Features / 14 December 2025 / Staff Writer

Formula 1 2026 season – Here are all the details

The 2026 Formula 1 season will begin on 6 March 2026 when the first practice session gets underway in Australia.

Throughout the year, there will be 24 rounds of action-packed racing across several continents.

For the first time in many years, there will be a brand new team added to the grid, taking the total number of constructors to 11.

American car brand Cadillac will become the 11th team on the grid, while Audi will also be joining Formula 1 – albeit as a rebrand of Kick Sauber.

The full driver lineups are as follows:

McLaren – Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Red Bull – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar
Mercedes – George Russell and Kimi Antonelli
Ferrari – Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
Williams – Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz
Racing Bulls – Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad
Aston Martin – Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Haas – Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman
Audi – Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto
Alpine – Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto
Cadillac – Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez

Things to watch

With another new season comes lots of interesting storylines for fans to follow.

Arvid Lindblad is the only rookie in the 2026 driver line-up, and will have plenty of eyes on his early performances.

This is particularly true given he will be driving for Racing Bulls, which is famously the feeder team for Red Bull.

The second driver spot beside Max Verstappen has long been a challenge for Red Bull to fill, and if Lindblad gets off to a great start in Formula 1, he may start eyeing that seat.

He would have to win it from the newly-promoted Isack Hadjar, who is coming off his own successful rookie season.

He is the latest in an ever-growing list of drivers to be tested in the important second Red Bull seat, following in the footsteps of Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson, and most recently, Yuki Tsunoda.

Tsunoda will be gone from the grid completely following a challenging season where he struggled to keep up with Verstappen.

Another major talking point will be the performance of the grid’s new team, Cadillac.

Starting from scratch in Formula 1 is an intimidating task, and it will be interesting to see if the American team can hold its own in the big leagues – or even cause a few surprises.

Of course, the main focus for most fans will be the battle at the top of the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships.

After a thrilling battle between Piastri, Norris, and Verstappen last season, we enter the 2026 season poised for another exciting 3-way battle.

The talented drivers from Ferrari and Mercedes would certainly like to think they can find their way into the contender’s circle, too.

The full Formula 1 schedule for 2026 is detailed, below.