GPFans News

The 2026 regulation changes are often described as one of the biggest overhauls in Formula 1 history. Why does the FIA revise the rules every few years, and why does it introduce new types of Formula 1 cars? In this GPFans Special, we examine the reasoning behind these changes.

The FIA have scheduled two more meetings this week to tackle the much-discussed engine trick found by Mercedes surrounding their power unit's compression ratio. The FIA will meet with all eleven teams, and Thursday, the Power Unit Advisory Committee will come together as well to discuss the matter. Meanwhile, Christian Horner has made his first public appearance since being let go as Red Bull's team principal back in July, and the Brit claims he still has unfinished business in Formula 1.

Williams team principal James Vowles has refuted the fact that a weight problem and failed crash tests are the reason why the team is not able to run this week in Barcelona. Vowles claims it's impossible to know whether or not the car is overweight or not, but has confirmed they'll be ready in time for the two upcoming tests in Bahrain in February.

The first real test week of the Formula 1 season has begun. Already, several striking developments are emerging, and in this GPFans Special we take a closer look at some of those clever innovations.

Winter testing has officially begun in Barcelona, albeit behind closed doors, and one notably absent team was Aston Martin. News broke last week that Williams will miss the test altogether, but Aston have run into some delays as well, as seven of the eleven teams ran their cars on Monday.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has confirmed that McLaren will not participate in the first day of the Barcelona winter test. The test next week, that will take place behind closed doors, is the first of three separate testing opportunities for the 11 F1 teams to shake down their new challengers.

Jack Doohan could be back in Formula 1 next year. The Aussie is on the verge of becoming Haas's reserve driver this season, with the intention of getting a full-time drive for next year.

Multiple teams could miss out on the first day of testing in Barcelona at the end of the month. Red Bull Racing and Alpine, with the testing week behind closed doors starting on January 26th.

Three teams have gone to the FIA to declare the new Mercedes engine illegal, according to the usually well-informed Corriere dello Sport. Mercedes have reportedly found a way to circumvent the new compression ratio and generate more power, which is why other manufacturers have rung the alarm bell.

Sergio Perez has hit out at Christian Horner over the way he was shown the door at Red Bull Racing. Perez claims he was merely a distraction for Horner's off-track controversy during that year, as he was ultimately replaced at the end of 2024. Meanwhile Formula 1 have decided to slightly tweak the qualifying format for 2026 as an 11th team and two more cars have been added to the grid.

Christian Horner's return to the F1-paddock could be delayed to at least September because of a clause in one of Alpine's contracts. Horner is reportedly on the brink of buying a stake in Alpine and becoming the on-grid leader of the team, but this could throw a real spanner in the works.

Honda have spare time to work on their 2026 power unit if necessary. The Japanese manufacturer did not use all of their allocated development time in 2023 and 2024, and plan to use this time if they appear to have a deficit to the rest of the grid in 2026.

Christian Horner is set to become Alpine's major stakeholder and leader of the team, according to the normally very reliable Auto Motor und Sport. Horner leads a consortium of investors that will purchase a majority stake in Alpine for almost 800 million euro's in the coming days, according to the report.

Max Verstappen's long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has been in talks with both Aston Martin and Williams, according to The Race.com and Motorsport. Lambiase has been with Verstappen since moving to the team in 2016, but was offered a senior position at Aston Martin, where his old colleague Adrian Newey is now team principal.

Max Verstappen believes that if all twenty F1 cars would be checked after a Grand Prix for skid block wear, like McLaren were in Las Vegas, that half of the cars would not be legal. Like many others, Verstappen is not a fan of the random checks the FIA conducts, but concedes checking all cars after every race is also not possible.

The FIA have closed another potential loophole in the new F1 engine rules for the upcoming season, and this time, it's regarding fuel flow. Previously, there were suspicions Red Bull and Mercedes had found a way around the new compression ratio limit, but this is a new fuel-related loophole that the FIA have had to deal with.

Helmut Marko has come out and made some serious accusation against Red Bull's former team principal, Christian Horner. Marko says that Horner was "lying about everything" and says that Horner wanted to take over the Milton Keynes-based outfit after the passing of Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022. Meanwhile Verstappen has shut down talks about potentially becoming a F1 team principal, saying that the job would involve too much, more than being a F1 driver.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been re-elected as president of F1's governing body the FIA. But despite being the only candidate on the list due to a quirk in the rules, he did not get all the votes. Meanwhile at tonight's FIA Prize Giving Ceremony where Lando Norris will be officially crowned champion. Max Verstappen will not be attending the event.

Charles Leclerc has warned Ferrari for 2026, saying that next season will be "now or never" to make a comeback back to the top as the monegasque driver is both running out of time and patience.

Lando Norris' father, Adam Norris, has caused a bit of a stir in the media with his comments about Max Verstappen finishing second in the F1 drivers' championship.

McLaren chief Zak Brown has confirmed that McLaren will enforce team orders to claim the World Drivers' Championship, in this season's finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In the coming days we will see who manages to crown themselves Formula 1 world champion, with the McLaren team still having two irons in the fire. George Russell believes that, whatever happens, McLaren should refrain from using team orders.

It is official! Isack Hadjar will replace Yuki Tsunoda at Red Bull Racing next season. The Japanese driver will take up the role as the team's reserve driver for 2026. Over at the other side of the pit lane, McLaren has signed newly crowned Formula 2 champion, Leonardo Fornaroli, for their Driver Development Programme.

McLaren rumours regarding Lando Norris bias over Oscar Piastri has reached all the way to the Australian senate, asking if McLaren is actually biased against Oscar Piastri. Meanwhile Toto Wolff has slammed Marko's "brainless" comments regarding his driver Kimi Antonelli.

Everybody around the paddock has two things on their mind this weekend: Who will be the 2025 World Drivers' Champion and who will drive for Red Bull and Racing Bulls in 2026?

With Aston Martin's announcement that Adrian Newey will be taking the role of team principal over Andy Cowell. Fans are left wondering if Newey can be both responsible for designing a car and running the day to day business at Aston Martin. Find out more in this GPFans News video!

After the Las Vegas Grand Prix, rumours have it that Aston Martin's team principal, Andy Cowell, could be set to leave the Silverstone based team. But not only have there been talks about a potential change in team principal, but also a driver change for 2027. Find out more, in this GPFans News video!

Lewis Hamilton thinks his current year is his worst season ever. The seven-time champion is in sixth place in the standings and came over the line in tenth place in Las Vegas. Meanwhile Aston Martin are set to replace Andy Cowell as team principal and CEO. Christian Horner is one of the leading candidates to take on the role.

Lance Stroll has hit back at Franco Colapinto, urging the Argentinian to focus on scoring a single point before having a go at other drivers. In Brazil, Colapinto criticised Stroll for never looking in the mirrors and always having sloppy collisions with others, but the Canadian has not taken this well in a very surprising feud on the F1 grid.#f1 #lancestroll #francocolapinto #alpinef1 #astonmartin #maxverstappen #fia

Williams driver and GPDA president Carlos Sainz Junior has dubbed Oscar Piastri's Sao Paulo Grand Prix penalty unacceptable, and believes the drivers' guidelines should be revised instantly. Piastri was given a race-ruining 10-second time penalty for a collision with Kimi Antonelli at an early safety car restart at Interlagos.

The final stretch of the season has arrived and although Lando Norris holds a comfortable lead, Oscar Piastri will do everything he can to claim the world title. The duo still have to take a possible engine change into account, something McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has hinted at several times.

Lando Norris fears the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix will be a weekend of struggles for himself and McLaren as a team. Norris pointed to it being his team's worst weekend of last season.#f1news #mclaren #landonorris #segioperez #lasvegas

Oscar Piastri has admitted that McLaren's team orders at the Italian Grand Prix had an impact on him in the race after. Meanwhile Max Verstappen has admitted that what happened at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix was wrong of him to do.

Max Verstappen secured a solid third-place finish in Brazil, but it wasn't all smooth sailing for Red Bull. The team endured a dreadful start to the weekend before eventually finding their rhythm. In this GPFans special, we take a closer look at how they managed to turn things around.

Ferrari president John Elkann has heavily criticised his F1 team's drivers, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, for underperforming during the current. Elkann has urged both drivers to focus on driving and talk less in a rather surprising twist.#f1news #ferrari #lewishamilton #charlesleclerc #johnelkann

Lewis Hamilton has admitted his current situation at Ferrari is a quote “nightmare”, and one that he's been living in for a while. Meanwhile Kimi Antonelli not only achieved his best-ever result in F1 this weekend, but he also broke a rookie record.#f1news #ferrari #lewishamilton #mercedes #kimiantonelli

Oscar Piastri was not only given a time penalty during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix for his collision with Kimi Antonelli, but the Aussie has now been punished further by the FIA. But Charles Leclerc believes Piastri's penalty was a harsh one as the Monegasque thinks Kimi Antonelli was as much to blame for the incident as the Aussie.

Sergio Perez believes his former team-mate Max Verstappen will still come back to win the title. Perez believes McLaren are dropping too many points between themselves. Meanwhile McLaren's Zak Brown says that the team will never play favourites, even if that does come at the cost of losing the drivers' title to Max Verstappen this season.

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is convinced that Lando Norris is the clear preferred driver within McLaren, and that this fact is gnawing away at Oscar Piastri.#f1 #mclaren #landonorris #oscarpiastri

The FIA is considering making a two-stop strategy mandatory in Formula 1 starting next year. The idea is still in its early stages, but teams that already struggle with pit stops could come under even more pressure as a result. So why is the FIA thinking about enforcing a two-stop rule anyway, and how do the other parties feel about it? In this GPFans Special, we take a closer look.

Red Bull's Laurent Mekies is aware that his team's continuation of the current car development will come at the expense of next year's challenger, but he feels it is the right direction for the team to go in.

There's disagreement within Red Bull Racing on who to pick for next year's second seat next to Max Verstappen, according to Last Word on Sports. Team principal Laurent Mekies and advisor Dr Helmut Marko both want a different driver at the senior team for 2026, with no final decision made as we approach the end of the year.

Former Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button has announced that he will retire from professional racing after the upcoming 8 Hours of Bahrain. Button has been very active since retiring from F1, mainly participating in endurance racing, but will hang up his helmet and gloves for good after next week.

After his dominant victory in Mexico, Lando Norris has taken the lead in the Formula 1 standings, edging out teammate Oscar Piastri by just one point. While Norris is in peak form, Piastri seems to be struggling at this crucial stage of the season. What's going on with Piastri, and why does the world title appear to be slipping through his fingers? GPFans takes a closer look.

The FIA have explained why Max Verstappen was left unpunished during the Mexico City Grand Prix during his hard-nosed battle with Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile George Russell has revealed that part of his new contract at Mercedes includes a clause that if he meets a certain performance-based target, it will automatically be extended into the 2027 season.

A lot of people were surprised as to why Lando Norris was getting booed following his Mexico City Grand Prix win, and an explanation has now been offered. Mexican F1 journalist Carlos Jalife from Fast Mag explained to Norris himself during the press conference that it dates back to the Italian Grand Prix, and McLaren's team orders during that race. Speaking of explanations, the FIA have also released a statement to explain why a Virtual Safety Car was deployed in the dying embers of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Red Bull Racing are considering delaying their final decision on who to put in their second car next season, according to Last Word on Sports, after Yuki Tsunoda has started to impress the team. Red Bull originally set a deadline for this weekend in Mexico, but might deliberate further as the Japanese driver has had an uptick in performance.

Oscar Piastri is most likely going to miss out on FP1 of the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Piastri still has to let a rookie driver deputise in his MCL39 for one more practice session in 2025, and by all accounts, this will be at the season finale, when the title will most likely be on the line.

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko believes there is no more circuit in what is left of the 2025 season that will favour McLaren.#f1news #f1 #mclarenf1 #redbullracing #maxverstappen

Charles Leclerc has hit out at what he calls unfounded noise and rumours around Ferrari, noise that he admits hasn't made it easy for the team and himself to perform. Meanwhile Alpine have released a statement following the United States Grand Prix expressing their disappointment with Franco Colapinto for not following team orders.

Red Bull Racing have been given what the FIA call a significant penalty following the United States Grand Prix as they breached the International Sporting Code. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz has been given a five-place grid penalty for this weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix. The penalty was given for Sainz's attempted overtake on Kimi Antonelli during Sunday's US Grand Prix, where the two cars collided and the Spaniard had to retire from the race after.