F1 2026: New era, new rivals, new rules

Written by Eloise Bramer and Zoe Levesque, 25/02/2026. 

As the 2026 Formula 1 season is about to commence, Eloise and Zoe thought it was a great time to remind everyone of the main storylines heading into this season. Last year, we saw a title battle that lasted until the final race in Abu Dhabi, leading to Lando Norris coming away with his first championship. However, the 2026 season is set up to be very different, with a new track, a new team, and new regulations. 

The 2026 season will be the first updated regulations in a long time. The new cars will be significantly smaller and lighter than 2025, aiming to help increase the on-track fighting between drivers. After last year’s lack of on-track overtakes, these regulations are helping to solve this problem. Counterintuitively to that, Formula 1 cars now no longer have the Drag Reduction System (DRS) that has previously been helpful to overtaking. This was seen by the governing body as too much of an advantage to cars and removing it would help bring the cars closer. Replacing DRS is “overtake mode” which will be used by drivers when they are within one second of each other. (so literally the same as DRS) This will divert extra electrical energy to help overtake or put pressure on the cars in front of them.

This season there have been three pre-season testing weekends to help the drivers and teams adjust to the new regulations. Two of them were in Bahrain and one in Barcelona, all three showed promise to the new regulations. During testing the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers were especially fast with some rumors of them intentionally going slower to not share their full pace yet. Sadly, the Aston Martin is looking like it's going to be the slowest car of the season according to pre-season results. Even with their new technical director, Adrian Newey, it still looks like their power unit isn’t up to par with the rest of the field. Saying this, the season has yet to start and nothing is finalized yet for any of the teams.

For the first time since 2016 when Haas joined Formula 1, there is a new team on the track. The new Cadillac team has been long in the making and will be making their debut alongside the other 10 teams this year. That does mean there will be 11 teams and therefore 22 drivers, adding to the competition in the field. With a new team, this does mean new drivers, or what Cadillac has chosen, two drivers with a lot of experience. They have brought two of the best second seat drivers in Formula 1 history, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio “Checo” Perez. These two raced with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen respectively when they were in their prime, indicating their skill as drivers. 

Another new team this season is Audi!!! Although they aren’t adding more cars to the grid, they will be taking over Stake (previously Sauber) They announced their interest in Formula 1 in 2022 and since then, they have been working to find a way to join the sport. Their drivers will remain the same, Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. Last year, Stake performed their best yet with Hulkenberg even getting his first podium in Silverstone!!! Safe to say 2026 will be an amazing year for the rebranded team Audi.

As for drivers changing between teams, it is nothing in comparison to last season with five rookies. This year there is only one, Arvid Lindblad, who will be joining the Red Bull junior team, Visa Cash App RB. This is a great opportunity for the 18 year old British driver to show his skills on such a great team. The other teams have all kept the same line up from the end of 2025, as with the new regulations, it’s hard to predict which drivers will succeed.

Another new change coming for Formula 1 in 2026 is a new track which is the first since the very underwhelming Las Vegas track. It was a disappointment to many fans to see a third track in the United States and a bad one at that. The new track this year is not in the US, but in Madrid, Spain. This will be a street track in downtown Madrid called the Madring (get it). Little has been announced yet but we do know it guarantees intense battling and interesting races. Hopefully the track will fulfill these promises and give fans a new favourite race.

Overall, the 2026 Formula 1 season will be one of wonders regardless of who ends up winning. 24 races spanning from March to December, with 22 drivers, 11 teams, and one champion to emerge from it all. The first race weekend is March 14-16 in Australia and Zoe and Eloise can’t wait for the season to begin.