Formula 1 2026 Season

2026 brings one of F1's biggest rule resets in years. The cars are shorter, lighter and nimbler; the power units split roughly 50/50 between combustion and electric power and run on Advanced Sustainable Fuels; DRS is replaced by Overtake Mode; and active aerodynamics adjust the wings between corners and straights.

Overtake Mode replaces DRS. When a driver is within one second of the car ahead, they can deploy a burst of extra electrical power to help attack, used all at once or spread across a lap. It is designed to make overtaking more skill-based than the old rear-wing flap.

Two. Audi enters as a works team after taking over Sauber, with its own power unit and the same drivers as before, Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. Cadillac debuts as an 11th team using Ferrari power units, the first eleventh team on the grid since 2016, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez.

Active aerodynamics let cars change the front and rear wing between a high-downforce Corner Mode and a low-drag Straight Mode depending on where they are on track. It replaces the fixed-wing philosophy and works alongside Overtake Mode to shape the racing.

Eleven, up from ten, thanks to Cadillac's arrival. That is the largest grid in years and the first time an eleventh team has raced since 2016, meaning 22 full-time cars.

Not fully. The 2026 power units are hybrids that draw about half their power from electricity and half from the internal combustion engine, which runs on 100% sustainable fuel. So they are far more electrified than before, but still hybrids, not pure EVs.

It combines a sweeping technical rule change, new-look cars and racing mechanics, with the arrival of two major manufacturers (Audi and Cadillac). That mix scrambles the competitive order, which teams nail the new rules first is the season's central question.