“I f***ed up quite a lot”: How Yuki Tsunoda discovered the complexity of F1 2026 at Monza

The Racing Bulls stand-in seemed to get to grips with the new cars very quickly at Zandvoort, but the following race weekend was another matter entirely

Yuki Tsunoda has another roll of the Formula 1 dice this weekend in Madrid, standing in at Racing Bulls for Liam Lawson, who is getting another outing at Red Bull racing in place of the injured Isack Hadjar.

The new track will be another stern challenge for Tsuonda, who hadn’t experienced the latest-generation cars outside of the simulator before he stepped in at the Dutch Grand Prix. That weekend appeared to go relatively smoothly – in Sunday’s race he finished just outside the points, but ahead of team-mate Arvid Lindblad – but made much heavier weather of the Italian GP last weekend.

There, he struggled for pace relative to Lindblad throughout practice and qualifying, then lined up in the wrong grid spot when the race was restarted. He finished 10th but that is pending a protest by Audi, which asserts Tsunoda should have been penalised for forcing another formation lap.

Read Also:

Formula 1Audi to go through with appeal against Yuki Tsunoda's Italian GP result

“I tended to forget quite a lot SM [Straightline Mode] last week, especially the Turn 8 to Turn 10,” he explained in Madrid.

“There's been more activation points than last year. And also, it's a lot of work I have to do in the out lap, not to use the energy.

“But obviously, if you don't use the energy, the tyres are going to be cold, so you want to be sometimes aggressive in order where you [need] to be.

“You want to start the lap with 100% battery, but this sacrifice in places, where to do it, where to not, was very complicated – and something that I fucked up quite a lot in qualifying. And the consequence was huge.”

Yuki Tsunoda enters his third F1 race of 2026 with Racing Bulls in Madrid

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

The current cars are more complicated to operate than the last generation, which Tsunoda experienced. Shifting to a near-50:50 output between the electrical motor and the internal combustion engine requires an often counter-intuitive driving style, not always maximising cornering speed, along with operating the active aerodynamics.

Getting a so called ‘optimal lap’ often requires the drivers to adopt specific throttle positions rather than improvising, lest they confuse the machine-learning algorithms that map out the ideal electrical power deployment through the lap. Monza added to the complications because its layout offers so few opportunities to harvest energy; getting a fast lap required a slipstream as well as a good grasp of the subtleties of making the most of the limited electrical power.

“It's like you have to [look] on the steering monitor more,” said Tsunoda.

“Somehow, you have to also be slightly more sensitive on throttle, especially in the out-lap. It is weird, especially in the out-lap, also in qualifying, but I think this is part of the regulation or sport, F1 right now, and you've got to deal with it.

“Somehow, I was underestimating the amount of damage or penalty you'll get if you don't do everything right, and I definitely experienced it in qualifying.”