There have been pivotal years in Formula 1. Seasons where you feel that something is changing, where certainties waver, where engineering is getting the better of habit. 2026 is one of those seasons. Regulations are changing, cars are being transformed, engines are entering a new hybrid era, and even the grid is welcoming new faces. Cadillac is coming. Audi is getting ready. F1 is about to write a chapter where anything is possible again. And that is undoubtedly what enthusiasts were waiting for: a discipline that reinvents its own future.

At first glance, it is the very silhouette of the car that changes. The 2026 F1 are returning to more compact proportions. The wheelbase went down to 3,400 mm, the width increased to 1,900 mm, and the weight was reduced by around thirty kilos. A return to smarter, more agile cars. Aerodynamics follows this movement: the ground effect is maintained but relaxed, the floors are simplified to reduce turbulence, and the whole spirit of the regulation has a simple objective: to allow cars to follow each other more closely, for a long time, without exhausting themselves in a cloud of dirty air.

The DRS, on the other hand, disappears. A page has been turned. In its place, an active aero system takes over. The rear wing switches to “low drag” mode, the front wing adopts its “X” mode, lightening the car in a straight line. The opening is no longer triggered by a delta of one second, but by a choice of the pilot, according to his energy management. It is no longer a miracle button that greatly simplifies overtaking, but now a strategic thought on the part of the driver. And that's where the real revolution starts.

Because the heart of F1 cars changes as much as their shape. The V6 turbo remains, but the MGU-H disappears and gives way to a much more powerful MGU-K. Electrical energy increases to 350 kW, almost as much as thermal power. A new balance, where each tower becomes an equation to be solved: retrieve, store, deploy. Drivers will have to anticipate their overtaking several turns in advance, calibrate their attack even with the slightest braking. And engineers, for their part, will have to deal with another constraint: 100% sustainable fuels, provided by several partners, which change the way in which the engine breathes, heats up and reacts.

Around this new technical situation, the grid is also moving. Cadillac officially enters F1 via Andretti, with an engine developed in-house and a clear ambition: to become an American reference in a historically European championship. Their arrival brings a new breath. Audi, for its part, is preparing for its debut with Sauber. German engineering against American audacity: 2026 promises its share of duels even before the first green light.

So the question that obsesses all paddocks remains: who will benefit the most from this revolution? Nobody knows that. And that's exactly what makes this season so anticipated. Between more nervous cars, active aero, muscular hybridization and new manufacturers, 2026 is not only an evolution. It's a reboot. An F1 that starts from a blank page, and invites enthusiasts to dream again.