{"id":44770,"date":"2026-09-03T16:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/44770\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:35:39","slug":"sad-italian-grand-prix-prediction-as-dangerous-situation-flagged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/44770\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sad’ Italian Grand Prix prediction as ‘dangerous’ situation flagged"},"content":{"rendered":"

Racing Bulls<\/a> driver Arvid Lindblad<\/a> has predicted Monza, long known as the Temple of Speed, will be rendered an \u201cextreme\u201d version of energy management this weekend at the Italian GP.<\/p>\n

So much so, in fact, that having driven in the simulator before this weekend, Lindblad believes it will be \u201cnot Monza\u201d as an experience, with straight-line speeds unlikely to reach previous years\u2019 levels.<\/p>\n

Italian GP \u2018not Monza\u2019 under F1 2026 regulations \u2013 Lindblad<\/p>\n

The Italian Grand Prix has long been earmarked as the weekend where the 2026 regulations would perhaps be under sharpest focus, with Monza<\/a> being the fastest circuit of the season with the highest proportion of a lap spent at full throttle.<\/p>\n

With only limited braking zones on the circuit, opportunities to recharge batteries quickly will be tough to come by and, with experience underneath him on the simulator, trialling setups ahead of the weekend, the Formula 1 rookie believes the circuit will not hold its usual characteristics this weekend.<\/p>\n

A by-product of this, too, Lindblad<\/a> believes, will be \u201creally bad yo-yo racing\u201d between drivers, as battery gets used at different rates in attack and defence.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say, then, the Racing Bulls driver is not looking forward to his first Formula 1 weekend at Monza in the way he may have before.<\/p>\n

Saying his experience on the simulator was \u201cworse than expected\u201d, the teenager elaborated to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: \u201cThere\u2019s just not much battery, so we don\u2019t actually go slower on the straights. We don\u2019t use any.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite slow. It is a bit sad, and we\u2019ll see what it\u2019s like on track, but the way I had to drive on the sim, there\u2019s things that we\u2019ve already done a little bit, which have been a little bit unnatural, but you\u2019ve kind of got away with it. Whereas here it\u2019s extreme, and it\u2019s not Monza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be no 350[kph top speeds], so if you have any bets on breaking any speed trap records, don\u2019t, because it\u2019s not very fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s going to be much speed delta because no one\u2019s going to have any power. It\u2019s not like on other tracks where you have power, so then it depends where you spend it. We just have no power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindblad also highlighted a potential safety issue over the weekend too, highlighting when drivers open and close fast laps in free practice and qualifying, when some approach others at speed on the track.<\/p>\n

Drivers on slow or \u2018cool\u2019 laps often use that time to recharge as much as possible, while drivers on fast or \u2018push\u2019 laps are deploying what\u2019s available to them.<\/p>\n

That difference in speed could be higher than usual at Monza, Lindblad predicts, creating a potentially unwanted situation on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the energy limits, the penalty for using the boost is bigger than on other tracks,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we saw it a bit in Zandvoort, but it was okay because of the banking. The delta speeds when you\u2019re starting your lap or end your lap with what we have now with this \u2018Auto K\u2019, where basically we go flat and we just run on the engine, and then 100 or 200 metres before the line, it goes. In Zandvoort, there were 50, 60kph speed deltas, you could get out of the way and let the guys through, whereas here it\u2019s even more, and it could become a bit dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting the lap won\u2019t be easy to be have [battery] full, have the tyres ready, but even just from traffic, from safety, it\u2019s not great. We need a better battery.\u201d<\/p>\n

With peak battery recharge having already been lowered for the weekend, Lindblad predicts drivers will have to go about finding lap time a different way around Monza than usual.<\/p>\n

Where in previous years, it has been a flat-out push in qualifying, drivers will have to think differently this time around.<\/p>\n

More about the F1 2026 regulations<\/p>\n

George Russell names wish list for next F1 regulations including V8 engine<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinion: Has F1 lost its thrill with flawed 2026 regulations?<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the jury remains out until proper laps are completed this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could be a bit smarter,\u201d Lindblad said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if everyone\u2019s doing it, but I found a few things with the way you approach corners. You make the lap time in different ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of it\u2019s as basic as just lifting more, but the way you go on power, how you go on power, where you go on power, where you make the lap time versus where you spend energy, you can be quite smart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas here, there\u2019ll be extreme cases of that. Even with other rules, that is just weird.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t understood it yet, so we need to drive. I\u2019m going to go through it with the engineers later, but it was the most confusing sim session of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen set the outright lap record at Monza last season, his 1:18.792 for pole position having been set at an average speed of 164.46mph \u2013 the fastest lap in Formula 1 history.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next: Lindblad responds to Gasly after untelevised team radio message emerges<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad has predicted Monza, long known as the Temple of Speed, will be rendered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1534,14363,5,36],"class_list":["post-44770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-italy","tag-home-page","tag-italian-grand-prix","tag-italy","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}