Penalty for Kimi Antonelli: Mercedes star needs a massive comeback at Monza

Kimi Antonelli (20) has to swallow this bitter pill: of all places, it is at his home race in Monza that the Mercedes driver will have to accept a grid penalty.

It is not yet entirely clear by how many places. If Mercedes simply fits a new internal combustion engine, he will be set back ten places. If Kimi is given a completely new power unit, he will have to start from the very back of the grid.

The thinking at Mercedes is this: the penalty is coming sooner or later anyway, so it’s best to serve it on a circuit where Antonelli can make up places. The question then will be: how many? Might the surprise leader of the 2026 World Championship even make it onto the podium?

To do so, he’d have to stage a spectacular comeback, and we’ve seen a few of those in Formula 1 – perhaps the greatest of them all at Monza.

Fans are constantly amazed by races in which drivers storm from the back of the field to the front. We’re thinking, for example, of the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, in which Max Verstappen set the course for his fourth consecutive World Championship title with an incredible performance – victory in the wet race from 17th on the grid!

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Only two drivers have ever won a Formula 1 race from so far back on the grid: Britain’s John Watson at Long Beach (USA) in 1983, when the McLaren driver started from 22nd on the grid. And Rubens Barrichello at the 2000 wet Grand Prix at Hockenheim, the Brazilian in a Ferrari.

A victory from 17th on the grid – that hadn’t happened in Formula 1 for almost twenty years before Max. Kimi Räikkönen won at Suzuka (Japan) in 2005 in a McLaren from P17. And Watson, mentioned above, also won from 17th on the grid; that was in Detroit in 1982, also in a McLaren.

Fans are passionately debating whether Max Verstappen’s victory in São Paulo was the greatest comeback of them all. After all, we have already witnessed many a race in the premier class that has sent GP fans into raptures.

Incidentally, Interlagos 2024 was not a personal best for Verstappen, as the Dutchman actually finished second from 20th on the grid at Sochi in 2021.

Lewis Hamilton had to start the Interlagos Sprint from last place in 2021 after the rear wing of his Mercedes was deemed non-compliant with the regulations and he was disqualified from qualifying. The Englishman then produced a masterclass performance to finish fifth.

Afterwards, Hamilton had to drop back another five places due to an engine change. Starting from 10th on the grid, the seven-time champion drove irresistibly to victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel had to start from last place at Hockenheim in 2019. Normally, that would spell the end of any chances of a good result. But fortunately, Formula 1 isn’t normal: Vettel finished second in the chaotic German Grand Prix!

In Abu Dhabi in 2012, Vettel – then still driving for Red Bull Racing – produced a stunning drive, climbing from near the back to near the front. Starting second-last (with Pedro de la Rosa lining up behind him in the Abu Dhabi pit lane), championship leader Vettel went into the race and ended up climbing onto the podium in third place!

We’ll leave the Indy 500 out of the following figures. Although the spectacle in the USA counted towards the Formula 1 World Championship in the 1950s, it was never a proper United States Grand Prix, and GP cars rarely strayed into the ‘spaghetti pot’ of Indiana.

Therefore: At the 1954 British Grand Prix, the Argentine Roberto Mieres started the race in 32nd place in his Maserati and finished sixth – moving up 26 places!

In the same race, his compatriot Onofre Marimón drove from 28th on the grid to the podium: third place – moving up 25 places!

Something like that is no longer possible today: the 2026 Formula 1 field consists of 22 cars.

The legendary Jim Clark did not win what was perhaps his best-ever Formula 1 race: in 1967, he shot off from pole position at Monza and took the lead, but then had to pit due to a flat tyre. Changing the tyres cost him a lap. The Scot rejoined the track in 16th place.

Clark set one lap record after another, made up that lost lap and went into the final lap as the leader. Then he ran out of fuel; with his engine stuttering, he finished third.

The Tifosi celebrated him as if he’d won in a Ferrari.