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# Gary Anderson on F1 2026's low-drag 'Monza special' aero tweaks
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-on-f1-2026s-low-drag-monza-special-aero-tweaks/
- Published: 2026-09-06T08:49:16.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-06T08:49:16.000Z
- Description: Monza has always presented a special challenge to F1 teams, thanks to its long straights, but that has taken on a new dimension with these energy-starved 2026 cars
- Author: Gary Anderson
- Tags: Formula 1, #italian-grand-prix, #secondary_feature_1

Monza is all about optimising a low-drag aerodynamic set-up, while retaining as much downforce as possible. But corners are still corners, and the faster you can go around them, the better the initial straightline speed will be and, in turn, the laptime.

Monza has changed a lot since its early days, but it still has many straights, with a top speed this year a little in excess of 340km/h (211mph), which is 94m/s, and at the end of all of them is some varying levels of braking. 

Into some of the chicanes, that speed needs to be reduced to 80km/h (50mph), and that speed reduction happens in just over a second or, in distance, 100 metres, so rear-end stability and confidence in the consistency of the braking balance is critical.

When the rear wing closes from straight mode (low drag) to cornering mode (high downforce), you need that rear-end stability immediately, as that is when you really hit the brake pedal with everything you can. 

After that, the big challenge is to reduce that pedal pressure in line with the grip reduction and then thread the eye of the needle at corner entry. One metre too late and you will lose a couple of tenths of laptime or, even worse, two metres too late and you have a trip across the runoff where you lose seconds.

And to add to that, you have the battery harvesting on the rear axle diminishing near the end of braking, leaving you with the transition over to hydraulic braking on both axles and complicating things even more. 

With the levels of anti-dive on the front suspension and anti-lift on the rear suspension that most of these cars are running to control the pitch of the car for aerodynamic stability, the driver has very low levels of feedback during braking. 

Yes, even though I would say the power unit, with its electrical harvesting and distribution, is more important than the driver, I still believe they earn their keep.

So what have the teams come up with that A) works and B) works well enough to allow the driver to maximise their confidence to go just that one metre later before hitting the brake pedal?

![Lando Norris, McLaren, F1](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/XPB_1432863_HiRes.jpg)

McLaren is finally happy with its 180-degree rotating rear wing, or H-wing as it’s called. McLaren has tested it many times, but the one thing that McLaren is good at doing is showing discipline: don’t put bits on the cars unless you are confident that the goals have been met.

We can see here the McLaren rear wing in cornering mode and the actuator that rotates it to straightline mode.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image1-5.jpeg)

Some of these changes may be to suit the actual wing specification between Zandvoort and Monza, but it looks like the geometry of the linkage and the length of the middle link, which I have highlighted with the double-ended white arrow, has increased. This will be to either alter the opening size or speed up the opening and closing.

We don’t get many close-up pictures of the wing in the open state to allow us to do much comparison as the cars are travelling in the region of 300km/h (186mph), or 83m/s at that time. As far as its opening and shutting is concerned, in the regulations the wing has to open and/or close in less than 0.4 seconds, so the blink of an eye.

It’s also interesting to see McLaren has retained more or less the same horizontal size of gurney flap, which I have highlighted with the blue arrow (above). This Gurney flap will be a bit draggy, but it will act a bit like a parachute being pulled along behind the car and improve the rear-end stability under braking.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/XPB_1432884_HiRes.jpg)

For Ferrari, a win at Monza is probably just as important as winning the championship, but the fear of not being on the podium at Monza is probably just as strong a motivation, so normally it’s about throwing the kitchen sink at the car for the Italian GP.

This year, it has mainly been about getting its upgraded engine up to speed. I’m led to believe that, as part of that, it has increased the size of the turbo. As we saw from pre-season testing, only Ferrari, with its smaller turbo than the other power unit manufacturers, was able to get off the start line very impressively.

However, after that the FIA decided that, for safety reasons, it would add a five-second time delay before the start lights would come on to allow the drivers to increase the engine revs to build up turbo boost - so, in fact, taking away most of the advantage that the smaller turbo brought to the package.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image2-2.jpeg)

Ferrari also has a couple of aerodynamic developments. These vertical vanes on the bargeboards, highlighted in green (above), manage the turbulence that is created by F1 being an open-wheel formula. For Monza Ferrari has gone from a three-element component to a single-element component. This may be a development that will be for the rest of the season and not just Monza-specific. Time will tell.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image6-2.jpeg)

Ferrari has also gone for a bigger and more detailed exit opening on the rear brake duct. Monza is a strange circuit as far as braking is concerned because, as a result of the long straights, the brakes can be too cold when you first hit the brake pedal but too hot when you achieve your speed reduction. That problem is highlighted into the first chicane as it’s the biggest speed reduction.

The harvesting is all being achieved through the rear axle until the battery pack is full, and then diminishes to only hydraulic braking just at the end of braking, and to save weight the teams run smaller-than-ideal rear brakes.

Increased cooling for Monza is no bad thing, but I have said more than once you can’t just put a bigger opening in. You are better to go for a bigger exit and optimise the cooling of the various areas - pads, discs, callipers, etc. - within the braking system.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image3-1.jpeg)

The exhaust gas direction blocker, which is highlighted in green, has also been changed. It is now higher, which means it is closing off more than half of the tailpipe vertically, but it has a central opening slot, so the open area is probably not much different. It may also be part of Ferrari’s requirement to optimise the gas flow of the bigger turbo, if it really has gone down that route.

Also the vanes on the side of that blocker highlighted in magenta have been reduced in width and by removing the small endplates a small drag reduction has probably been achieved.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image4.jpeg)

As for the others, Mercedes has removed its rear-wing extensions. However, again to improve the rear-end stability, it, like McLaren, has retained the rear-wing gurney flap.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image9.jpeg)

Mercedes has also reduced the length of the rear-view-mirror-mounting sidepod vane, which is highlighted in magenta. This is probably a small drag reduction, which I have highlighted with the red arrows, as it will allow some of the flow going over the top of the sidepod to get pulled into the sidepod undercut.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image5-1.jpeg)

Red Bull has also gone down that same path in tidying up the wing’s trailing edge. However, it has gone to a full-length trailing-edge Gurney flap. The actuator geometry is also different from earlier in the season, but after Verstappen’s offs on corner entry in Austria and Silverstone, Red Bull took a race off from using this style of wing while putting some time into getting a better understanding of how efficiently the airflow was reattaching when going from straight-line mode to cornering mode.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image7.jpeg)

Williams has also added some small vanes, which are highlighted in yellow, to the trailing edge of the halo. These should tidy up the airflow coming off the round section of the halo side support tubes.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/09/image8.jpeg)

And it has also reduced the length of the trailing edge of its bargeboard. The trim is highlighted with the dotted white line. Both of these are probably small drag reductions.

As I said at the beginning of this column, braking stability is critical for Monza, especially as it will probably be a one-stop race. This is mainly because of the time loss when your car is sitting in the pits having its wheels changed while your competitors are passing on the track at 340km/h. But that does mean that, coming up to the end of the race, the tyres are getting well past their optimum grip level, making it much easier to make a mistake.

As the saying goes, never count your chickens until they are hatched. In motor racing, that’s when the chequered flag is waved.