Red Bull has encountered a familiar and worrying balance problem at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix, with the RB22 displaying handling difficulties at Monza that Pierre Waché says are similar to those seen at Zandvoort. Max Verstappen felt the problem particularly strongly during FP2 after sitting out the opening session, leaving the Milton Keynes team with significant work to do before the final practice session and qualifying.
It is an unwelcome repeat for Red Bull. The same type of balance issue affected the team at Zandvoort, the race that opened the second half of the 2026 Formula 1 season, where radical set-up changes ultimately failed to deliver the expected improvement.
Red Bull balance problem returns at Monza
The Milton Keynes team was already dealing with the handling problem from the opening practice session at Monza. Max Verstappen handed his car over to Ayumu Iwasa for FP1, meaning the four-time world champion could only gain a direct understanding of the issue once he returned to the cockpit for FP2.
Pierre Waché, Red Bull’s Technical Director, acknowledged that the problems had been evident from the first session and admitted that their characteristics were strikingly similar to those encountered only a few weeks earlier in the Netherlands.
“We clearly have a balance problem. That’s the main one. It’s a little bit the same problem we had at Zandvoort, to be honest, and we’re trying to understand where the issue is so that we can fix it with set-up changes and car components.”
“That’s the main thing we’re focusing on. What didn’t help was not having Max in the car in FP1 and only having him from FP2 onwards. We had less time to react and now we’ll have to do that in FP3.”
The comments reinforce concerns that the RB22 continues to present handling weaknesses that make it difficult for Max Verstappen to extract its full potential, even as Red Bull works through different circuit configurations.
Pierre Waché says new Red Bull parts are not causing the problem
Like many teams, Red Bull introduced several new solutions at Monza in an attempt to find additional performance. That initially raised the possibility that the balance difficulties were simply a consequence of learning how the new components behaved on the low-downforce Italian circuit.
According to Pierre Waché, however, the problem affecting the RB22 goes beyond the new parts introduced at Monza.
“We’ll evaluate some components and we’ll have to make choices between things we’ve already had for a few races, so we have decisions to make. But it’s not something related to the new parts.”
That distinction is important for Red Bull. If the balance issue were solely linked to a newly introduced component, the team could potentially resolve it by reverting to a known specification. Instead, the similarity with Zandvoort suggests the engineers must understand a broader characteristic of the car and how it behaves across different set-up windows.
Ayumu Iwasa felt same high-speed problem as Max Verstappen
The difficulty was already apparent during FP1 when Ayumu Iwasa replaced Max Verstappen. The 24-year-old Japanese driver provided a more detailed description of what he felt from the car, highlighting a sharp contrast between its behaviour at low and high speeds.
“I was saying the same things [as Waché and Verstappen] already at the end of FP1. Basically, the car is good at low speed, but at high speed it was difficult to drive. It was as if the balance of the car was disconnected.”
“I didn’t do many laps in FP1 and I certainly didn’t reach the limit of the car, but I felt very similar sensations to Max.”
The feedback therefore points towards a problem that was not specific to Max Verstappen’s driving style. Both drivers experienced comparable behaviour in the same car, giving Red Bull additional data to analyse ahead of Saturday.
For Max Verstappen, the issue is another complication during a season in which Red Bull has already fallen behind its main rivals and struggled to consistently fight for victories.
Red Bull hopes to avoid another Zandvoort set-up failure
At Zandvoort, Red Bull never managed to find a satisfactory solution despite radically changing the set-up of its cars. The team ultimately found itself as the fourth-fastest force behind Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari.
The objective at Monza is to identify the underlying thread behind the problem and make changes that already produce a visible improvement in the final practice session.
That task is particularly important because Monza places very different demands on a Formula 1 car compared with Zandvoort. The Italian circuit requires an extremely low-drag configuration while still demanding stability through its fastest corners and under heavy braking.
Iwasa also identifies Red Bull energy-management issue
Balance was not the only concern highlighted during Red Bull’s Friday running. Ayumu Iwasa also reported an issue connected to energy management during the preparation lap before beginning a timed run.
“We discovered something that shouldn’t have happened on our preparation lap before a flying lap. But it’s a good thing because it will allow us to learn things for the rest of the weekend.”
“It was something related to energy management. I think everyone is working hard to find a better direction in that respect and all of this is part of the game. But it was a positive thing because, if we hadn’t noticed it in FP1, we would have noticed it later in the weekend and we would have had less time to react.”
Energy deployment is particularly important at Monza because of the circuit’s long straights and the demands placed on the new-generation power units. Identifying the anomaly in FP1 at least gives Red Bull additional time to work on a solution before qualifying and the race.
The larger concern remains the RB22’s balance. Red Bull failed to solve a similar problem at Zandvoort despite major set-up changes, and the team now has only one more practice session to avoid a repeat in Italy. With Max Verstappen already well behind the championship leaders in the 2026 Formula 1 standings, finding a solution quickly could be crucial to Red Bull’s hopes of competing near the front at Monza.
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