Finally! It feels like the 2026 Formula 1 season has been a topic of discussion forever, but now we are going to see how the new era works and who has nailed it quickest.
As ever, drawing any conclusions from pre-season testing is fraught with difficulty. But Jake Boxall-Legge was at all the Bahrain testing and he’s looked at lots of data, including the significant longer runs, to come up with a ranking for all 11 teams ahead of the season-opener in Australia.
As Pat Symonds points out in his expanded column, there’s a pleasing level of variation on the technical side. It will be interesting to see which solutions hit the ground running and which could have the most potential.
One team already looking further into the future is Aston Martin after the first car of its Adrian Newey era hit various early problems. Ronald Vording delves into what’s going on at the green team, while Stuart Codling casts the spotlight on this year’s only rookie: Arvid Lindblad.
We also bring you our team-by-team guide and recall how the big F1 rule changes of 2009 didn’t have the desired impact – but did open the door to the remarkable success of Brawn and Jenson Button.
It’s not just F1 that is kicking off this month. The F2 and F3 seasons both get going in Melbourne, so we pick out the rising stars to watch in the major feeder series, plus Gary Watkins talks to some of the key players in the Genesis Hypercar programme ahead of the opening World Endurance Championship round in Qatar.
We’re looking even further ahead in the World Rally Championship. While Elfyn Evans has moved into the points lead amid an incredible run of consistency, momentum for the 2027 rules appears to be gathering. Tom Howard explains how they could be set to give rallying a boost.
The busy UK motorsport season is also getting into gear. We select the things we’re most looking forward to in 2026, from the British Touring Car and British GT championships to rising stars in single-seaters and headline-grabbing historic events.
Our next issue will feature extended F1 reports following reader feedback in 2025, so look out for our May issue from 9 April.
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