leclerc, a brutal reminder of how little room Monza offers when 20 cars arrive at the same piece of tarmac with the same idea. Hamilton might have been wiser to bide his time, but restraint is rarely the instinct at 300 km/h on lap one.
Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen picked up the fight into the second chicane. Piastri threw his McLaren at the Red Bull, but Verstappen held firm and shut the door, then turned his attention to Leclerc ahead. The Dutchman, starting from the pack behind the Ferraris, had already begun his familiar climb.
Up front, Gasly led, but George Russell was never far from his mirrors. The Mercedes started alongside the Alpine on the front row, both on medium tyres, with the Ferraris lurking behind on the softer rubber. On paper, Ferrari had the launch advantage. On track, Russell had the edge.
Russell Takes Charge, Verstappen Attacks
The pressure finally told into the first chicane. Russell fired his Mercedes down the inside of Gasly, committed under braking, and grabbed the lead. No half-measures, no hesitation. Gasly tried to hang on, but Russell had the line and the momentum. The championship contender was in clean air.
Gasly’s troubles didn’t end there. Leclerc also pounced at the chicane, slipping past in the shuffle, only for Gasly to hit back almost immediately. Through Curva Grande, the Alpine swept back ahead, reclaiming second with a bold move that underlined just how hard he intended to fight for his first pole to mean something more.
Behind them, Verstappen went to work. Already up to third, he lined up Leclerc at one of Monza’s least forgiving corners. At Ascari, where drivers usually think twice, Verstappen didn’t. He put a move on the Ferrari and made it stick, a rare and ruthless pass in a sequence that normally punishes ambition. Leclerc, shuffled back, now had Piastri looming in his mirrors.
Further back, the storylines stacked up. Both Haas drivers had muscled their way into the top 10. Oliver Bearman led Esteban Ocon, underlining Haas’s sharp start. Gabriel Bortoleto ran 11th, just ahead of Kimi Antonelli, who had already carved his way forward from 19th on the grid in front of his home crowd. Liam Lawson, starting from the pit lane, had surged to 15th, another quiet but impressive charge.
Monza had turned into a chessboard at 350 km/h.
Leclerc’s Fight Ends in the Wall
The next flashpoint came where Monza is at its most unforgiving. Piastri, sensing blood, attacked Leclerc through the Parabolica. The Ferrari, already under pressure after losing out to Verstappen, tried to hang on.
Then it snapped.
Leclerc lost the rear on the outskirts of the corner. The Ferrari speared sideways into the wall in a sickening slide, hammering the barrier with a force that instantly changed the tone of the afternoon. Debris scattered, the wall crumpled, and the red cars’ home race took a brutal twist.
Leclerc climbed out quickly and walked away, but the damage to both his race and the circuit was immense. The safety car was called immediately. As the extent of the barrier damage became clear, the race was stopped.
At the moment of the red flag, Russell led from Gasly, with Verstappen now up to third and Franco Colapinto an impressive fourth ahead of Piastri. Both Haas cars remained in the top 10, Bearman still ahead of Ocon. Bortoleto held 11th, Antonelli continued his charge in 12th, and Lawson’s run from the pit lane had carried him to 15th.
A Day Steeped in History, Jolted by the Present
The drama arrived on a weekend heavy with nostalgia. Monza was already in a reflective mood, marking 30 years since Michael Schumacher’s first Italian Grand Prix win for Ferrari. His former team-mate Rubens Barrichello and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel had taken to the circuit in the iconic Ferrari F2002, its V10 howl ripping through the air and dragging the crowd back to an era many remember as golden.
Barrichello drove the car on Saturday. Vettel took over on Sunday, the scarlet machine dancing around the circuit that once belonged to Schumacher’s Ferrari dynasty. The noise, the smoke, the emotion — it all set the stage for a modern race that refused to follow any script from the past.
Because for all the romance of those early-2000s Sundays, they often settled into a familiar pattern. This one didn’t. A surprise pole for Gasly had already scrambled expectations and jolted the paddock awake. His Alpine sat ahead of Russell’s Mercedes, the Ferraris queued up behind, with Verstappen and Piastri lurking, ready to rip up any preconceived order.
On the grid, Flavio Briatore offered Gasly a few words, a nod from a man who has seen title fights and miracles in blue cars before. Around them, the Monza grandstands heaved, the tifosi desperate for a Ferrari recovery after a disappointing qualifying left them only on row two.
They got drama. They didn’t get the fairytale.
The Race Still to Be Won
When the race was stopped, one question hung over Monza’s old grandstands: what next?
Russell had the lead and, with it, a golden chance to slash his championship deficit to Antonelli, who still had work to do from the back-row start that had set his day on a knife edge. Gasly, chasing only his second F1 win, had already shown he would not go quietly. Verstappen, in third, had the look of a man just getting started.
Ferrari’s home hopes had taken a brutal hit with Leclerc’s crash, but the crowd still had Antonelli’s charge to cling to. The young Italian had already made up a stack of places. With a reset on the cards once the barrier could be repaired, his afternoon still carried the scent of something special.
The 2026 Italian Grand Prix roared into life, then hit a wall — literally. When it restarts, the fight at the front, the climb from the back, and the weight of history hanging over Monza will all collide again.
The only certainty is that this one is not done writing its story.
