This weekend begins on the circuit of Albert Park of Melbourne he Australian GP of Formula 1first of the season 2026 in a World where Lando Norris defends his newly crowned driver’s world champion crown and his team, McLarenthat of builders.
It will be the first of 24 race weekends, with six of them hosting sprintsamong which there will be again 14 years later two in Spain: Barcelona y Madrid. It will not be the only novelty, because many teams were waiting for this 2026 and the long-awaited news as a way of giving back to the F1 its old competitiveness, but in the preseason it has been seen that equality will be hard to come by and the list of favorites will be reduced to the usual ones.
Verstappen, Piastri and Hamilton, Norris’s main rivals
Among those will be the Dutch Max Verstappenof Red Bullthe considered “moral winner” of last year for keeping the fight for World of drivers, despite having a car clearly inferior to the McLaren. This year, with an engine Ford and a new partner in the person of one of the best ‘rookies’ of 2025, Isack Hadjarthey once again aspire to everything.
The internal fight in the British team was partly what benefited ‘Mad Max‘ when it comes to continuing to have hope, which implies the participation of a third actor: Oscar Piastri. The Australian driver will want to show that he is worthy enough to fight for the title. World as your partner Norrisbut he will have a difficult time within a British team against a British driver.
The same nationality as the seven-time champion Lewis Hamiltonwho longs to return to the top six years later and in the preseason Ferrari It has given him back the illusion of finally having the competitive car he dreamed of with his star signing last year.
Finally, despite the hopes placed by all the teams in the changes, the aspiring teams remain the same. He joins the three from before Mercedeswhere Italian is consolidating Kimi Antonelli as a great asset in the face of the stagnation of the British George Russell. The German brand supplies the engine itself, as does McLaren.
The doubts of Alonso and Sainz
Given the optimism of those considered ‘great’, the doubts of those teams that put all their hopes in this 2026. That implies Aston Martin and to Spanish Fernando Alonsothat with the signing of the engineer Adrian Newey last year they planned to take a step forward this season, but the preseason results of the new engine Honda They have left much to be desired.
Newwho is considered the creator of the best Red Bull In his two winning cycles, he is an expert in aerodynamics, but he has been skeptical when it comes to assembling the improvements with the Japanese brand’s engine. True to his style of taking packaging to the limit, he asked at the last minute to install the MGU-K in an extremely low position to sink the center of gravity of the AMR26. This forced us to divide the battery pack into two levels and change the original anchors, which caused excessively high vibrations that made the batteries resonate within the chassis.
“The systems are interacting in a way that simulations in Sakura (headquarters of Honda) did not predict,” he declared New a Motorsport. The preseason problems have caused some to rate the Aston Martin “walking laboratory” and cast doubt on its performance. To his 44 years, Alonso I wanted to hold on until I had at least one season in which I aspired to something more than low podium positions, and even more so having a GP in Madrid.
Nor have things been better in Williamswhere he plays for another year Carlos Sainz waiting to take a step forward after two podiums last season. The former World Cup-winning team has now seen how in the preseason its FW48 did not pass crash test and lost critical days of testing in Barcelona. “We are going to start the first half of the year with lower expectations than in 2025…but my 11 years of experience can serve as a guide,” he said Sainz on the last day of testing in Bahrainin statements collected by DAZN.
Carlos Sainz: “We arrived late and a little unprepared”
To top off the added difficulties to the Spaniards’ options, new rivals must be taken into account in that ‘middle zone of the table’ with the entry of Audi rather Sauber and the arrival of Cadillacwhich has brought back the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez. More competition to score points.
Goodbye, DRS; Hello, “active aerodynamics”: the technical news
These long-awaited technical developments are summarized in several points. The most striking is the elimination of DRSwhich is replaced by what is called active aerodynamics: All drivers can move their wings (front and rear) to reduce resistance on the straights, without having to be one second behind the rival. The most striking in the preseason has turned out to be that of Ferrariwith a capacity to rotate 360º degrees.
The power is divided equally between the combustion engine (V6 Turbo) and the electrical part (MGUK), which doubles its power up to 350 kW. It is introduced the Manual Override Modean extra power from the battery that can only be used by the pursuer to facilitate overtaking, the button called push to pass.
Briatore: “Fernando Alonso is incredible, very competitive; he can continue one or two more years”
Visually, this means that the cars are shorter, narrower and 30 kg lighter. Having less downforce, they will be slower in corners and more difficult to drive. The pilot is once again decisive in managing the engine brake to recharge the batteries. Not everyone has received these news positively. Verstappen has referred to the “Formula E with steroids.” For his part, Alonso have issued the warning: “If you spend that energy (to overtake), you will pay for it on the next straight. So they may re-overtake you,” although on the other side of the scale they have praised the “freedom” that the Manual Override Mode.
Madrid and “La Monumental”, the great novelty of a long calendar
The other big news is on the calendar with the inclusion of Madrid. The capital will host in September the Spanish GPwhile that of Montmeló It remains in June, becoming known as GP of Catalonia. Neither will host any of the six races at sprint. That will be for Chinathe second one a week after Australia, Miami, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands y Singapore. In total, 24 great prizes for a schedule as tight or more than the previous one, which will conclude in Abu Dhabi he December 6.
Madrid wants to make a big debut in the F1. The capital of Spain awaits the ‘great circus’ with a semi-urban circuit of 5,4 km in the area of IFEMA y Valdebebas: he MadRing. The designers of the layout have presented days ago the ‘jewel’ of the circuit with the most banked curve in the entire circuit. Worldnamed as The Monumental in tribute to Sales. will have 550 meters to 24% cant and it will be taken thoroughly, remembering the NASCARposing a challenge for the new active aerodynamics and for the left front tire. Pirelli He has baptized her with another name: Rubber eater.
A challenge for the pilots and an incentive for the spectacle sought after with so many new features. It is not in vain that this curve can be seen from a stand of 45.000 spectators, with a total capacity of 110.000. Madrid bet all in for the F1.
