Why Hamilton has found the new F1 cars more fun to drive
Lewis Hamilton’s wealth of Formula 1 experience puts him in the best place to assess the new generation of cars – and he’s enjoying what he is driving so far. The seven-time F1 world champion is entering the fifth major regulations overhaul of his career and has often been vocal about which era of car […]
How Barcelona’s F1 shakedown went for the 2026 field
The complexity of F1’s 2026 rules overhaul is such that teams requested an extra shakedown on top of two three-day tests in Bahrain to prepare for the start of the season in Melbourne in March. The new power units, with a much bigger reliance on a more powerful electric MGU-K system, caused such nerves that […]
Newey’s extreme Aston, Red Bull, and Mercedes: Early technical trends of F1 2026
After the shakedown in Barcelona, the first question to ask is whether it really had to be so secretive. Of course, it matters that ‘official’ winter testing is organised in Bahrain and that, for commercial reasons, only that event is allowed to carry that name, but fears of a repeat of 2014 have proven unfounded.Williams […]
Alonso’s verdict on Aston Martin’s first proper day of 2026 F1 running
Given the revolving door of technical directors, team principals and CEOs at Aston Martin in recent seasons, the scrutiny of its activities during the Barcelona shakedown would have been intense even if its new car were not the first product of its new structure under Adrian Newey.The team was the last to arrive of those […]
Verstappen on Red Bull F1 engine: «Still quite a bit of work to do»
Max Verstappen stated “there’s still quite a bit of work to do” on his new Red Bull Ford Powertrain after the Barcelona Formula 1 shakedown. F1 hosted a five-day private test in Barcelona this week, where all 11 teams were given a maximum of three days running ahead of this season’s wholesale regulation change.Not only is […]
The «huge changes» Aston Martin had to overcome to make the Barcelona F1 shakedown
Like Indiana Jones snatching his misplaced fedora from under a rapidly descending stone doorway, Aston Martin’s timing was dramatically close to the edge this week. The team arrived for the Barcelona shakedown week late on the third of the five days and only achieved a handful of laps when its AMR26 emerged from the garage […]
Lowdon on why Cadillac F1 hired on values over ability
As Formula 1’s first expansion team in a decade, Cadillac is very much up against it to take on F1’s establishment when its veteran race winners Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez join the grid in March. Following an intense recruitment spree for its bases in Silverstone and North America, which the team says yielded over 140,000 […]
What happened on day four of F1’s secretive 2026 shakedown
Aston Martin finally appeared on track in the latter stages of the fourth day of the Barcelona Formula 1 shakedown, while Mercedes kept collecting miles and McLaren’s day was cut short with trouble. Fresh from turning over 90 laps apiece on Wednesday, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and George Russell traded turns again on Thursday with a […]
Mercedes impresses with first race sim at F1’s Barcelona shakedown
Mercedes has delivered a strong start to the 2026 Formula 1 pre-season as Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed a full race simulation on day two. The Mercedes W17 ran reliably on both Monday and Wednesday, with George Russell having completed 92 laps by lunchtime yesterday before handing over the car to Antonelli. The youngster then reeled […]