Antonelli has impressed Mercedes so far with his performances in previous F1 machinery, but this will be his first outing during a race weekend and it will come as part of a busy schedule for the 18-year-old. Antonelli will also be racing in Formula 2 for PREMA, trying to improve on his current position of seventh in the drivers’ championship.
It will be a big weekend for Antonelli, but his performances to date have shown he can handle the pressure and attention, and he’s going to have a huge crowd supporting him at Monza throughout.
Can Norris close the gap again?
Speaking of drivers looking to improve on their current position, Lando Norris arrives in Italy off the back of just his second career victory, and a dominant one at that.
Norris’s win at Zandvoort was the biggest winning margin of the season to date, and has increased the belief that he could still pose a true threat to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship this season.
It remains a long shot, with Norris 70 points behind the championship leader, but with nine rounds to go it technically is in his own hands as victory with fastest lap in every race would overturn that deficit. Such a run is hugely unlikely though given how competitive Formula 1 has been this year, and with Monza posing a very different challenge to Zandvoort.