George Russell was booed by the Italian fans as home hero Kimi Antonelli claimed an improbable victory at Monza on Sunday.
Antonelli became the first Italian winner at Monza in 60 years with a sensational drive from 19th on the grid to first at the chequered flag.
The 20-year-old, on fresher tyres, overtook Russell in the closing stages to claim his seventh win of the season and extend his lead in the world championship to 66 points over his Mercedes teammate.
After the race, there were jubilant scenes on the home straight as Antonelli entered the fray, cheered on by the Italian faithful. However, moments before, British driver Russell was jeered as he leapt up onto the podium.
Russell was also jeered as he received his trophy for second place.
Regardless, Russell was magnanimous afterwards as he congratulated his teammate on a historic home victory.
“Huge congrats to Kimi of course, incredible result from him,” Russell said.
“When I looked on the leaderboard, he was P5, P4. I knew straight away he’d be in the mix. Huge congrats to him, I was struggling with the tyres, did the whole race on that one tyre.
“I’ll take it, it’s been more positive than negative since summer break, but I’d loved to have been P1 today.”
open image in galleryAntonelli ultimately won as he was on fresher tyres, while Russell did most of the race on one set of hard tyres after not pitting during a mid-race VSC (virtual safety car) period.
“I thought we’d both stay out,” Russell said. “Surprised to see him pitting: roll of the dice both ways.
“The team wouldn’t have known which one was better, it made sense to split the cars. Kimi had great pace.”
F1 now rolls on to Madrid for the first-ever Spanish Grand Prix around the new street circuit.