F1 Italian GP live commentary and updates - race

Antonelli is starting to stretch his legs a bit, but Russell remains in his wake - they're over 1.5s clear of Verstappen now. 

Norris gets a proper pass on Gasly done this time, and moves up to sixth - albeit 3.5s down on Hamilton ahead.

Russell dives out of Antonelli's wake and puts a move on his team-mate - but the positions reverse by the next chicane! Even as they battle, they're continuing to pull away from Verstappen.

Norris bundled over the chicane and has had to give sixth back to Gasly - but the two have dropped back from Piastri.

The three-way fight continues into Turn 1, but Antonelli comes up for air with the lead still in his grasp. The close nature of that battle has actually ended up spacing them out a bit. 

Piastri is ahead of Hamilton again, and aiming to close up on this front pack again. 

Antonelli deploys his boost and hurls his car past Russell to take the lead! Incredible progress through this race.

Hamilton and Piastri continue their fight for fourth, Hamilton holding for the time being - but he's losing a lot of time to the front three.

Verstappen reports that the rear axle is problematic once more, as the Mercedes pair is starting to inch clear of Verstappen. This top three are now 2.3s clear of Hamilton, who has Piastri, Gasly, and Norris for company.

Russell is trying to pull out some kind of lead, as Antonelli goes around the outside of Verstappen at the Curva Grande to get up to second! 

Piastri was passed by Hamilton, but the Australian has got back ahead....for some of the lap, as Hamilton reclaims fourth place. They've dropped out of range of the top three, and need to close in if they're going to win this. 

Verstappen ahead holds from Russell into Turn 1, but Russell then gets the speed through Curva Grande and gets back into the lead!

Antonelli will now hope to relegate Verstappen down a further spot. 

Verstappen has to deal with another threat from Russell, holding him off in the first chicane. Russell gets the overtake mode, but can't get alongside enough at the second - and the Red Bull holds.

Antonelli is here. Piastri is also in the background, as is Hamilton...and Gasly...and Norris. All the stars are here! 

Russell is trying to cling onto the Red Bull now, as Antonelli dives past Piastri to get up to third place! Started 19th, and he's in the frame to win this.

Verstappen is now under pressure again from Russell, but the top seven are still within 4 seconds here. Anybody's game? Maybe. 

Lawson has stopped for the medium tyre. 

...Verstappen holds off, deploys, and cruises past Russell to take the lead. Piastri then closes down Hamilton and makes the move for third place.

Hamilton clearly suffering a bit now, as Antonelli puts a move on the Ferrari. This is changing around every lap. 

Verstappen has absolutely scythed away at Russell's lead now, the Red Bull driver is flying here on those medium tyres. 

Hamilton will be hoping these two duke it out for a bit longer to close in. Verstappen thought about the move into the Parabolica, but...

Hamilton hits the boost to get past Gasly at Turn 1, and then holds the inside for the next chicane to ensure he keeps hold of third place. 

Piastri cruises past the Alpine into the Variante Ascari, and Antonelli also dips past into the Parabolica. Gasly down to sixth.

Tsunoda clears Bearman into Turn 1 to claim ninth.

Verstappen now has over a second on Gasly now, with Hamilton now looking to brush past the Frenchman to move into the top three.

Piastri is just keeping in the tow to avoid an attack from Antonelli, as Norris has now seemingly seen off Lindblad.

Russell has benefitted here to get up to 1.7s clear of Verstappen. The Red Bull isn't exactly pulling away from Gasly, with Hamilton moving into view. 

Norris battles against Antonelli into the chicane, but the Mercedes just about stays ahead. 

Russell leads from Gasly, with Verstappen keeping tabs on them. Antonelli clears Norris, who in turn clears Lindblad, and Hamilton moves ahead of Piastri for fourth.

Tsunoda's got up to 10th, using those mediums well. 

The medium runners are enjoying this, as Verstappen moves past Gasly at the Parabolica for second. It's all happening!

Tsunoda was on the wrong side of the grid, realised too late, and was at a funny angle in his grid box. Let's hope he does it properly this time...

Russell is at a very aggressive angle at the start of this one.

Restart aborted

Tsunoda had originally gone into the wrong grid position and so we'll get an extra formation lap, as the VCARB was out of position.

Right, we're back on track. Russell and Gasly have put on the hard tyres, Verstappen on mediums, Colapinto on hards - as is Piastri, Norris, Lindblad, Bearman, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Lawson, Sainz, Albon and Stroll.

Mediums also for Hamilton, Antonelli, Bortoleto, Tsunoda, and Bottas. 

Just a minute until the cars file out of the pit lane, so let's focus up - this'll be an interesting restart.

Finally, a Colapinto replay! The Argentine was smart there, using his boost before the safety car to get ahead of Piastri. He restarts in fourth, directly behind Gasly. 

The Ferrari fans in the crowd are doing the Macarena to overcome their sorrows. Hamilton carries their hopes now, he's dropped to eighth after that first-lap brush with the gravel, but he has an opportunity to make up some places this time.

We seem to have the correct order for the race's resumption, whenever that might be - Colapinto has, off-camera, mugged Piastri somewhere to get up to P4. 

Now here's the thing: with a red flag so early, you could theoretically change tyres and do the rest of the race with no stops.

But that's 49 laps you've got to do - if you're on softs or mediums, it's easier to do that switch to the hard tyre, than if you're starting on the hard tyre. Would Antonelli be able to last if he switched to a medium?

Replays of that Leclerc incident, and it was a very huge hit for Leclerc - and not for the first time, having endured a similar incident in 2020.

And who won that race?

Now that we've got a break, let's take a look at where we are. Russell leads from Gasly, Verstappen is up to third, and Colapinto is currently up to fourth ahead of Piastri.

Both Haas drivers are in the top 10, Bearman from Ocon, with Bortoleto 11th, ahead of Antonelli - who's already made up quite a few places after starting 19th. Lawson is also up to 15th, having started from the pit lane. 

Tyre news

Mediums: Gasly, Russell, Piastri, Colapinto, Norris, Lindblad, Hulkenberg, Albon, Lawson.

Softs: Leclerc, Hamilton, Verstappen, Bortoleto, Bearman, Sainz, Ocon, Bottas, Perez, Stroll.

Hards: Tsunoda, Antonelli, Alonso. 

Risk of rain, you'll be delighted to know, is 0%. 32C air temp, 56C(!) track temperature. It's a hot one. 

The drivers are preparing on the grid, Flavio Briatore giving Pierre Gasly some words of advice, which I'm sure will be of significant help. 

George Russell alongside, the Ferraris behind, and Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri also looking to buy into a battle for the lead. 

This might be fun.

10 minute warning

There's really not long to go now until the Italian Grand Prix kicks off. I can't promise the cars will sound anything quite like that F2002 but, at the same time, we didn't really appreciate it then because it was normal.

And for all of the nostalgia, early 2000s races did have a habit of being...predictable. It's not all rose-tint and rainbows...

Volume up!

In celebration of it being 30 years since Michael Schumacher won his first Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari, his old team-mate Rubens Barrichello and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel did a demo run in the Ferrari F2002.

Barrichello took the V10-powered machine around the circuit yesterday, with Vettel on driving duties this afternoon.

Sebastian Vettel drives Ferrari's F2002

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Starting grid

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	Tyres	km/h
1	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	1'21.786		254.992
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.060 1'21.846		254.805
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.218 1'22.004		254.314
4	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.225 1'22.011		254.292
5	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.284 1'22.070		254.109
6	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.180 1'21.966		254.432
7	F. Colapinto Alpine	43		Alpine	Mercedes	+0.434 1'22.220		253.646
8	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.470 1'22.256		253.535
9	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	+0.500 1'22.286		253.442
10	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	+0.731 1'22.517		252.733
11	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87		Haas	Ferrari	+0.970 1'22.756		252.003
12	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27		Audi	Audi	+0.993 1'22.779		251.933
13	C. Sainz Williams	55		Williams	Mercedes	+1.667 1'23.453		249.898
14	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31		Haas	Ferrari	+1.668 1'23.454		249.895
15	Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls	22		RB	Red Bull	+1.969 1'23.755		248.997
16	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77		Cadillac	Ferrari	+2.578 1'24.364		247.200
17	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11		Cadillac	Ferrari	+2.809 1'24.595		246.525
18	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Honda	+3.436 1'25.222		244.711
19	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.307 1'22.093		254.038
20	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+2.570 1'24.356		247.223
21	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Honda	+3.364 1'25.150		244.918
22	L. Lawson Red Bull Racing	30		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.035 1'22.821		251.805
View full results

Alonso and Lawson will start from the pitlane after taking power unit changes.

Today at Monza

So the question is this: can Pierre Gasly convert his first pole into a second F1 victory? Or will George Russell slash his championship deficit to Kimi Antonelli - who starts from the back of the field?

With the two Ferraris on row two, can they atone for a disappointing qualifying and deliver a much-coveted home victory? And can Antonelli put on a show?

We've not got too long to find out...

Pierre Gasly, Alpine, George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Alessio Morgese