Formula 1 ®
Lando takes pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Oscar on the front row, George with a strong P3 and Mercedes confirm Kimi Antonelli as Lewis’s replacement for the 2025 F1 season. Red Bull continue their descent with seventh and eighth on the grid. Looks like no more Max winning from mid field.
Lando
Another pole is amazing. To have first and second when the field has been so tight is surprising.
“It hurts me to say it but my lap wasn’t great but I am very, very happy.
“I am not expecting an easy race – there are some unknown things with the tyres and degradation – but I am looking forward to it.”
Verstappen has won the last two Monza grands prix but enters the latest edition on a winless run of five races. He was beaten by Norris at his home Dutch GP last weekend by more than 20 seconds which reduced his championship lead to 70 points.
World championship leader Max Verstappen will start down in seventh. This could be a huge weekend in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championship, with six places between Norris and Verstappen and McLaren in a great position to potentially overtake Red Bull in the constructors’ this weekend.
Mercedes sign Kimi Antonelli for 2025
Today, the team is announcing its 2025 driver line-up, with 18-year-old Italian Kimi joining multiple Grand Prix-winner George behind the wheel for next season.
Kimi will make the step up from F2 and graduate from the team’s junior programme, just like a certain George Russell, who made the jump up to F1 in 2019 after a superb two-year junior spell with us.
Speaking on the announcement, Toto said: “Our 2025 driver line-up combines experience, talent, youth and out-and-out raw speed.
“We are excited about what George and Kimi bring to the team both as individual drivers, but also as a partnership.
“Our new line-up is perfect to open the next chapter in our story. It is also a testament to the strength of our junior programme and our belief in home-grown talent.
“George has proved that he is one of the very best drivers in the world. He is not only fast, consistent, and determined, but has also developed into a strong leader within the team.
“Kimi has consistently shown the talent and speed needed to compete at the very top of our sport. We know it will be another big step up, but he has impressed us in his F1 testing this year and we will be supporting him every step of the way in the learning process.
“In George, he has an experienced team-mate from which he can learn and hone his craft. I am confident that both will contribute greatly as we continue to build momentum and fight at the front of the field.”
Max
“It was a bit of a mixed Qualifying session, Q1 and Q2 actually felt pretty good and we set some more competitive lap times during those sessions. In Q3, we struggled with balance and I picked up a lot of understeer compared to the runs before so couldn’t attack the corners properly. This hasn’t happened before so I don’t understand at the moment, we will need to dig in to that and really analyse ahead of tomorrow. Our biggest challenge was finding a stable balance from rear to front, we’ve been working hard and chasing this all weekend. Tomorrow is going to be tricky for everyone, we of course hope it will be more positive than today and we can make some moves, but it is a bit of an unknown at the moment.”
Fernando
QUALIFYING P11
“We were heading into Qualifying feeling a little pessimistic, so all in all we have to be happy with P11. The car is struggling a bit here so to be so close to Q3 is a good sign. We are going into the unknown tomorrow and it won’t be easy, but a top ten finish is still the target.”