F1 in Madrid: Like Monaco but twice as long and none of the glamour

It’s been quite the couple of weeks for Formula 1.

First, its annual visit to one of the oldest tracks on the calendar, the Italian temple of speed that is Monza, just outside Milan.

Apologies for no Ars report, but your correspondent was on the ground, on vacation, learning the hard way that attempts to call the circuit “accessible by public transport” can still involve walking several miles.

The place was packed with Tifosi—the hardcore Italian superfans—dressed in red, who had their hopes dashed almost immediately as Charles Leclerc first ruined his teammate’s race, then his own, all within the first two laps.

Salvation came in the form of the first Italian title contender in my lifetime, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

Opting to take a new engine and other power unit components meant Antonelli would start the race from 19th.

But the kid is in fine form right now, and Monza’s long straights and slow corners make for several good overtaking spots.

I declared to my race companions that morning that “he’s going to podium, easily,” but if anything, I was too cautious.

By the time Leclerc’s heavy crash at Parabolica had stopped the race, Antonelli was already up to 12th.

From the second standing start, on fresh medium tires and still needing a second pitstop, he made short work of the rest of the grid, including his teammate George Russell, who spent much of the race in the lead, on a theoretically faster one-stop strategy.

Even a mistake from Antonelli that saw him make an excursion through a gravel trap as he tried to pass Russell couldn’t stop his charge, and he became the first Italian to win the Italian Grand Prix in 60 years—fairy tale stuff, surely.

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