Formula 1 Hits The Reset Button For 2026
Esquire India looks at what you need to keep an eye on as a new and revamped season of Formula 1 begins
If there was ever a reset button in Formula 1, this is it. Call it a new dawn. A new start. There’s probably never been a bigger shake-up the sport has ever seen. Everything from the power unit, chassis, tyres and fuel are subject to new regulations.
Despite that, there’s plenty to look forward to in 2026: 24 race weekends, six sprint races, a new street race in Madrid, which is now home to the Spanish Grand Prix, a sprint race at the famed Silverstone circuit, new teams and a virtual clean sheet of paper for teams to write a piece of history on.
Sporting Rulebook Rewritten
Innovation has always been the name of the game in Formula 1. It’s never been more evident in the sport than now. The regulations see a complete revamp this time out.
First, the power units. The cars will retain the 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid engines, but the energy split between electric and internal-combustion power will now be 50-50. There’s no more MGU-H (a heat recovery system) that was considered heavy and not road relevant. Instead, MGU-K – the kinetic energy recovery system – will be more powerful now and contribute even more to overtaking and propulsion.
For the first time ever, Formula 1 power units will be running on 100% advanced sustainable fuels, which were trialled in Formula 2 and Formula 3 in 2025. The sustainable fuel is made from sources like carbon capture, municipal waste and non-food biomass. This is also part of Formula 1’s carbon neutral goals and target for 2030.
Smaller Cars, Faster Cars
While there’s a lot going on under the hood, the cars itself are going to be smaller, lighter and more agile, thanks to the FIA’s Nimble Car Concept.
The cars will now have a shorter wheelbase (by 200mm) for better handling through corners. Formula 1 cars are now 30kg lighter while their overall width has also been trimmed by 100mm. The famous Pirelli tyres are now 25-30mm narrower but retain the same 18-inch wheel rim diameter.
Overall, the cars will be visibly smaller heading into the new season, giving team engineers and designers plenty to think about. Some teams have already voiced their concerns on adapting to these new designs and power unit changes.
Adrian Newey, team principal at Aston Martin, said recently that vibrations from their Honda engine were so bad that they could be felt through the steering wheel, something their drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll reported during pre-season and the build-up to the Australian Grand Prix.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies described building a competitive power unit from the ground up as one of “our sport’s biggest challenges.”
New Terms For The F1 Dictionary
Boost button, Overtake mode, Active Aero, Recharge: there’s plenty to note from the technical terminology department in the new Formula 1 season.
Some of these technicalities involve the car’s actual bodywork, while others rise from the renewed focus on use of electrical energy.
Overtake mode will give drivers a burst of electrical power when they are within one second of a car front in designated zones on the racetrack. That means the much-talked about DRS, or drag reduction system, does not exist anymore. DRS, which was introduced in 2011, was controlled via the steering wheel. If a car was within one second of a car in front in a DRS detection zone, DRS would open a flap on the rear wing to reduce aerodynamic drag, increasing top speed by 10–20 km/h to aid overtaking.
Instead, now, cars will have movable rear and front wings. With Active Aero, drivers will be able to adjust the angle of the front and rear wings. On designated straights, they will be able to open the flaps and flatten the wings, which will reduce drag and increase their top speed.
Boost button or mode will allow drivers to activate maximum power from both the engine and battery. They can do this all at one go or spread it across the lap, to both attack and defend.
Recharge mode has been designed and introduced to help drivers recharge their battery while braking, lifting the throttle at the end of straights or in corners, where only partial energy is used. This is possible because of the car’s energy recovery system, which is now capable of recharging the battery with twice as much energy per lap.
New Names On The Grid
Cadillac and Audi (formerly Sauber) join the big names this year. Cadillac, now the 11th team in Formula 1, will have a strong driver line-up in former Mercedes driver Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez, who last drove for Red Bull. Once rivals, Bottas and Perez share more than 500 race starts between themselves and multiple wins. Their experience will be invaluable for Cadillac, which is the first new, independent constructor to join the Formula 1 grid since Haas in 2016. This also means there will be 22 cars on the grid for the first time since 2014.
Sauber has now been rebranded as Audi. Led by former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and with former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto as the head of Audi F1 Project, the German automaker’s works team will bring their own engine to the grid. The team, with Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as their race drivers, has already made some waves with a new sidepod design on their car that caught everyone’s attention in pre-season testing.
Audi is not the only team with a new power unit. Red Bull will be bringing their own power unit to Formula 1 for the first time, built in-house through Red Bull Powertrains in partnership with Ford. This will also bring an end to Red Bull’s long-standing engine partnership with Honda.
The only rookie on the grid this year will be 18-year-old British driver Arvid Lindblad, who has been promoted from Formula 2 and will drive for the Racing Bulls next to Liam Lawson.
Some Familiar Stories
The regulation shake-up means pretty much every driver starts the new season with a clean slate. But there are some familiar faces that will still rule the headlines.
McLaren’s Lando Norris enters 2026 as the defending champion. It will be interesting to see the team dynamics with
McLaren who had virtually two drivers gunning for the drivers’ championship in Norris and Aussie favourite Oscar Piastri. It remains to be seen who will lead the charge for them this year.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will be aiming to continue the form that saw him overturn a huge points deficit in 2025 to almost catch Norris during the end of the season. It will be foolish to count him out of the equation at any point this new season as he aims to add to his four World Championships.
The other sub-plot to keep an eye on will be Lewis Hamilton. After a torrid 2024 season with Mercedes and an underwhelming first outing with Ferrari in 2025, Hamilton will hope he can return to his winning form in the new season.
While mounting a championship challenge might be a tough ask, and maybe too early in this era of new regulations, for the seven-time world champion, just getting back to winning races would represent a huge step.
Early signs from Bahrain and Barcelona show that Mercedes and Ferrari could be the teams to beat this year. The jury is still out on how the new regulations will impact the action on the track. But in 2026, as soon as the lights go out, it could be anyone’s game.
F1 In 2026: The Key Points
24 race weekends
Six Sprints
New chassis and engine regulations
New street race in Madrid
11th team enters the fray: Cadillac
Audi joins F1 and rebrands Sauber
Red Bull bring their own engine for first time
Only one rookie on the grid – Arvid Lindblad