Kimi Antonelli does a Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari SQUABBLE | BEST race ever at Monza | 2026 Italian GP

Soumil Arora (0:02)

Welcome back, we're live on the Inside Line F1 Podcast, discussing probably the best Formula 1 race weekend ever. Is there anything wrong with me saying that, Kunal? Is this not the best Formula 1 race weekend that we've ever had?

Kunal Shah (0:19)

Ever is a bit too much, given that it's been 1162 races in history of Formula 1

But in recent times, probably yes, in 2026, most definitely yes. And all our pre-race fears, where we were the first ones to say, forget temple of speed, this is a temple of super clipping. The fears were unfounded. Okay, and hats off to the FIA for doing what they did. And listen, they didn't do any magic. They reduced the harvesting limits, they reduced the deployment limits. As a result of which, the cars were actually slower, as we saw in qualifying. But tell me one thing, did you really miss fast racing cars when you had such beautiful racing? I wouldn't call it overtaking, but some beautiful racing, if we call it that.

Soumil Arora (1:08)

I think the reason why we didn't miss fast racing cars is firstly because we saw Michael Schumacher's old Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel. So our fast and noisy quota was done. And it was beautiful to the point where it's Monday evening, right? I've just come back home. I was away for the weekend commentating on a boat tug of war race. And that's why I missed commentating on this race. Jealous of you too. But it's Monday evening and my dad is still watching that Sebastian Vettel lap over and over again. And that's just the tip of the iceberg because this weekend, we saw Lightning McQueen at a Formula 1 track, a giant dinner hosted on the Monza home straight by Barilla, the pasta company and everyone was there. We saw pretty much everybody in the paddock, all the famous people in the world that you can imagine were there. We saw Vettel driving Schumacher's old car. We saw Alpine on the pole position and Gasly finally getting his first after what?

Nine years in the sport?

Kunal Shah (2:05)

And in 91 races?

Soumil Arora (2:06)

Yeah.

And then a driver winning from 19th. It is home races. This is just perfect. And to top it all off, Kunal, and I think we should start off with this because Antonelli, we can go on and on for days. Both the Ferrari is imploding because that is the biggest story to come out of Monza.

Kunal Shah (2:26)

I personally thought the biggest story of Monza was that Sebastian Vettel in Michael Schumacher's original car, so not the livery car which Leclerc and Hamilton were running. Of course, great livery and seven star salute and whatever we call it. But Sebastian Vettel actually did more laps around Monza than Charles Leclerc.

Soumil Arora (2:46)

Oh, yes.

Kunal Shah (2:47)

In a car which is more agile, more nimble, which sounded more ferocious.

I know they love to do these tributes in these old cars. But after a point, there are lots of fans who feel, yeah, that's what F1 should be and that's what you've taken away from us. So maybe it backfires each time. That's what I wonder that every time there's these old cars running. I think it was Abu Dhabi a couple of years ago. Fernando Alonso did one of the demonstrations in his 2006 Renault. And then Lewis Hamilton said, just wait, let me hear that engine note. So you can imagine maybe these throwbacks actually work against F1 given the modern era.

Soumil Arora (3:26)

Yeah, maybe they do. Every downshift was so ferocious.

But I think we should do a separate episode on that because we will go on and on about it. We should definitely do some of four Formula 1 race cars that were brought back to life for one weekend only. That'll be a really cool one. But let's come back to Monza because a race car driver winning a race from 19th out of a grid into it of 22 is unique anywhere. Whether you're racing trucks, whether you're racing touring cars, whether you're racing NASCAR's, whatever it may be. To do it in Formula 1 is outrageous, Kunal. And we've only had one other race when a driver has started lower and gone on to win and that was John Watson in the McLaren back in the old days.

Kunal Shah (4:12)

So 1983, I believe, right?

Soumil Arora (4:15)

Exactly. Unprecedented. This is unprecedented. This honestly, for me, one driver alone puts KimiAntonelli in legendary status. Not just as the driver, like I'm not saying his whole career is legendary. But this moment of what he's achieved, this is on par with Raikkonen and at Suzuka in 2005 It really is.