Kimi Antonelli charges through the field to win the Italian Grand Prix

There are days when you know you are witnessing something special.

That was Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli, starting down in P19 Sunday at Monday due to a change in his power unit, rocketed his way through the field not just to take a podium finish, but to win outright and take a huge step forward towards winning his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship.

His performance at Monza makes it seem like if he indeed wins a title this season, it will not be his last.

Antonelli carved his way through the field, working up to P12 for an early restart after a huge shunt from Charles Leclerc brought out a red flag on the third lap of the race. By Lap 9 Antonelli was up into sixth place.

By Lap 12 he was in a podium position, and he took the lead on Lap 18.

He would need to make another pit stop, as he started the race on a set of hard tires and made a switch to mediums during the red flag brought out by Leclerc’s shunt. But when Lance Stroll came to a stop to bring out a Virtual Safety Car, Antonelli pitted for a fresh set of medium tires, coming back out in P6.

The stage was set for another charge to the front, and Antonelli quickly closed the gap to teammate George Russell at the front. The two battled for a few laps, with Antonelli finding the gravel at one point, but eventually he made his final overtake of the race.

And he did not look back.

Antonelli continued with the hammer down, recording the fastest lap of the race on the final lap of the race. With the victory, he became the first Italian driver to win the Italian Grand Prix in 60 years, as the last Italian Driver to win the Italian Grand Prix was Ludovico Scarfiotti, who won for Ferrari in 1966.

“I did not expect this,” began Antonelli trackside after the race. “Unbelieveable. I’m so happy, I could have never imagined I’d be here today.”

“After the second restart I was up there and I knew I had a shot for the win,” continued Antonelli. “It was really difficult to break away, with the tow being so strong … nice to win.”

The result felt like a death blow for Russell’s championship chances. Starting in P2 and leading early, with championship rival Antonelli starting in P19, this was the kind of day Russell needed to maximize to increase his title hopes.

Instead he settled for second.

“Huge congrats to him. It was looking like a pretty strong race for us, but I was just struggling at the end on the tires,” said Russell.

The result felt like something of a crowning achievement, as Antonelli not only maximized the result after starting at the back of the grid, but he actually extended his championship lead over Russell. Antonelli entered his home race enjoying a 59-point lead over Russell, but with the win he extended that lead to 66 points, with ten race weekends remaining.

Antonelli now has seven wins this season, and 11 podium results over 13 races.

Max Verstappen rounded out the podium with a third-place finish. Here are the rest of the results from Monza:

F1 returns to action next week for the Spanish Grand Prix, the inaugural race at the new street circuit in Madrid.