By William Joseph Heys
New regulations mean a new era for Formula 1 bringing a familiar sense of uncertainty.
For teams across the grid, 2026 offers both opportunity and the potential for things to go drastically wrong, as the sport undergoes its biggest technical reset in more than a decade.
Formula 1 has been here before.
Regulation overhauls have a habit of redrawing the competitive order, often in ways that few see coming.
In 2009, Brawn GP emerged from the ashes of Honda with a double diffuser concept that would go on to dominate a season nobody predicted.
In 2014, Mercedes’ mastery of the hybrid Power Unit ushered in years of dominance.
And in 2022, the Adrian Newey designed Red Bull interpreted the ground-effect rules better than anyone else.
History tells us that when the rulebook is torn up, nothing is certain.
The question for 2026 is will the same names still be at the front?
Or could one team bring us another Brawn GP situation?
A whole car reset
Formula 1 will introduce new aerodynamic rules, new power units, new fuels, narrower tyres, and new strategic tools for drivers.
The cars themselves will be shorter, narrower and lighter.
Ground-effect, which defined the 2022–25 era, has been abandoned.
DRS as we know it has been reworked into ‘Overtake Mode’ and brings the introduction of the visually striking active aero.
Not only that, but for the first time since 2009, we have five separate engine manufacturers all competing with a brand new engine format.
They are: Ferrari, Mercedes, Ford, Honda and Audi – whilst the Ferrari propelled Cadillac have been approved to make a works engine in from 2029.
The new PUs will have a 50-50 split of combustion engine power vs electrical power with the MGU-H being completely removed.
Who could take pole?
The story of Brawn GP seems to have similarities to that of Alpine.
Both teams completely wrote off a season to focus on new regulations.
Plus, signing Mercedes as their new power unit partner.
Could Pierre Gasly cook up another surprise win this year?
Over at Grove, they may not have turned up to the Barcelona shakedowns, but James Vowels seems confident in the 2026 package
He has consistently said he did not care about 2022-2025, but was waiting for 2026.
For a team principal to not care about the car in 2025, in which Carlos Sainz got two podiums for the team, gives Williams fans some long awaited hope.
Winless since Pastor Maldonado’s superb display in Barcelon 2012, Williams could finally reach the top step again.
Who is going home pointless?
Aston Martin completed the least laps of any at that were present at Barcelona’s pre-season shakedown, but showed up with an array of inspiring aero components.
Could they be Newey genius?
Adrian Newey is not a bullet proof solution to a Formula 1 Championship, but it’s the closest teams can get to it.
You would have to be very brave to bet against him
Martin Brundle reported to Sky F1 “Adrian was saying to me that Honda, they’re having to play catch-up, because they were leaving and then they came back in.”
Cadillac are facing a COTA Turn 1 sized hill to climb.
They do have a lot going for them: the most experienced driver pairing on the grid, a team enriched in international motorsports success and a Ferrari PU.
But it is hard task to join Formula One starting from nothing.
Haas were the last new team to enter finishing P8 in their debut season.
Before that were the likes of HRT, Lotus, Virgin Racing, Caterham and Marussia who combined scored 2 World Championship points.
The trend says that it might be a while before we see Cadillac score some significant points.
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