(Motorsport-Total.com) – Monza’s fast 5.5-kilometer layout has always been considered the ultimate test for top speed and engine performance – a classic racing circuit that has seen hardly any dramatic changes over the past 50 years.
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But in 2026? The situation is complicated. Long straights and high-speed tracks hardly go together with the extremely energy-critical power unit regulations of Formula 1. After difficult weekends at tracks like Silverstone or Spa, the drivers fear that Monza could suffer equally from the lack of available energy.
Former world champion Max Verstappen does not mince words and calls Monza “pretty painful,” as he says. “But I also don’t want to approach it too negatively. It is what it is. I have mentally come to terms with it and prepared myself for a weekend that will simply be a bit different.”
“You can’t ignore it. You just have to be gentle with the throttle, let’s put it that way,” says the Dutchman.
Lewis Hamilton also looks back wistfully at the usual top speed: “On the straights with the DRS flap, you’re still fast, but then we lose that power,” says the Ferrari driver.
“At the end of the straights, we might arrive 20 or 30 km/h slower before the corners than in the past – you probably have to get used to that. It was always fantastic to arrive here and hear the engine scream at the end of the straight as it pulled all the way into the braking zone,” he says. “That won’t be the case this weekend.”
Monza specification no longer special
For his teammate Charles Leclerc, another factor comes into play: the elimination of the extremely flat special wings that were otherwise only used for Monza: “As drivers, we were used in previous car generations to coming to Monza and losing 100 points of downforce because you put as little wing on the car as possible,” he says.
“This year, we come with a very similar vehicle configuration as for the rest of the year. That will probably be the biggest difference on such a track besides the power unit.” Despite the concerns, he showed cautious optimism: “At Spa and Silverstone, I was also skeptical after the simulator, and on track, the feeling was much better than expected.”
That Monza will be exactly like Silverstone or Spa is only partly true. All three tracks have a very high full-throttle proportion, but unlike the other classics, Monza offers fewer fast corners, whose driving challenge could be impaired by battery charging tactics, as well as significantly harder braking zones.
While there will probably be earlier downshifting at the end of some straights, this will likely be less visually painful – after all, there are no corners like Stowe or Pouhon here, whose challenge could be ruined by high energy recovery.
Energy management in Monza will still not be easy. The FIA has lowered the limit for energy recovery to four megajoules per lap – by far the lowest value in the current calendar – to contain the problems.
Since less energy is available anyway, there will probably also be less so-called super-clipping – that is, artificially charging the battery with the throttle fully pressed against the combustion engine, which often leads to dangerous speed differences. Instead, there is simply hardly any power available on the straights.
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“You simply don’t really have much energy available. On a track like this, you have a problem no matter which way you go,” says McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. “If the recovery limit were higher, we would have massive super-clipping everywhere and would probably lose 30 or 40 km/h at the end of every straight.”
Due to the lowering of the limit, there is still some, “but within a reasonable range,” says Piastri, who draws a remarkable comparison. “That means you naturally don’t have as much energy to use on the straights, so the actual top speed is quite low.”
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“In our simulator runs, we were actually faster on the start-finish straight in Hungary than here – which doesn’t really make much sense,” he says. “It’s simply because we don’t have energy to use. But again: If we were given more energy to use, we couldn’t charge it anywhere. For me, this reduction is therefore the right way.”
Some drivers at least find something positive in the adjustment. “I drove in the simulator and it’s not as bad as feared,” says championship leader Kimi Antonelli. “There isn’t much super-clipping because the recovery limit was slightly adjusted. The pace will be flatter, but there is hardly any actual delay. That’s positive.”
Haas driver Esteban Ocon agrees: “At least we won’t have to do lift-and-coast and such things because of it.”
Lindblad: Monza will be “sad”
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, on the other hand, expects a confession of failure: “The recovery limit is very low, so super-clipping hardly has any benefit anymore. I personally believe it will be a tricky race. It’s another track that shows our weaknesses as Formula 1.”
The verdict from Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad is rather hopeless, who fears the weekend could be a “sad” affair: “It was worse in the simulator than expected,” he says.
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“There is actually no drop in speed. There is simply hardly any battery power, so we don’t lose anything on the straights either,” says the Brit. “We simply don’t use energy on the straights, it’s pretty slow. There won’t be 350 km/h. So anyone betting on breaking speed records should give up.”
The difference to Spa for him is that there you had two big straights, but many corners in between where you could charge and then use everything. “Here you basically have two long straights right after each other, and even in between there are hardly any corners. In theory, that’s almost four long straights. You have no chance to charge.”
Group formation and mass maneuvers?
Due to these extreme restrictions, slipstreaming will play an even more decisive role in both qualifying and the race. Mike Krack, performance chief at Aston Martin, already expects a record number of overtakes and counters in the style of a MotoGP race.
Carlos Sainz sees it more nuanced and expects more group formation: “I think it will be difficult for the leader to break away because he breaks the air at the front. But then groups will form, and ultimately you find yourself in the group that matches your pace. Once you’re in that group, it will be difficult to get away.”
“If you ask me if I prefer the classic Monza with an engine that doesn’t cut out halfway, then of course yes. But I’m sure this race will also have entertaining sides,” says the Williams driver.
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Lindblad, however, expresses great doubts about wild overtaking games: “I don’t think there will be big speed differences because simply no one has power. Where should the speed difference come from?” he says.
“If you use the boost, you win on a straight but are extremely slow for the next three laps. You could call it yo-yo racing, but I think it will just be very bad yo-yo racing. I’m not very optimistic.”
Whether in the end the optimism of Antonelli and Sainz or the skepticism of Verstappen, Piastri, and Lindblad proves true will be seen when the throttled cars take to the asphalt of Monza this weekend.
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