This Week – 25/01/2026
Hello, welcome to This Week on the eve of the first test in Barcelona. We haven’t yet ‘officially’ turned a wheel yet, but controversy is never far away as a row brews over power units. Most teams have launched their new cars, so cutting through the spin is challenging
General News
The FIA is looking to close the first technical controversy before the opening race in Melbourne. Several manufacturers believe Mercedes and Red Bull/Ford have come up with a trick to cleverly exploit the F1 2026’s power unit regulations, which prescribe a compression ratio of 16:1 down from 18:1 last year.
That compression ratio is measured when the engine isn’t running and is therefore cold, while it is believed Mercedes and Red Bull have found a way to make their engines run at higher compression ratios on the track, using materials that expand under heat. The issue will be discussed in Barcelona on Thursday, with action promised if the rules aren’t being interpreted fairly by all manufacturers.
What complicates matters is that it is far too late for manufacturers to make any hardware changes for 2026, so if the regulations aren’t actually being breached, it would seem that any performance advantage from the compression ratio trick – believed to be two- to three-tenths of a second per lap depending on the circuit – is baked in until 2027.
Speaking to Motorsport.com at the Autosport Business Exchange in London, the FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said the FIA was keen to resolve the matter before the start of the new season.
Tombazis said, “I think it’s obvious we need to be careful about such matters. Compared to the past, we are far more conscious that we want teams to have the same interpretation of the regulations.”
“We don’t want who wins to be somebody who just had a smartarse interpretation, if I may, or who was, I wouldn’t say necessarily clever, but just ignored certain things or drove a truck through other things. So, we are very keen to avoid such controversies and to make sure that when people go racing, they understand the rules in exactly the same way.”
He added that these things were inevitable given the scale of the regulation changes and the size of the teams’ aerodynamic departments that the governing body can’t resolve all the problems.
Apple’s head of sport believes its F1 coverage should start well before the lights go out on the grid. Talking at the Autosport Business Exchange London, Jim DeLorenzo, outlined the streaming platform’s plan for the rights in the United States, as they believe coverage should start well before the lights go out
DeLorenzo said, “One of the great things about the movie, which has been obviously a huge worldwide success – that part’s been great – but really the important thing for us, what got us interested in the live rights, was being able to work with F1, work with the teams, work with the drivers.”
“Because for us – and we talk about this all the time – we are not a transactional company. We really try to focus on the partnership angle of everything. So seeing that as we were making the movie gave us more confidence. Then when the live rights opportunity came up to be able to pursue this… sports is really important for our customers, which is why it’s important for us.”
DeLorenzo says the success of the F1 movie, which was a global success, made them interested in the TV rights in first place, suggesting that they want a ‘revolutionary’ partnership similar to ITV thirty years ago. Apple is aiming to increase engagement for fans, fuelled by an excitement that’s building from the fans of the championship within its own organisation.
Adding “Obviously, having Cadillac come in, having Ford come in is going to be great because I think we all think at Apple that there’s a ton of room to grow in the United States for Formula 1 and having big brands, big companies who are based in the United States can only help.”
“As we’re looking to grow the sport in the US, that means in part we have to demystify it, right? For the new fans, the potential fans that are out there – and that’s where we wanna partner with everybody and try and figure out the best way to do that.”
Apple has not yet specified how it will approach non-race days or which parts of the company’s ecosystem will be used for this, but more details will hopefully be revealed as we enter the 2026 season.
McLaren
Team principal Andrea Stella says the world champions have faced an “unprecedented” amount of work to prepare for the new rules this season. The sport has had its biggest regulation change in all areas in history, with new cars, engines, fuel and tyres.
Stella said, “There’s been so much work behind the design, the realisation, the build of the 2026 cars that, for what I can remember is almost unprecedented, because never before has there been such a huge and simultaneous change of chassis, power unit and tyres. But even the sheer volume of redesigning that went through the last 20 months at McLaren has been probably the biggest design, or in general, dealing with a new car project that I was a part of.”
“This all makes it extremely interesting to see how the cars will perform, how the competitiveness order will be somehow mixed up. We are champions, but we don’t carry being champions into 2026. Everyone will start from the starting blocks – everyone will start from zero.”
He says that the team would not be ready to run their new car on the first day of the first pre-season test in Spain next week because they wanted to give themselves as much time as possible to design their car, to maximise performance. They haven’t also carried out a filming day or shakedown test.
McLaren are planning to start running on day two or three, as they wanted to give them as much time to develop the car as possible, but that means they might have committed too early and compromised development and performance of the car.
Stella said McLaren had reviewed the way they operated last season as drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battled for the championship, called Paypa Rules, and agreed that allowing them to race each other would continue into 2026. The team faced a number of difficult situations as they tried to operate in what they considered a fair manner.
both drivers insisted the team’s approach was the one they favoured as they each wanted the best chance to win the championship. Norris ended up beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the title by two points, with Piastri finishing third.
Stella said, “We talked last year quite a bit about internal racing at McLaren. From that point of view, we will enter 2026 with continuity – we will keep racing the McLaren way. If we have been able to achieve success in 2024 and then in 2025, what has added extra value is the way in which we have achieved in such a collaborative, supportive, cohesive way together with our drivers.”
“All this has led us to reaffirm fundamentally that the concepts of fairness, integrity, equal opportunities, sportsmanship – they are all fundamental for the team, for Lando and for Oscar. They are confirmed and consolidated, if anything.”
Mercedes
Mercedes launched their 2026 car, the W17 on Thursday. The livery of the car is largely unchanged with a black and silver design with turquoise accents as a nod to everlasting sponsor Petronas. A notable addition to the livery is the Microsoft logo on the airbox and the front wing endplates, with Mercedes snapping up Alpine’s longtime partner.
CEO and team principal Toto Wolff said, “Formula 1 will undergo significant change in 2026, and we are prepared for that transition. The new regulations demand innovation and absolute focus across every area of performance. Our work on the new car, and the long-term development of the power unit and advanced sustainable fuels with Petronas, reflects that approach.”
The side pod also featured five silver stripes and the Petronas blue running along the edge. Microsoft is also visible on the car, with Mercedes having announced a major new sponsorship deal with the technology giant on Thursday morning. The deal could be worth £44.7m. it also carried out a shakedown test at Silverstone, Russell and Antonelli shared 67 laps of the International Circuit in wet and cold conditions, hitting the maximum mileage permitted under F1 regulations for a filming day.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said, “We have had a sensible first day of running with the W17 at Silverstone. As with any shakedown, the focus is on ensuring everything operates safely and reliably.”
“We were able to get through our allotted mileage, with both George and Kimi getting to experience the 2026 car on track for the first time. That is testament to the hard work of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth.”
Like its predecessor, the new Silver Arrow will be raced by lead driver George Russell and sophomore Kimi Antonelli, who finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in last year’s drivers’ championship.
Mercedes took the runner-up spot in the constructors’, narrowly holding off Red Bull, but was never a real title contender against a dominant McLaren outfit.
Chief designer John Owen will lead the team after nearly twenty years later in 2026. Owen joined what was Honda in 2007, before winning championships with Brawn in 2009 and Mercedes between 2014 and 2021.
The team won the drivers’ and constructors’ titles as Brawn and then seven drivers’ and eight constructors’ championships as Mercedes from 2014-21. A Mercedes statement said Owen would leave “after assuring the transition to his successor” and then have a period of gardening leave.
There was no information on what his next career step might be. Engineering director Giacomo Tortora will become director of car design, a group overseen by deputy technical director Simone Resta, the team said.
He began his career at Reynard before joining Sauber, now Audi, in 2002, before joining the Brackley-based Honda in 2007. Owen has been the chief designer since Mercedes brought Brawn in 2009 when he was promoted from principal aerodynamicist.
Red Bull
Team principal Laurent Mekies is hoping that the teams in-season development will be enough to convince Max Verstappen to stay, as they begin manufacturing in partnership with Ford power units.
As we said over the last month, the sport this season has the biggest regulatory overhaul in a generation with major changes to both the hybrid power units and the chassis rules. Red Bull has added to that challenge by entering its first in-house power units developed with Ford. Laurent Mekies has never shied away from the huge mountain Red Bull has to climb to get on par with established power unit manufacturers like Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda, so the team has modestly taken on an underdog role for the start of the 2026 season.
This could create a similar situation if Red Bull struggles to deliver performance about Verstappen’s future, The four-time world champion is known to have performance-related exit clauses in his contract, that otherwise runs to 2028. Following exploratory talks with Mercedes, Verstappen reaffirmed his commitment to Red Bull for 2026, but rumours about his future are bound to resurface over the coming months.
Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange in London, Mekies said Verstappen was fully on board with Red Bull’s long-term vision, and it is up to the Milton Keynes operation to show enough progress throughout 2026 to earn the Dutchman’s confidence.
He said “One of the many incredible things with Max is that he’s not sitting outside of the project watching and judging what we do. He takes a risk with us and he’s aware that when you take risks sometimes you fall. He’s aware of the scale of the challenge and he lives and breathes motorsport more than a large part of us.”
“Max wants a fast car, so the best way to make sure he wants to stay with us for as long as we can imagine is to give him a fast car – a combination of a fast chassis and a fast PU. We may not get that at the right level for race one, but he will see the trajectories, and hopefully we can show him a strong enough trajectory so that he feels that that group of people is going to produce the fastest car possible.”
Red Bull last year fought their way back into the championship, and they will be hoping that they can repeat that this season, when there is expected to be a huge rate of development both on the aero and power unit side.
Ferrari
Ferrari launched their 2026 car the SF-26 at there Fiorano test track on Friday, where it also carried out a shakedown. The Italian team has stuck to its traditional launch plan of revealing its new car on the same day as its shakedown at Fiorano, with both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on hand to complete the first laps of Ferrari’s 2026 challenger.
Ferrari go into this season looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2025, when it dropped to fourth in the constructors’ standings, with the main focus of its season being Hamilton’s struggle to adapt to Ferrari as he failed to pick up a grand prix podium for the first time in his career.
Team principal Fred Vasseur has set an “aggressive” approach to development of the 2026 F1 car, with final assembly planned to be completed on the eve of the launch and shakedown. Ferrari was one of the first to switch its entire aerodynamic development to its 2026 car back in April.
Chassis technical director Loic Serra said, “Developing the SF-26 required us to adapt to a completely new regulatory framework. We dedicated significant time to the concept phase to capture as much of possible of the new regulatory and technical context. We also had to ensure that the car’s architecture would allow us enough flexibility for in-season development.”
“In this environment, efficiency and the integration of features like active aerodynamics are crucial. The SF-26 represents a major collaborative effort from the entire team at the factory, and we are looking forward to starting the season.”
Ferrari face a make-or-break season, to give Hamilton a chance in the next few years to challenge for a championship.
Hamilton, meanwhile, described the 2026 as “a huge challenge” as Ferrari launched their new car. The seven-time champion, who had a difficult debut season with the Italian team, said working on the new car produced by Ferrari for the sport’s new engine and chassis rules had been “fascinating”.
He said, “It will be an extremely important year from a technical perspective, with the driver playing a central role in energy management, understanding the new systems and contributing to the car’s development.”
“The 2026 season represents a huge challenge for everyone, probably the biggest regulation change I have experienced in my career. When a new era begins everything revolves around development, growth as a team, and moving forward in the same direction.”
Charles Leclerc said: “The 2026 regulations demand an even higher level of preparation, particularly for us drivers. There are many new systems to understand and optimise, which is why we have been heavily involved from the early stages of the project’s development.”
Hamilton’s Ferrari race engineer Riccardo Adami has been moved to a different role with the Italian team ahead of the 2026 season. The seven-time champion had a difficult first season with the team, going the whole season without a Grand Prix podium for the first time in his career.
He struggled to get to grips with an underperforming car, he also appeared to be regularly frustrated and confused by radio exchanges with Adami, who was the Brit’s direct point of contact on the Ferrari pit wall. You could see that in commentary when listening to communications between the two, which only grew as the season went on.
In a statement released last Friday, Ferrari said: “Scuderia Ferrari HP announces that Riccardo Adami has moved to a new role within the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy as Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy and Test Previous Cars Manager, where his extensive trackside experience and expertise contribute to the development of future talent and to strengthening performance culture across the program.”
“Scuderia Ferrari HP would like to thank Riccardo for his commitment and contribution to his trackside role and wishes him every success in his new position. The appointment of the new Race Engineer for car #44 will be announced in due course.”
Williams
Williams are to miss the first test in Barcelona which begins tomorrow, because they haven’t got their car ready. Rumours emerged on Thursday that the car had not passed the required crash test to participate at the behind-closed-doors event the teams have arranged to run their all-new cars together for the first time.
On Friday, the team released a confirming their absence from the first event, but said they expect to be ready to run in Bahrain from February 11-13 in the first of two official tests arrange by F1.
The team statement said: “Atlassian Williams F1 Team has taken the decision not to participate in next week’s shakedown test in Barcelona following delays in the FW48 programme as we continue to push for maximum car performance.”
“The team will instead conduct a series of tests including a VTT programme next week with the 2026 car to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain and the first race of the season in Melbourne. We are looking forward to getting on track in the coming weeks and want to thank all our fans for your continued support – there is a lot to look forward to together in 2026.”
The team last missed testing in 2019 following a worsening financial situation, which led to the team being sold to Dorilton Capital in September 2020.
Alex Albon and his partner Lilly Muni have announced there engagement, the British-Thai driver has been with the golfer since 2019. Having met on social media after taking an interest in each other’s sports – F1 and golf.
Albon and Muni He shared their news on social media. “I guess we’re stuck with each other now,” they wrote alongside a photo of them smiling from ear to ear as Muni held up her left hand to show off the ring.
Muni He told Golfweek in 2021″He’s a really funny person. I think when we first met, British humour is slightly different. It took me a while to catch on.”
Albon told Golfweek in 2022: “I was just kind [of] following how she was doing, and she was following how I was doing, and one thing led to another and we met up in L.A. It was a week after I had a race in Texas. We played some golf together and that’s how it all got started.
The Williams team shared its well-wishes with the couple. the team wrote in a press release, “Some wonderful off-season news has broken, with Alex Albon announcing his engagement to partner, professional golfer Lily Muni He.”
Many of the F1 grid took to the comments to congratulate the couple. McLaren driver Oscar Piastri commented: “Congrats!!” while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who got engaged to Alexandra Saint Mleux in 2025, wrote: “CONGRATSSSSSS.”
Racing Bulls
Dan Fallows has been appointed as the teams technical director, after losing his role at Aston Martin as a technical director. Fallows lost his role as Aston Martin’s design leader in November 2024 after just over two years with the team.
His new role sees him return to the Red Bull group – he had been head of aerodynamics at Red Bull before joining Aston Martin in early 2022.
Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane said: “Dan has a wealth of experience, and his technical understanding and leadership will be a real asset to the team as we continue to develop and push forward competitively.”
Fallows, who will report to chief technical officer Tim Goss, said: “There is a clear vision and strong technical ambition, and I’m looking forward to working closely with Tim and the wider engineering group to help drive performance and continue building the team for the future.”
Aston Martin
Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll said on Tuesday the team is set to embark on a “development journey” as Formula One readies for its biggest technical overhaul in decades. Speaking in Tokyo at the launch of their technical partnership with Honda, the Canadian had high hopes for the team’s new power unit but acknowledged they would have no idea how it would stack up against their rivals until they get on track.
He said, “We’re all sitting here anxiously waiting to get on track and I really don’t think we’ll have the answer to that question before we get to Melbourne. Even when we get to Melbourne, you know these rules and regulations will be in place for five years.”
Adding, “There’ll be reliability issues, there’ll be all sorts of things,” Stroll said, adding that he believed it was the first time in Formula One history that teams faced a new chassis and power unit at the same time. There’ll be a lot of issues to contend with, but we’re very positive.”
Aston Martin enters the season as a works team with Honda and with new team principal Adrian Newey leading the design of the new car.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe said he believed electrification technology became more important this year in order to win given the engine’s electric power usage. he said, “We want to show that Honda’s technology is world class, even in the age of electrification.”
But Mibe also conceded that the team might struggle this season, as it believed that Mercedes and Ford have found a loophole in the new rules regarding the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine, Honda prefers to keep expectations in check ahead of the upcoming campaign.
President of Honda Racing Koji Watanabe, added, “Of course, if we are going to compete, we are committed to winning. However, the 2026 regulations are technically extremely challenging, and perhaps we will struggle.”
“At this stage, before any on-track testing, we don’t know the gap to our rivals, so we’ll have to wait and see once testing begins. In the long term, we aim to fight for championships.”
Honda is worried about its internal combustion engine, admitting that its development is “not necessarily” going as expected. They explained that resolving those issues would depends on the amount of development time available
Haas
On Monday Haas were the first team to reveal their new car, the VF-26 ahead of the beginning of testing tomorrow. The team released a series of digital renders which showed a number the new features of these new regulations. The most obvious changes on the Haas are the narrower front wing and fin on the engine cover.
Team principal Ayao Komatsu said the extent of the regulation changes was a major challenge for Haas as F1’s smallest team. he said, “I don’t think any team, even the biggest, is going to say they’re fully equipped to tackle this. However, for us, the challenge is bigger. There’s going to be a huge variation between teams because of two elements.”
“First is the PU, with the teams using the same provider presumably bunched up, so Mercedes providing four teams, Ferrari providing three, Red Bull two, Audi and Honda providing one. Then on the aerodynamic side, it’s completely open, and development will happen fast.
“A pecking order may get established in the first four races pretty quickly, but I think it’s going to be a very dynamic season. What you see in race one and race two, I expect will be totally different when we come to the final races of the year.”
Komatsu said working out the complexities of energy management would be a large focus of the first weeks of work. He believes the question for all the teams is what’s possible for the teams to achieve over multiple laps while managing racing and precisely, can you control various things, so that’s going to be a lot of what we’re doing in Barcelona.
The team’s livery is largely unchanged, but the red has been slightly changed to reflect their new title sponsor and technical partner Toyota. The white, red and black scheme looks like a blend between the company’s traditional scheme and the one used by Toyota in the 2000s. The black carbon areas of last year’s car replaced by larger white areas and additional red accents. The scheme also nods to the team’s new title sponsor for this year, Toyota Gazoo Racing.
Oliver Bearman said: “I feel these changes are the biggest in the history of Formula 1, so with that is a huge deal of excitement for me. It’s impossible to gauge where we’re going to be right now.
“Everything I’m seeing from the team is positive, but we don’t know how we stack up, and we won’t know until qualifying in Australia. Even then, I feel like in the first few races, reliability is going to be playing a big factor. There are going to be teams and people making mistakes with these new regulations. It’s going to be tough to establish a true pecking order.”
Audi
Audi unveiled there first F1 livery on Tuesday at an event in Berlin. The German manufacturer is entering the sport for the first time marking their return to Grand Prix racing for the first time since their predecessors Auto Union in 1939. The VW Group brought Sauber in 2023 and is manufacturing their own power unit
Their entry to the sport coincides with the introduction of new engine and chassis regulations, with the more sustainable nature of the former being a crucial factor in the German brand’s desire to join the grid.
The team had already shared its livery concept at an event in November last year, but the final product was revealed on Tuesday, with title sponsor Revolut added to the titanium silver, Germany’s national racing colours, and bright Audi red body, with the brand’s four-ring logo featuring on a carbon black engine cover.
Audi CEO Gernot Dollner made their ambitious aims clear, he said: “We all share one clear vision: to compete at the highest level and to fight for championships by 2030.”
Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto form the Swiss-based team’s driver line-up for the second-year running, with the pairing helping the outfit to an improved showing in their final year under the Sauber name. Ninth last year was comfortably their best since 2012, aided by Hulkenberg’s first-career podium in F1 at the 239th attempt at the British Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg said: “I committed to this project in May 2024, so the anticipation for this day and for it to become reality, just very happy it’s all happening now and it’s starting. The car is a beauty, so we’re ready to go.”.
Bortoleto added: “For me it’s a dream coming true. It’s the type of project you have once in a lifetime. It’s the also the opportunity to create a legacy that will last in history.”
Head of F1 for Audi, Mattia Binotto says they are expecting a “very bumpy” 2026 season. Despite the brand setting the target of fighting for championships by 2030. Binotto told Sky Sports, “The five years is what we set as an objective because there is much that we need to build. It’s not only the car on track, that’s the final product of a big organisation. Infrastructure, tools, methodology, the organisation, we need to ramp up skills – there is still much that’s required. But I think we are aware of it and that’s part of our daily task.”
“We know it has to happen. We are planning for it and we will simply make it. So we are acting by priorities. We still want to do well on track, the best we can, but we that know we are competing against strong competitors, settled-down organisations and no doubt who were stronger before will stay stronger as well in 2026. So, our season 2026 can be very bumpy.”
Audi’s challenge has been heightened by the fact that they are producing their own engine, taking on experienced manufacturers such as Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda, along with Red Bull, who are producing their own engines for the first time with Ford. This means it would be a huge surprise if they were able to immediately match their rivals.
The team also announced their plans for their driver development programme, hoping to bring talent from karting up even as far as F1. The move places Audi in the mainstream of F1 teams, the majority of which operate similar schemes with varying degrees of structure.
Le Mans winner, former F1 driver and Audi stalwart Allan McNish will oversee the new programme, which the company describes as a “significant strategic move” with the purpose of “reinforcing the brand’s long-term commitment to building a competitive and sustainable F1 team by investing in young talent, on and off the track”.
He added, “To be entrusted with finding the cornerstones of the future Audi F1 Team is a great honour and a responsibility I am very passionate about. This brand is built on a history of ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, and that philosophy must apply to our young drivers as much as to our cars.”
“We are not just looking for raw speed; we are looking for the resilience, intelligence, and team-driven mindset that defines a future Audi champion. Our goal is to build a pathway that turns potential into precision and performance on the world stage. I am thrilled to begin this work and identify the first generation of talent to join this ambitious project.”
Alpine
Alpine also revealed its livery for the new season, the Anglo-French team held its season launch on a cruise ship off the Catalan coast near Barcelona, celebrating the team’s partnership with MSC Cruises.
The new design is not radically different from its predecessor, with Alpine’s blue associated with title-sponsor BWT’s pink. Alpine has placed a lot of hopes on F1’s new technical era with revamped chassis and engine regulations. They decided to turn off its parent company Renault engine programme and switched to Mercedes power units, as well as stopping development of last year’s car in May.
The decision contributed to a dismal tenth position in the constructors’ championship, with lead driver Pierre Gasly itching for better machinery after committing his long-term future to the squad. He will team up with Franco Colapinto
Designed under executive technical director David Sanchez, the new car was shaken down on Wednesday at Silverstone, ahead of the opening pre-season test at Barcelona from 26-30 January.
Sanchez said, “The last year has been truly extraordinary in Formula One terms. With such big changes in the regulations, this project has been a very interesting challenge and one we have really given our all towards.”
“Ultimately, the car is shorter and narrower than in recent years with some aerodynamic freedom to explore. We have the return of active aero where we have the ability to have movable front and rear wings, something the vast majority of the drivers on the grid will not have experienced before. The reduction in downforce and drag is expected to bring better racing, which I am sure all fans will be intrigued to watch.”
De-facto team principal Flavio Briatore believes the team “will be competitive” in 2026 as they held their official launch for the new season.
Briatore said: “I believe Alpine will really come back in the performance this year. If the car is bad, it is our fault. We did not have any problems building this car. We had the budget.”
Alpine were another team to place all there development on this years car and that could be a huge gamble. Managing director Steve Nielsen said the team were determined to prove last year was “a blip”.
Gasly said: “It’s a big opportunity for us as a team. There will be a lot of things to learn and probably adapt to. We had a very successful shakedown, which is a great start. It was pretty extreme conditions but it went very well, did a lot of laps and got a first feel for it. An important milestone for the season ahead.
Prior to the teams official launch on Wednesday, the team carried out a shakedown of their 2026 car, the A526, at Silverstone. Pierre Gasly at the wheel on a rainy day, running a livery very similar to last season’s.
Alpine became the fourth team to run its 2026 car on track, following the initial tests carried out by Audi and Cadillac, in Barcelona and Silverstone, respectively, and Racing Bulls, which ran on Tuesday at Imola. For the first time since 2014 the team ran a Mercedes power unit after Renault controversially ended its engine programme.
The 2025 season marked Alpine’s most difficult in F1, finishing last in the constructors’ championship after halting development of the A525 in early June to focus fully on the 2026 regulations, intending to capitalise on the major regulatory changes coming into force for both chassis and power units.
Cadillac
Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon says he is happy that Ferrari has provided his team with a “fully legal engine” amid a developing controversy over the new power units for the 2026. On the eve of the first day of running in Barcelona a controversy is already brewing over the different approaches taken by the engine manufacturers to the compression ratio limit imposed by the regulations.
Cadillac have joined in Haas in having their engine supplied by Ferrari, who, along with Audi and Honda have reportedly not built in technology that would allow a higher compression ratio when the car is running on track. Asked whether he had any concerns over suffering a performance deficit as a result of the situation, Lowdon told Sky Sports, “What I’m very confident and happy about is we have a fully legal engine.”
“With these engines, the combustion is not allowed to take place at a compression ratio above 16 to 1. Without going into too many details, we know that Ferrari has completely followed the rules where that stands. That gives us a lot of confidence.”
“In terms of performance, we work and support our power unit partner to the absolute maximum. We’re very happy with the relationship. I can’t really talk for other people’s power units or how they’ve interpreted the regulation. But to me, it’s extremely clear it’s there in black and white.”
The deal is only expected to run until 2028 or 2029, when Cadillac will begin supplying their own power unit. Lowdon who worked with Ferrari when he was running Marussia and Manor, says they are great partners and he is generally very pleased with the arrangement.
Adding “They don’t just provide us with a power unit, they provide us with some technical support in terms of people who join the team. It’s great to have them on board.”
Cadillac became the first team to run a 2026 Ferrari power unit last week as they held a private shakedown at Silverstone, with the Italian team set to follow suit themselves later this week ahead of the first of three pre-season testing