F1 in 2026: New regulations, circuit, team and driver

After a gripping season that ended in narrow failure to claim the Drivers' Championship for Australia's Oscar Piastri thoughts in the paddock are already turning towards the 2026 Formula One campaign, and some notable changes.

There will be a new circuit, new team and new driver, but more significant will be the technical changes with teams spending the next three months before the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne adapting to them.

Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marked the last time Formula 1 uses the Drag Reduction System (DRS) overtaking aid, introduced in 2011. Next year, drivers will have to manage the car's systems more closely than ever with a more visible role for aerodynamic and electrical technology.

The biggest regulation changes in years will mean shorter, narrower and lighter, cars with movable "active aerodynamics" — X-mode for straight-line speed, Z-mode for cornering — and more reliance on electric hybrid power.

Instead of DRS, drivers can deploy extra electrical power at key moments. That makes driving more strategic but could lead to drivers lifting off the power and coasting on some straights to allow the electrical systems to harvest energy.

The FIA governing body has claimed the rules emphasise driver skill but there have been mixed reviews from those who've tried 2026 designs in their teams' simulators.

Smaller, more agile cars could help overtaking but the fastest and slowest cars may be up to four seconds per lap apart on pace, tyre supplier Pirelli has reported. In F1 terms, that's an eternity. Expect to see more engine failures as teams balance reliability with performance.

One team to watch is Aston Martin, which has its first car created with design great Adrian Newey in charge, now with Honda power, and is hoping it can make two-time champion Fernando Alonso an F1 race winner for the first time in 13 years.

The F1 grid expands to 22 cars for the first time since 2016 as Cadillac becomes the 11th team with backing from General Motors.

They will have two of the most experienced drivers as Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez return, with a combined 16 wins and 527 starts between them.

British 18-year-old Arvid Lindblad will be the only rookie in 2026, at Racing Bulls. Eight of the 10 existing teams have stuck with the same driver line-up so the only other change is Isack Hadjar moving up to Red Bull to join Max Verstappen.

The "Madring" Madrid street circuit takes over the Spanish GP title from Barcelona, which stays on the calendar as Italy's second F1, the Emilia-Romagna GP at Imola, has been dropped.

The 2026 season will begin with private testing in Spain starting January 26, then two open testing sessions in Bahrain in February before the grid roars back into competitive action at Albert Park on March 8.