Formula 1

About the season

Formula 1 underwent one of its biggest regulatory resets ever: lighter cars with a shorter wheelbase, the complex MGU-H scrapped, hybrid battery power nearly tripled, and full-time active aerodynamics introduced with movable wings plus a new "Overtake Mode" to aid passing. Cadillac became the grid's 11th team, fielding Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, still without a points finish, but with solid reliability the American newcomer had established itself as a serious midfield player by mid-season. Audi took to the grid as a full works team after completely taking over Sauber, keeping the Hulkenberg-Bortoleto line-up and openly targeting a championship challenge by 2030. After a difficult 2025, 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes produced a stunning turnaround: he won eight of the season's first 14 races, became the youngest-ever championship leader in Japan, and the youngest-ever pole-sitter in China. Lewis Hamilton staged one of the great comebacks of his career, taking his first-ever win for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and ending a 686-day victory drought - the podium with Russell and Norris was the first all-British podium since 1968, and at 41 he became the oldest Grand Prix winner since Jack Brabham in 1970. Red Bull admitted that Verstappen's RB22 suffers from a mysterious performance drop-off that worsens over a race weekend and can't be fixed before 2027, yet despite going winless through the first 14 rounds, he still sat second in the championship purely on the strength of his consistency. The current leader of the 2026 season is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with 302 points (Mercedes), 66 points ahead of the runner-up. Mercedes currently leads the Constructors' Championship with 538 points, 160 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 15 completed races this season, there were 66 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the most race wins, 8 in total. Russell won the season-opening race, the Australian Grand Prix. The Chinese Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 7 drivers failing to finish. The most dominant win of the season came at the Barcelona Grand Prix, with a margin of 19.6 seconds. The season's biggest upset win came from Antonelli at the Italian Grand Prix, starting from grid position 19. Antonelli made the biggest gain of the season at the Italian Grand Prix, from grid position 19 to finishing 1 (up 18 places). The closest finish of the season came at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.196 seconds. Russell won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the most recently completed race of the season so far.