Quick Hits

• Gasly loses his Monaco podium — for good this time. The FIA's International Court of Appeal has reinstated the Alpine driver's pitlane-speeding penalties after a successful McLaren and Red Bull appeal, meaning Hadjar regains the rostrum and the Monaco classification is officially rewritten.
• The Temple of Speed is about to look anything but. Monza's top speeds will be lower than Hungary's under F1's 5MJ energy rule, and Verstappen admits he has "mentally accepted" a "painful" weekend of throttle-saving.
• Home heartbreak for the championship leader. Antonelli starts from the back at Monza, yet has still pledged to tow Russell in qualifying — and turned up in a Valentino Rossi-inspired helmet for his home race.
• Ferrari's home push: four new SF-26 parts plus a second ADUO power-unit upgrade — but Haas has only one ADUO2 unit, and it goes to Bearman, not Ocon.
• Shorter races incoming: grands prix are set to be trimmed to 290km in 2027 as F1 rebalances electrical and combustion power.

Race Recap

The big "result" of the day is a result no longer on the books. Gasly had kept his Monaco podium after his penalties were thrown out, but with McLaren and Red Bull pressing their case, the ICA has ruled the penalties stand — a bitter pill for Alpine and a mid-season points shuffle for everyone behind him.

Meanwhile, the field rolls into Monza off the back of the Dutch GP, where Norris made it back-to-back wins, Lawson scored his first points as a Red Bull driver in a substitute outing, and Alonso banked a points finish he insists changes nothing about his future. And for the historians: on this day in 2001, Schumacher passed Prost's all-time record of 51 wins at Spa.

Qualifying & Grid

The weekend's most fascinating tactical subplot sits at Mercedes. Antonelli faces a back-of-the-grid start at his home race, but Russell revealed his teenage teammate is primed to give him a tow in qualifying — team play despite both being locked in "their respective quests for the 2026 world title." Antonelli has outlined his own qualifying plan despite the penalty.

At McLaren, Norris arrives with consecutive poles and two straight wins, and a Monza hat-trick is "certainly the plan" — though he warns McLaren still needs more performance to stay ahead.

Technical & FIA

Monza is the stress test the 2026 rules were always going to face. The 5MJ deployment limit means lower top speeds than Budapest produced, and drivers are split on what we'll actually watch — "wild, sad or just slow". Verstappen has already swallowed the pill: expect "gentle with the throttle pedal" driving all weekend.

Ferrari has countered with four new SF-26 parts and its second ADUO power-unit upgrade — an audacious home-race push. Customer team Haas only has one ADUO2 unit, and Komatsu has explained why it goes to Bearman while Ocon runs the old spec. Honda, fresh off its own Zandvoort PU update, still has a key area to improve per chief engineer Shintaro Orihara.

The bigger-picture news: races are set to be shortened to 290km in 2027, with Domenicali floating shorter distances and weighing sprints as F1 retools the electric-combustion balance.

Driver News

The silly season hums quietly behind the Monza noise. Alonso says his future hinges not on results like his Zandvoort points finish but on tweaks to the regulations — and Button has already offered a retirement prediction. At Red Bull, questions swirl around Helmut Marko's exit and whether Lawson is the big winner, while Racing Bulls is in no rush on its 2027 line-up after Verstappen "calmed" the market.

Leclerc, meanwhile, revealed he had "other opportunities" before signing his June Ferrari extension — and that he deleted his social media apps to escape the noise around Ferrari's difficult 2026. Elsewhere: Haas reserve Doohan opened up on his neighbourly bond with Schumacher, and Sainz walked the Venice Film Festival red carpet before heading to Monza.

Championship Picture

Round 13 and the story is deliciously tangled: Antonelli leads the standings into his home race despite the grid penalty, with teammate Russell still very much alive in the title fight — hence the delicacy of that qualifying tow. Norris is the form man, with two straight wins and poles, but his own warning that McLaren "still needs to improve" suggests he doesn't see the MCL40 (careful — car name not stated; use "his car") as invincible. Further back, Coulthard argues Aston Martin hit "rock bottom" and has begun its recovery — a slow climb buoyed by Newey's Hungary package and Honda's fresh engine update.

Race Weekend Preview

Monza is always pressure-cooker Ferrari territory, and this year carries extra emotion: the Scuderia is running a Schumacher tribute on its livery and race suits — though Coulthard questions the timing amid distraction concerns — while the German's Monza-winning Ferrari sits on display in the pit lane. Hamilton added a softer touch, bringing his mother to a Ferrari fan event.

Friday's running is upon us, and the five key storylines write themselves: Antonelli's charge from the back, the energy-management lottery, Ferrari's upgrade gamble, and Norris's bid for a hat-trick. PlanetF1's predictions panel is bracing for "Antonelli disaster, McLaren surprise, civil war" — and after Mercedes' whipped-cream revenge prank on their championship leader, we can only hope the racing matches the theatre.