Two big adjustments are coming to System 1 in 2026.
For the primary time in additional than a decade, the sequence has modified its engine components, bringing with it the chance one of many producers might out-develop their rivals the identical method Mercedes did 12 years in the past. The brand new energy unit guidelines have additionally promoted drastic adjustments to the chassis laws which is able to produce a subject of automobiles which look and behave very in another way to what we’ve turn into used to.
That subject will likely be bigger, too after System One Administration begrudgingly agreed to permit an eleventh workforce to enter the world championship. The grid will due to this fact develop to 22 automobiles – nonetheless beneath capability however the largest line-up seen since Haas arrived 10 years in the past.
Surprises little doubt await because the 11 groups put together to unleash a brand new breed of automobiles on the 24 circuits which comprise this yr’s world championship. Right here’s every part new to look out for.
Drivers and groups
The arrival of Cadillac – which initially entered underneath the Andretti model – is the headline change to the line-up of groups and drivers in 2026. Based mostly at Silverstone within the UK and Indianapolis within the USA, the workforce will use buyer Ferrari energy items to start with however intends to introduce its personal energy unit from 2029.
Led by workforce principal Graeme Lowden, Cadillac has prioritised expertise in its first selection of drivers. Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will return after spending 2025 on the sidelines, forming the oldest driver line-up on the grid. Between them the pair have began 527 grands prix and received 16 of them, and drove for the groups which received each constructors’ championship between 2017 and 2023.
F1’s new engine guidelines have largely succeeded in luring new producers to compete within the championship. Foremost amongst them is Audi, which has taken over Swiss-based workforce Sauber and can introduce its personal energy unit developed in Neuberg, Germany. It has retained Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as drivers.
Advert | Grow to be a RaceFans supporter and
Crimson Bull’s days of utilizing its Honda-designed energy items are over because it has launched into an formidable engine venture in a brand new facility by its base in Milton Keynes. It initially pursued a tie-up with Porsche for 2026, however they did not agree phrases, so as a substitute Crimson Bull turned to Ford to faucet its experience in growing hybrid energy items.
Max Verstappen will due to this fact be powered by the brand new Crimson Bull-Ford energy unit. The identical goes for his newest workforce mate, Isack Hadjar, who will hope to thrive in the identical setting the place Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson and Perez couldn’t. Crimson Bull’s second System 1 workforce will use the identical energy items for its automobiles pushed by Lawson and the one rookie on the 2026 grid, System 2 graduate Arvid Lindblad. These are the one adjustments any workforce has made to its driver line-up since final yr.
However Honda, who introduced their fourth departure from F1 in 2020, are again already. Their new energy items will likely be used solely by Aston Martin.
Whereas these producers and plenty of of their rivals noticed the brand new energy unit laws as a chance to steal a march on the competitors, Renault determined they have been higher off shuttering the engine programme which debuted in F1 nearly 50 years in the past. Alpine will take over the client Mercedes engine deal beforehand utilized by Aston Martin – although Toto Wolff has already indicated the three-pointed star’s engines will likely be utilized by fewer groups after 2030.
Calendar
The principle change on the calendar for 2026 is the addition of a second race in Spain on the expense of Italy’s. F1 bids farewell to Imola, which returned to the calendar within the pandemic-hit 2020 season, and heads to a brand new road circuit in Madrid, referred to as the Madring. Its first Spanish Grand Prix will happen on the finish of the ‘European season’, following F1’s sole go to to Italy, at Monza. F1 will race on the Circuit de Catalunya once more, in the identical calendar slot as final season, although its spherical is now referred to as the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
As final yr the championship will comprise 24 grands prix plus six dash races. Nonetheless F1 has drastically modified the distribution of dash races.
Beforehand they have been concentrated on the finish of the season – three within the last six rounds – which regarded like an try and delay the purpose at which the championship could be determined. None of these will maintain dash occasions this yr.
Advert | Grow to be a RaceFans supporter and
For 2026 three venues will maintain dash races for the primary time – Montreal, Zandvoort and Singapore. Shanghai and Miami will host them once more and Silverstone is to have its first dash occasion because the format was launched in 2021. Is F1 experimenting with completely different venues for dash races with the aim of holding extra of them in future seasons? Regardless of the dearth of widespread enthusiasm for the format, it appears possible.
With a purpose to give the groups ample time to arrange for the largest guidelines change in over a decade, F1 has elevated the quantity of pre-season testing in comparison with final yr. 5 days of working have been scheduled for the top of this month on the Circuit de Catalunya, adopted by a pair of three-day checks on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit throughout February, earlier than the 2026 championship begins in Australia.
Guidelines
The adjustments to the 2026 season are too far-reaching to cowl intimately right here. They embody each the chassis and – for the primary time since 2014 – the facility unit.
Key features of the earlier V6 hybrid turbos stay primarily unchanged, together with the combustion engine and kinetic vitality restoration system. Nonetheless the thermal vitality seize gadget, referred to as the MGU-H, has been deleted and the quantity {of electrical} vitality groups can seize and deploy has been elevated.
Nonetheless there are issues groups could not be capable to recuperate enough vitality for his or her wants over a full lap of the quickest circuits on the calendar, reminiscent of Monza and Las Vegas.
In an effort to help the automobiles’ efficiency on straights, groups are actually allowed to decrease their entrance and rear wings at particular factors on the monitor. It will enable them to shed downforce after they don’t want it, decreasing drag.
Advert | Grow to be a RaceFans supporter and
This has spelled the top for the Drag Discount System, a sticking-plaster try to help overtaking which F1 has relied on since 2011. Nonetheless F1 drivers will nonetheless have a proximity-based passing help this yr: they will deploy further energy when they’re inside one second of the automotive forward.
The FIA has additionally specified narrower and shorter most dimensions for this yr’s automobiles and minimize the minimal weight restrict, each in an try and make the automobiles nimbler and extra race-able. The adjustments are fairly modest, nevertheless, and it stays to be seen how profitable they are going to be and whether or not all of the groups can hit the brand new decrease weight restrict.
Launches
FOM has opted to not repeat final yr’s joint livery launch ‘F1 75’. As an alternative groups will make their very own preparations to current their new automobiles, although all their designs are prone to undergo intensive adjustments earlier than the primary grand prix of the season in March.
(add right here)
fifteenth January: Crimson Bull and Racing Bulls season launch
twentieth January: Audi F1 workforce launch
twenty third January: Ferrari launch occasion and Alpine livery launch
Over to you
How ought to we decide whether or not F1’s new laws are a hit in 2026? What do you most hope to see within the new season? Have your say within the feedback.
Advert | Grow to be a RaceFans supporter and
System 1
Browse all System 1 articles
