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Mercedes tried to freeze the running order of their cars while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was leading the Italian Grand Prix. However George Russell challenged the team’s call as he re-passed his team mate at the beginning of lap 23. The pair began swapping positions after Antonelli caught Russell, who had emerged ahead in a scrap with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. None of the three drivers were able to break away at the front of the field as the low energy harvesting levels and the power of the Overtake Mode created ‘yo-yo racing’ where the chasing driver was able to re-pass the leader easily: | Lap: 14/53 RUS: 1’26.549, ANT: 1’25.828 | | | Bonnington | Antonelli catches Verstappen and Russell Gap 0.4 ahead, 1.1 behind. | | Lap: 15/53 RUS: 1’25.773, ANT: 1’26.118 | | Dudley | And just make sure we keep it clean. Russell drives past Verstappen approaching the Roggia chicane | Bonnington | You don’t need the reminder, but just keep it clean racing George. | | | Bonnington | 0.4 ahead, 1.0 behind. | | Lap: 16/53 RUS: 1’25.742, ANT: 1’25.615 | | Dudley | Gap 0.5 and 38 laps remaining. | Bonnington | 0.4 ahead. | | Dudley | Gap one second. | Bonnington | So Kimi it’s 0.9 ahead, 0.8 behind. | | Lap: 17/53 RUS: 1’25.584, ANT: 1’25.203 | | Dudley | Gap 0.7, will have overtake. | Bonnington | 0.7 ahead, 0.5 behind. | | Dudley | Gap 0.4. Antonelli drives past Russell on pit straight | Bonnington | Gap 0.7 ahead, 0.8 behind. | | | Bonnington | Go menu control position 12 if you need it, control 12. Antonelli drives past Russell on the pit straight | | Lap: 18/53 RUS: 1’26.152, ANT: 1’25.224 | | Dudley | 0.8 ahead, 0.6 behind. | Bonnington | Gap at 0.8. | | Lap: 19/53 RUS: 1’25.802, ANT: 1’25.729 | | Dudley | Gap 0.4, will have overtake. | Bonnington | Gap at 0.7, think about your strats when you’re comfortable. | | Lap: 20/53 RUS: 1’25.606, ANT: 1’25.589 | | Dudley | 0.8 ahead, 0.8 behind. Just remember others around us might be on different plans here. Russell drives past Antonelli on pit straight, Antonelli drives past Russell approaching Roggia | Bonnington | Gap 0.8. Antonelli decelerates and downshifts before the braking zone for Rettifilo as Russell passes him, then they swap positions again before Roggia | | | Bonnington | Gap 0.7,1.5 behind George to Verstappen. | | Lap: 21/53 RUS: 1’25.768, ANT: 1’25.833 | | Dudley | Gap 1.5 behind, let’s just keep extending this gap to Verstappen now. Russell closes on Antonelli who defends at Rettifilo | Bonnington | Gap 0.8. | | | Bonnington | Gap 0.7. | Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free At this point Russell was running a set of hard tyres and Antonelli was on mediums. It was therefore more likely Antonelli would need a second pit stop. Mercedes decided to call off the fight between their drivers. As they accelerated towards Parabolica on lap 22, Russell’s race engineer Marcus Dudley told him to stop the “yo-yo racing” with his team mate. However Russell challenged the call and re-passed Antonelli as he did so on the pit straight as they began the next lap. Meanwhile Mercedes informed Antonelli they were calling off the fight. He pointed out Russell was still racing him and queried the team’s instruction, but kept his position behind his team mate. | Lap: 22/53 RUS: 1’26.496, ANT: 1’26.536 | | Dudley | Between Ascari and Parabolica OK, George so let’s stop yo-yo on position. Let’s focus on building the gap to Verstappen and take the race to the end. | Bonnington | Gap 0.8. Russell drives past Antonelli on the pit straight, Antonelli repasses at Roggia | | Russell | Russell drives past Antonelli on pit straight The challenge I’ve got is the deployment just seems so different between the two of us. I’m much quicker into one, he’s quicker than four. As long as we keep it clean, I don’t think it’s the end of the world, the yo-yo. | | | | Lap: 23/53 RUS: 1’25.827, ANT: 1’26.685 | | | Bonnington | On the pit straight, as Russell repasses him Okay Kimi so we’re going to try and stop yo-yoing. We just need to build that gap to Verstappen. | | | Antonelli | Approaching Roggia Yeah, right, and in the meantime he pass me. Do you want me just to sit behind or what? | | | Bonnington | [Unclear] Kimi. | | | Bonnington | Gap 0.5, 1.3 behind | | Lap: 24/53 RUS: 1’25.642, ANT: 1’25.994 | | Dudley | Gap 0.3, will have overtake. | Bonnington | So George has been given the message to build the gap to Verstappen. If he can’t do that then we will invert. Verstappen 25.9 last lap. Just keep your tyres in decent nick. | | Dudley | Okay George, so let’s focus on building this gap to Verstappen now. | | | | Dudley | Verstappen was 25.9 last lap, just keep edging that gap out. | | | Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free The pair remained in that order until a Virtual Safety Car period interrupted the race. Antonelli and Verstappen grabbed the opportunity to pit. After the race restarted, Antonelli closed on Russell and passed him to win. | Lap: 28/53 RUS: 1’45.699, ANT: 1’48.661 | | Dudley | VSC, VSC strat one, delta positive. So make sure you keep these tyres switched on. | Bonnington | Gap 0.6 ahead, 1.6 behind. Verstappen 25.8. | | Dudley | Enable blue magic. | Bonnington | VSC, VSC. Keep the delta positive. | | Dudley | Approaching pit lane entrance Staying out. Staying out. | Bonnington | We’ll go strat mode one. Kimi we will be boxing, so it’s a flap adjust if you need it, stay on your delta. | | | Antonelli | Car feels pretty good. Just a little bit of low speed understeer. | | | Bonnington | Okay, Kimi, so we’ll be boxing. If it goes to VSC ending at pit entry, then we’ll stay out, otherwise you’re in. | | | Bonnington | So into pit lane. | | Lap: 29/53 RUS: 1’38.375, ANT: 1’49.136 | | Dudley | VSC ending, so strat eight and full lift, strat eight and full lift. Cancel blue magic. | Bonnington | So, all clear on exit, Lindblad five seconds behind, Verstappen’s pitted with you, VSC is ending so keep your delta positive. Recommend strat eight, strat eight. | | Dudley | So, Kimi and Verstappen both have pitted. Kimi onto the medium. Verstappen onto the hard. | | | | Russell | Gap? | | | | Dudley | Gap to Kimi 15 seconds. | | | | Russell | Got massive derates in this strat. You sure this is good? | | | Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2026 Italian Grand Prix Browse all 2026 Italian Grand Prix articles