How Monza introduced oval-like slipstream racing to F1

There have been several examples of Formula 1 2026's regulations radically changing the style of racing at some of the 24 circuits on the calendar, but Monza's slipstream festival was the most dramatic example yet.

A brand-new term coined to describe this year's spectacle is the so-called yo-yo racing, where cars are easily able to complete overtakes using the extra grunt from the battery but then are unable to break away or keep that position as they run out of energy.

Monza's 53-lapper was perhaps to most extreme version of yo-yo racing yet, with cars hounding each other in packs without being able to break away, because the huge tow on Monza's long straights further boosted the effectiveness of the electric overtake mode, allowing intrinsically slower cars to keep up with the car in front.

That was most obvious with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who did not have the power unit performance to genuinely challenge the Mercedes cars for the win. But the huge slipstream effect combined with 2026's energy deployment needs meant he was still able to stick with George Russell for a long time as the Briton was unable to break away, only to be a sitting duck whenever the Dutchman found a way past.

"To be honest, [I didn’t enjoy it] a lot when people just drive by you like you’re a turtle," Verstappen said. "With the overtake mode, it looked quite promising, but as soon as I got in the lead, it was very hard to defend. Even when we had the VSC, we boxed, had better tyres, I’m overtaking cars, but as soon as they can hang in that overtake mode, it’s just too powerful for us to actually defend against that."

Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton, who had lost touch with the lead pair before the mid-race virtual safety car, also formed an initial pocket of cars, as did Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

This is where veteran oval drivers would perhaps try and work together and trade the lead on purpose as efficiently as possible. But on an F1 road course that's much harder to do, and Russell and Verstappen cost each other enough time for Kimi Antonelli to make a spectacular comeback through the field.

"Somehow with these Formula 1 [regulations], it's not easy to get an overtake completed and move on," McLaren team boss Andrea Stella explained. "If you see how much it took for Lando to pass Gasly and then start to close the gap to the cars ahead.

"We see that there's certainly been quite a lot of entertainment, but to some extent there were also some issues for a quicker car to be able to compete if you don't start at the front of the grid."

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur added: "The race pace was probably okay-ish. The main issue was top speed and overtaking. It was quite impossible for us to attack or to defend. When we were attacking someone, we were draining the battery, and next straight line we were losing the position."

Stella called the Italian GP weekend one of the busiest weekends of the year for his crew as it tried to optimise the strategy and set-up for this new style of racing, which has dominated the conversation around energy-hungry circuits.

"Very, very busy for everyone, drivers and engineers, with managing the power unit and the battery on a circuit like Monza," he added. "This becomes the dominating element of racing. We see that jointly with the slipstream a faster car actually can struggle then to pull away from a slower car.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"This could make a [difference per lap] of as much as half a second, the combination of the slipstream and the fact that you have a car behind that you start to use the boost to defend [against] and then you lose a lot of pace.

"Monza 2026, I think, will be remembered as the most relevant race with the new regulations. It required a high quality from an execution point of view. I think we did, but overall we were not in contention for the victory because Mercedes had a step advantage on everyone else."

Indeed, eventual winner Antonelli was the only driver to buck that pack racing trend, as he marched up the order form 19th on the grid. Antonelli did a lot of the hard work early on by running has high as sixth after the lap 6 restart, which gave him chance of an unlikely comeback win.

But while some of Antonelli's astonishing progress can be ascribed to Mercedes' superior energy deployment, the fact that he was the only driver to move up from group to group while team-mate Russell couldn't break away from Verstappen at the front also shows the driver deserves plenty of credit, with the 20-year-old Italian showcasing aggressive but meticulous overtaking skills and car placement.

"The differentiator today was the ability going through the traffic," said Antonelli's team boss Toto Wolff. "And we've seen it with other great ones in the past. Lewis, who did it at some of the races, and that's what Kimi has shown today. There's just no stopping [him]. When a driver and a car are one, then there's nothing that can stop them."