The race to become this year's Formula 1 World Championship holder gets under way again this weekend, with the first race of the new season, the Melbourne Grand Prix, taking place in Australia.
After an exciting season last year that saw Lando Norris, racing for Team McLaren-Mercedes, emerge with his first ever World Drivers' Championship, there's a lot of anticipation around whether he'll be able to carry that successfully into a second year at the top of the rankings - and much more besides.
Let's take a look at what fans can expect from the season ahead…
- New Rules for a New Season
As with every new F1 championship, a new set of regulations are introduced, and this year is no exception, and some critics have highlighted that these are some of the biggest such changes to the rules in its history.
In summary, the main changes coming in are that power units now have to comprise 50% sustainable fuels and 50% electric power, which, for some teams, will cause more of a headache than others.
Admittedly, hybrid power has been used in F1 cars since 2014, although the split back then was a more achievable 80/20 ratio, meaning that with this new weighting, energy management for drivers is going to be crucial to ensure they don't deplete this all from electric on their first straight, or sacrifice lap times as a result.
The car weight and dimensions are also now under closer scrutiny - largely as a response to complaints regarding the gradual increase in the weight of cars in previous seasons. The focus now has to be on what the FIA are calling their "Nimble Car Concept".
The maximum wheelbase length has now been reduced by 20cm, and the car's track width has been reduced by 10cm, and there is also a 30kg reduction in overall weight limit. For some this may be a tall order, given that the minimum weight for the power unit has now increased by 34kg. Although preseason testing has showcased that these reductions are largely positive for slight improvements in racing.
And then there's the change regarding aerodynamics, as cars will now have only two wing settings - one for straights, and one for corners. The former will only be available to deploy in FIA approved zones (indicated by 'SM' boards, short for 'straight-line mode', at the side of the track), and will be activated by the driver from the cockpit, although again, the changes will hopefully improve efficiency in lieu of the power unit change discussed earlier.
Two new teams will be competing for the first time this year - Audi being one, and Cadillac being the other. For Cadillac, this will be their first year since they previously attempted to enter Formula 1 in conjunction with Andretti Global back in 2023. Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas will both be driving for them this year.
For Audi, they have raced as Kick Sauber for the past two seasons, owing to their purchase of the existing Sauber team in 2024, but this will be their first season under their own name. Ford will also be supplying engines again this year for the first time since 2004, when they previously provided engines for Team Jordan. They will be doing so in partnership with Red Bull Powertrains.
In light of all the new regulations, there have been more pre-season tests than before this year, one suspects, so that everyone can get adjusted. There's been three in total; the first were at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain at the end of January, whilst two further tests were done at Bahrain International Circuit a couple of weeks ago.
With the exception of Team Williams, all teams raced at the private tests - and each had a different victor for fastest time. In Barcelona, Lewis Hamilton racing for Ferrari set the fastest time over the five day test from 26th - 30th January.
Kimi Antonelli, racing for Mercedes, emerged as fastest time on the first three day test at Bahrain from 11th - 13th February, whilst Ferrari came out on top again, this time via Charles Leclerc on the second three day test there, from 18th - 20th February.
All of which, if nothing else, serves to underline that with so many new changes happening before any of the races have even started, that 2026 may be that bit more unpredictable - and thus exciting - than other F1 seasons have been in recent years.
If you're as excited as we are for the new F1 championships to start this weekend, you can book a bit of your own on-track action with our Formula 1 Driving Experiences, available from £69 at UK wide venues. Or of course, there's also our F1® Arcade Simulator packages in London and Birmingham, with Watch Parties available to book for all the races in the calendar along with unlimited racing simulators to enjoy, starting from as little as £40.
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