Two weeks after his impressive performance in Zandvoort, Yuki Tsunoda has once again made a strong start to his second 2026 Formula 1 weekend at Monza.
The Japanese driver said during media day that the Italian Grand Prix would be a much bigger challenge than Zandvoort, as the Temple of Speed is ‘energy-starved’ in 2026 and therefore places a greater emphasis on energy management than the Dutch GP did.
Nevertheless, the Japanese driver has once again made a good start to the race weekend. After Friday practice, Tsunoda was 10th, just behind Max Verstappen and only a tenth of a second behind team-mate Arvid Lindblad.
It raises the question of whether Tsunoda has surprised himself, given the difficult weekend he had expected.
“Yes and no,” the Japanese driver told Motorsport.com in the media pen. “It’s definitely a struggle, especially FP1, but it was more coming from, like in general, a lot of things that were pretty messy.”
Tsunoda expected a tougher weekend at Monza because energy management is more crucial there than at Zandvoort
Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
That is not so much related to Racing Bulls, but more to the complexity of the 2026 regulations. Tsunoda knows Monza well from the ground-effect era and was therefore accustomed to using DRS around the circuit.
In 2026, that has been replaced by active aerodynamics and Straight Mode zones, of which there are considerably more than there used to be DRS zones.
Monza has four SM zones this year, and they are badly needed to reduce the amount of drag and prevent the on-track picture with the 2026 cars from becoming even more painful than it already is.
Tsunoda explains with a laugh, however, that he kept forgetting to use SM on the run towards Parabolica, simply because it was not yet fully ingrained in him.
“We have more activation points than last year with the equivalent of DRS,” he added.
“And I just keep forgetting using this SM towards Turn 11. I was like, oh, why am I losing so much lap time? Oh, well, actually, I’m not using SM. So those things are just really hitting me quite hard and, you know, there are some challenges that I had with the transition between last year and this year.”
The Racing Bulls stand-in kept forgetting to use SM heading towards the Parabolica in FP1
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
In second practice, Tsunoda did use SM in all the permitted places and proved surprisingly competitive.
“Overall, in FP2, it all came a bit more together. It ended up pretty nicely, also knowing what kind of things we can still improve.
“I think Arvid is looking more comfortable in the car, so there’s still some things for me [to improve]. The confidence in the car is not massive, not 100% there, so gradually I just need to pick up more performance from that.”
Tsunoda predicts qualifying chaos: “It’s going to be spicy”
The fact that Tsunoda was immediately up to speed in both Zandvoort and Monza naturally says something about his ability to adapt, but also about how accessible the Racing Bulls car is.
The VCARB 03 appears to be a well-balanced car and one that is relatively easy to get into a workable set-up window, a major contrast with the Red Bull car Tsunoda was used to in 2025.
“It’s too early stages to say because it’s only the second race and I don’t know how exactly it compares to other cars, but I certainly got a lot of support from the team and also [this car is] less peaky I guess compared to what I experienced last year.”
The slipstream is crucially important at Monza, which is why Tsunoda is expecting a chaotic qualifying session
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
While many things are different this year, one aspect remains the same at Monza: the slipstream is worth its weight in gold, and that could make qualifying chaotic.
“I think it will be chaos, Q1, Q2 and probably Q3 as well,” Tsunoda predicted.
“But I guess that’s the usual story in Monza, probably a little bit more extreme in this year.
“We need a good strategy for that, but those things are really hard to predict. But yeah, the tow is definitely important and that also affects everything. It’s going to be spicy.”
Photos from Italian GP – Saturday
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