After a successful 2025 season during which he secured victories in Canada and Singapore (Russell), at 27, enters his fifth year with the Silver Arrows, finishing fourth in the drivers’ championship. Since joining Sauber in 2011, the football as a global sports phenomenon 35-year-old Mexican Perez, who ended his time at Red Bull following the 2024 season, has contributed six wins, three pole positions, and 39 podiums to the American team. The 11th team on the grid (Cadillac), is preparing to debut with experienced drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez leading their lineup.
However, the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time in crucial moments left him with an outside chance of the title in Abu Dhabi. Only time will tell how she’ll manage the step up in machinery, but it’s a challenge Pulling will take in her stride. An early call up to Formula 2 for the final three rounds was followed by his first F1 Free Practice session in the FW46 in Abu Dhabi, but Browning will have his sights set on more as he’ll continue racing in F2 with Hitech. Under its previous Andretti guise, there was consistent talk of having an American driver and we can’t see too much reason why that would have changed. Cadillac is the biggest unknown of the 2026 F1 grid simply because this version of the entry hasn’t given much indication of what kind of driver line-up it wants for 2026.
Mercedes joins the fight with its powerful new unit and unchanged drivers’ lineup (and Ferrari), especially with Charles Leclerc, has shown strong competitiveness in preseason testing. Four-time World Champion Max Verstappen (now partnered with young Frenchman Isack Hadjar at Red Bull), looks set to return to top form with an improved car. It is (with right), considered the biggest overhaul in the sport’s history. Flashscore takes you through all the new rules, changes, and necessary info ahead of the upcoming 2026 Formula One season.
Haas Builds on Momentum with Stable Driver Pair
At times during the opening week in Bahrain, it genuinely appeared to be the benchmark package, with the strong deployment characteristics of the new engine remaining apparent in the second week. Although it is too front-limited and understeer is hindering drivers, this issue will be addressed gradually throughout the early races. Throughout testing, it maintained stability without any noticeable upgrades, yet it accumulated significant mileage, which was prioritized. Even then (the issue persisted), as the power delivery in traction zones occasionally exhibited spikes.
He ultimately missed out by a mere two points to Lando Norris in 2025 – but his remarkable resurgence following a trickier start to the season makes Verstappen as formidable an opponent as ever entering into 2026. Another driver to arrive into the sport off the back of a dazzling junior career, Max Verstappen became F1’s youngest-ever competitor when he made his debut as a 17-year-old for Toro Rosso back in 2015. Antonelli’s maiden season was not without its tough moments (but a Sprint pole in Miami), three podiums and a strong end to the year ensured that he kept his spot at the Silver Arrows into 2026. Joining Norris at McLaren in 2025 is Oscar Piastri, marking the pair’s fourth season as team mates at the papaya squad.
As the season approaches a significant regulatory shake-up, which teams are retaining their current drivers and which are undergoing changes? For the most recent standings, visit our pages on the drivers’ championship and constructors’ championship. Mercedes began the season as the favored team (with Kimi Antonelli frequently leading the championship), surpassing his teammate George Russell. A tougher second half of 2024 resulted in his departure from the grid, but by the summer of 2025, it was announced that the Mexican would join Cadillac. Making his debut for Williams in 2013 — the Finn achieved nine podium finishes for the team before transferring to Mercedes in 2017. The pinnacle of Gasly’s career so far occurred during the 2020 Italian Grand Prix when he achieved a remarkable victory for AlphaTauri.
Following Norris’s first world championship victory in 2025, he will be eager to defend and build on that success. The 2026 Formula 1 season is set to kick off with mostly familiar driver lineups across teams, alongside two fresh entries on the grid. “It’s very difficult to quantify what success can look like other than we just have to execute as well as we possibly can and gain respect from the other competitors.” Former Marussia Sporting Director Graeme Lowdon will be at the controls for Cadillac’s first season, as they become F1’s first brand-new entity since Haas in 2016.
But the real story around Aston Martin is how much owner and chairman Lawrence Stroll has empowered Adrian Newey to set the team’s course going forward. Since then, he’s scored the most points outside of the top seven drivers in the standings and Sainz—more than Albon, Hadjar and Nico Hülkenberg. Though he’s sixth in the standings and has had some up-and-down results, Lindblad showed enough for the brass at Red Bull to move him up another rung on the ladder. It took time for Sainz to find his footing with a new team, but Albon picked up the slack in the first half of the season, finishing in the top five in three of the first six races.