When I publish this, we’re one week out from the first Grand Prix of the F1 season 2026 down in Melbourne. And on 27 February, Netflix very timely released the latest season of “Drive to Survive”, giving everyone (or at least most of us) enough time to go through the intricacies from last season before the 2026 engines start revving down under. Melbourne usually attracts around half a million spectators during the F1 weekend, making it one of, if not the best attended F1 event during the year.

I will unfortunately not be one of that half million people, but the question is really what the lucky ones will get to see this year. Because the 2026 season promises to be very different indeed. To most, the question seems to be not whether it will be better or worse, but rather how much worse it will be. The changes to the cars are so big that experience could count for less than in many years, potentially leading to completely new podiums. Time will tell but for now, let’s dive in for a closer look at what it’s all about.

Before looking closer at the new cars, 2026 will see a new team with two old drivers (in all senses of the word), a rebranded team (Kick Sauber becoming Audi) but just one rookie, in stark contrast to the six we had last season. His name is Arvid Lindblad which sounds very Swedish to the Swedes among us. Sadly for us, Arvid is a British driver with a Swedish father and an Indian mother, who’s come up through the Red Bull Academy to take the second seat at Red Bull’s junior team Racing Bulls, next to Liam Lawson.

This comes about as Isack Hadjar in his second F1 season moves to Red Bull, replacing Yuki Tsunoda and becoming Max Verstappen’s seventh team mate during his tenure at the team. The move is logical in the sense that Hadjar drove really well in his first season and managed to be in the points in 10 races, making one podium in the Dutch GP as third. As for Tsunoda, he stays with the team but in the role of test driver. No, that’s not a promotion, it’s the price to pay for being the 6th driver who didn’t succeed as nr. 2 at Red Bull. Let’s hope nr. 7 does better.

The only other driver move in 2026 is Sergio “Checo” Perez and Valtteri Bottas returning to F1 to drive for the new team on the grid this year – Cadillac. The team is the first to join the F1 circus since Haas did so 10 years ago, and they will also be the last unless another team pulls out. Team principal Graeme Lowdon has built the Cadillac team from the ground up, choosing no less than 500 people out of 143.000 applicants! That says something about how big F1 has become on the other side of the Atlantic.

The Cadillac cars will for now be powered by Ferrari engines. GM is however working on their proper engine, currently expected to be introduced in 2029. That means that next to the two drivers, Cadillac at least has a reputable engine up its sleeve. That’s it however for the good news, since most pundits agree that it will take at least a few years for the team to establish itself in F1. Any points scored in the coming season would thus be quite a big surprise.

Moving on to the cars, there is a long list of differences compared to the last years that risk turning the season pretty much on its head. The first thing, visible to the eye, is that the cars are smaller. Their minimum weight has been reduced by 30 kgs, as. has their maximum width and length. It’s also easy to spot that tires are thinner both in the front and back. What you won’t see as easily is an important reduction in down force of around 30% compared to the 2025 car. If you’re driving at 300 km/h, that makes a pretty big difference!

All of the above is supposed to make the cars nimbler, reversing the trend towards more bulky cars seen in the last years. Because along with the reduced down force comes an even more important reduction in drag, all contributing. to the cars “dancing through corners” in official F1 language. I guess we’ll see about that, but a condition for any kind of dance will be the power unit, and it’s here that changes are the biggest.

The new cars aim for a 50/50 split between combustion and electric engines, meaning the former sees a reduction of power to 400 kW (about 536 hp), the latter a boost of nearly 300% to 350 kW (about 470 hp). Another big change is the elimination of DRS, with cars instead having a Z-mode for cornering with increased downforce, and a low-drag X-mode configuration for increased straight line speed. This is referred to as active aerodynamics, and the X-mode also has a manual override function, allowing the driver to use more power for overtaking when a car is at or closer than one second ahead.

If you think that sounds complicated and perhaps slightly over the top, you’re not alone. Of course teams would most probably have complained whatever changes had been introduced, but given the changes more or less alter what F1 has been about so far, the critique from both teams and drivers is understandable. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the changes improve what we all tune in to see every two weeks: great racing.

Some of the biggest concerns raised include the complexity of the power train and hereby reliability issues. Another point is the start procedure, where drivers will have a very small window to correctly rev the engine, creating enough turbo pressure whilst also taking into account the somewhat delayed electric power. The two active aerodynamic modes will mean more sliding on straights whilst fast corners can be taken more easily, fundamentally changing the required driving style. Finally, it’s unclear whether overtaking will be possible at all.

To understand this last point, drivers will need to manage their electrical power carefully as batteries will otherwise deplete half way down the straight, meaning no extra power available for overtaking. They can do this in different ways: by lifting, coasting, or taking corners in lower gears, meaning lower speeds. Quite obviously, none of this comes naturally to an F1 driver, and the skills that traditionally separated the good from the great, such as not lifting when going through Raidillon in Spa, will be far less in demand.

Quite obviously, drivers aren’t thrilled about all this. Max Verstappen has made some comments in the direction of the fun of driving being gone, and him not seeing the point of going on if that’s the case. Charles Leclerc sees potential big issues with overtaking, and many others seem more confused than anything else. Unfortunately, the level of confusion wasn’t really reduced during pre-season testing, rather the opposite.

Teams have had two three-day testing sessions in Barcelona and Bahrain pre-season. All teams except for Williams, who weren’t ready for Barcelona, participated in both. Aston Martin had massive issues during both sessions and only managed to complete 1/3 of the laps of test-leading Mercedes. Their main issue was, unsurprisingly, reliability. Among the top teams, all of them completed more than 1000 laps. However, time differences between them and the mid field are far larger than they used to be, up to several seconds per lap. It will be very interesting to see how that turns out racing-wise.

At this stage, I’d like to keep an open mind and hope all of this turns out better than it sounds on paper and we all expect. In a way, it will be interesting to see if the experienced drivers or the younger guys manage to adapt quickest to the new driving style. Hopefully we’ll get some real racing with races being decided by great driving and not power depletion. And hopefully, drivers will all find it fun enough to be worth their while. If not, the “new” F1 risks becoming one of the more painful sacrifices on the altar of world’s electrification!