Monza may be known as the Temple of Speed, but the 2026 Italian Grand Prix is set to produce a very different type of straight-line battle. The FIA has reduced the permitted energy recovery to just 5 MJ per lap, the lowest limit seen so far this season, as Formula 1 attempts to manage the unusual demands created by Monza’s long straights and limited opportunities for regenerative braking.
The FIA and the teams had known even before the championship began that Monza would be one of the most difficult circuits of the season for managing the new 2026 Power Units. There are extended periods of acceleration but relatively few heavy braking zones in which the MGU-K can replenish the battery, creating a particularly difficult balance between harvesting and deployment.
Why the FIA has reduced Monza’s energy recovery limit to 5 MJ
Until now, Austria had featured the lowest qualifying recovery limit, with 6 MJ per lap. At Monza, that figure has been reduced further to 5 MJ.
The reasoning is straightforward. With so few major braking events, recovering the full permitted amount through braking alone would be impossible. A higher limit would therefore encourage teams to make extensive use of superclipping, where the MGU-K effectively works against the internal combustion engine to recharge the battery, sacrificing speed in the process.
That is precisely the type of behaviour the FIA wanted to limit. Similar patterns have already appeared at circuits such as Melbourne, where a high permitted recovery figure encouraged teams to recharge aggressively on the straights. By lowering the Monza limit, less energy needs to be harvested, reducing the need for both superclipping and lift-and-coast.
The issue is particularly relevant to Ferrari because energy deployment and recovery have become central performance factors under the new regulations. The wider challenge is explained in our analysis of how Ferrari’s SF-26 Power Unit manages energy at Monza, where outright combustion-engine horsepower is only one part of the equation.
Why Monza top speeds could be lower than in Hungary
There is another consequence to having less energy available. Cars are expected to deploy heavily from corner exit before the electric motor’s contribution begins to fall away relatively quickly. The MGU-K will progressively lose deployment until its assistance disappears completely, leaving only the internal combustion engine to propel the car for the remainder of the straight.
At that stage, speed is likely to stabilise or begin to fall. With the combustion engine alone producing a little more than 550 horsepower, maintaining an extremely high maximum speed becomes difficult once electrical assistance has ended.
Andrea Stella and Oscar Piastri provided a striking comparison after McLaren’s simulator preparation for Italian Grand Prix qualifying. According to their simulations, the top speeds recorded for Monza were actually lower than those seen in Hungary, where energy management was not such a limiting factor.
At Budapest, the hybrid system could be deployed for longer, and speeds of around 350 km/h were reached during the race. That comparison also highlights an important distinction in the 2026 regulations: performance is not simply about the highest speed a car reaches, but how long that speed can be maintained before electrical deployment fades.
Ferrari is also bringing Power Unit developments to its home race, including work aimed at improving overall efficiency. One of the key areas is explored in our analysis of Ferrari’s ADUO-2 turbo development for Monza.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli expects less superclipping than feared
Although outright top speeds may not be exceptionally high, the lower recovery limit should mean considerably less superclipping than Formula 1 has experienced at Silverstone, Suzuka or Melbourne. It will not disappear altogether, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli suggested the effect was less dramatic in the simulator than he had initially expected.
“In the simulator it’s not as bad as I expected,” Andrea Kimi Antonelli explained. “There isn’t that much superclipping, because they have changed the recovery limit a little compared with other races. There will be much more ‘flattening out’ in terms of speed, but actually very little deceleration. It will be much better than expected.”
Slipstream battles could become a major feature at Monza
The unusual deployment profile could open the door to an intense battle for slipstreams. Even with the active wings introduced under the 2026 regulations, the tow is expected to remain highly effective, as was already demonstrated at Spa during the battle involving Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
Aston Martin trackside chief Mike Krack believes the consequences could be particularly noticeable in the race.
“It will be interesting to see how the teams operate,” Mike Krack said. “First of all regarding the use of the slipstream and then also in the race, how easy it will be to overtake. Especially the game of overtaking and counter-overtaking will probably be an absolute record here, or something MotoGP-style.”
The reason is linked directly to the amount of electrical energy available. With less recoverable energy than usual even during the race, a driver attacking another car can use boost and keep the MGU-K contributing for longer, gaining a substantial temporary increase in power that could make overtaking easier than under the old DRS system.
This is also identified as one of the reasons Mercedes chose to take a penalty with Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Monza. The characteristics of the circuit and the potential for overtaking make recovering positions potentially more achievable than at venues where passing is more difficult.
The risk of Monza’s new overtaking dynamic
The drawback is what happens immediately afterwards. A driver who uses a large amount of electrical energy to complete an overtake could find themselves with significantly less energy available moments later, leaving them vulnerable to an immediate counter-attack.
That could produce the yo-yo effect already seen at other Grands Prix, with the advantage repeatedly shifting between cars depending on their respective battery deployment.
There is, however, another benefit to reducing the recovery limit. Drivers should find the cars less unusual to drive at Monza because they will not need to resort to such extreme charging techniques. Some nevertheless fear that they may still have to downshift towards the end of the straights in order to keep engine revs sufficiently high.
For Ferrari, the energy-management challenge will sit alongside the other Monza-specific compromises required to maximise efficiency. Charles Leclerc has already discussed Ferrari’s engine and floor updates for the Italian Grand Prix as the Scuderia searches for the right overall package for its home race.
Top F1 teams are already ahead of their projected 2026 downforce targets
There is another factor in the FIA’s calculations. Some leading teams had already reached, before the halfway point of the championship, downforce levels they had originally expected to achieve only towards the end of 2026.
That progress has consequences for energy recovery. More downforce shortens braking distances, while increased aerodynamic resistance raises drag on the straights. At the same time, there are fewer opportunities to recover energy around the lap, leaving superclipping or lift-and-coast as the remaining ways to replenish the battery sufficiently.
This development made it necessary to reduce the permitted recovery figure even further at Monza than at previous races. The aim is to avoid forcing teams and drivers into extreme battery-charging tactics merely to reach the regulatory recovery target.
The interaction between aerodynamic efficiency and Power Unit performance is particularly important for the SF-26 at Monza, where Ferrari’s potential has attracted considerable attention. Ralf Schumacher has also explained why Ferrari could be considerably stronger at the Italian Grand Prix.
Four active-wing zones planned for the Italian Grand Prix
There will be four sections around Monza where the movable aerodynamic system can be activated, including one through Curva Grande.
For safety reasons, however, the active wing will only be available during the final part of Curva Grande, when the cars are already close to travelling in a straight line. Opening the front wing while the cars are still heavily loaded through the corner could create excessive understeer, particularly during side-by-side battles.
The principle is similar to the solution adopted by the FIA at Spa around Blanchimont. There, the permitted active-aero area was divided so that the wing remained closed through the corner itself and could only open once the cars reached the safer sections of the track.
Monza therefore promises a very different interpretation of Formula 1’s traditional pursuit of maximum speed. The 5 MJ recovery limit should reduce the most extreme superclipping behaviour, but it will also leave drivers carefully managing when to deploy their electrical power. Combined with slipstreaming and the possibility of powerful attack-and-counter-attack sequences, energy strategy could become as important as outright top speed at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix.
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