F1 Season Guide 2026

The season kicks off with one of the great racing weekends of the year, at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit. The parkland setting, the packed weekend schedule (that will also feature the Red Bull Ampol Racing Ford Mustangs in action) and the fantastic vibe of a city that really embraces the race, make the Australian Grand Prix a fabulous place to kick off the season (the season is hosting the season opener for the 24th time) and with the Oz GP celebrating its 40th edition this year it should be awesome.

There’s hardly time to take a breath after the season-opener before Round 2 takes teams to China and if anything thinks a race at a permanent facility will provide a better read on the pecking order, they’d better think again. Not only will the season’s first Sprint provide an extra layer of jeopardy, the front-limited nature of the Shanghai International Circuit, with its tortuous opening section, is unlikely to provide any more clarity than Melbourne’s temporary lakeside layout. After Shanghai, we head to Suzuka where a surprise awaits in the form of a partially resurfaced track. The new layer of asphalt will take some getting used to, but one thing is certain – Suzuka will provide its usual incredible atmosphere as it’s also the 40th edition of the Japanese Grand Prix.

A Middle Eastern double-header takes teams back to where just a few weeks earlier they were putting their new era cars through their first paces. And with three races completed and a comfort zone being established, Sakhir should provide a first real glimpse of F1’s new pecking order. Then, once the season’s first night race is done, it’s on to another, with the high-speed thrills of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. We’ve been on pole here every time F1 has visited and we’ve won twice. The form guide says yes, but who knows what will happen in 2026.

The first of three journeys to North America in 2026 takes us to Miami and then north to Montreal. Like Jeddah, Miami has been a happy qualifying hunting ground for us and we’ve started from pole in each of the three editions to date and Max has won twice. After the race around the Hard Rock we have a weekend back at base before heading to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, which for the first time in its history also hosts a Sprint. The pairing of Miami with Montreal helps reduce freighting burdens but moving the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve a few weeks earlier than its traditional date could have weather repercussions.

F1’s official crown jewel, the Monaco Grand Prix majors on spectacle, glamour and glitter – and there really is nowhere swankier than Monaco on race day – but racing is never easy in the Principality. In a bid to add more excitement to Sunday, F1 is again going with two mandatory pit stops. The stipulation didn’t really have much impact last year but it does add more jeopardy. A week after Monaco we head back to Barcelona. No longer the home of the Spanish Grand Prix (more on that later) it’s now hosting the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The season’s fourth double-header pairs our home races, starting in the mountains of Styria at the lightning quick Red Bull Ring. Our mother circuit might be one of the season’s most modern but the racing vibe is distinctly classic. It’s a proper track with a high-speed character all of its own and one that always features spectacular action. We have a habit of winning here too, which helps. From there we return to our Milton Keynes base to prep for the short journey up to Silverstone for the 60th grand prix at our local track. Like our Austrian home, it’s a real classic, plus we’ve won at Silverstone on five occasions (including 2020’s Anniversary Grand Prix). Additionally, Silverstone gets a Sprint for the first time since it hosted the very first one, back in 2021. And who won that one? Yep, Max Verstappen. Bring on the home runs.

Two very different circuits to take us into the summer break. First up is Max’s favourite track – Spa-Francorchamps. The four-time champion has racked up a hat-trick of wins at the legendary 7km Ardennes track and in all we’ve scored six wins in Belgium. We’ll be hoping to add to the tally this year. You couldn’t get a more different track to Spa than the Hungaroring. Massive straights and high speeds are replaced by a tight, twisting layout commonly called ‘Monaco without the barriers’. Max picked up a brace of Budapest wins in 2022-’23 and we’ll be looking to get back to winning ways again.

After three early appearances, in 1952, ’53 and ’55, the Dutch Grand Prix had an unbroken run until 1985 when it departed. As Max-mania properly took off, the race came back with a bang in 2021 with the home hero taking an emotional win. However, despite massive popularity, a truly brilliant remodel with awesome banking and some fantastic races, Zandvoort is once again leaving the schedule after the 2026 edition. So, one more chance for Orange Army craziness in the grandstands, one more opportunity to go nuts to the block-rocking beats on the grid and one more chance to celebrate like we did in 2021, ’22 and ’23. Plus, the final edition gets a Sprint to further amp up the excitement.

There’s nowhere else on the calendar that blends heritage, passion and glorious chaos quite like Monza and there genuinely is something mystical about the feeling of watching a grand prix at La Pista Magica. From a legendary temple of speed to one potentially in waiting in the shape of the brand new Madring. Yes, the Spanish Grand Prix has moved home and is now taking place at a semi-street circuit in the IFEMA district of Madrid. The circuit, which will blend public roads with purpose-built sections, will have 22-corners across a challenging looking 5.4km layout, including a long, sweeping, steeply-banked right-hander named ‘La Monumental’. Sounds fantastic and we can’t wait.

After the thrill of new streets, we head for some of the most famous boulevards in F1 with the double-header of Azerbaijan and Singapore. The Baku City Circuit features some of the highest speeds seen all year, and with its Old Town section, some of the toughest, tightest streets we race on all year. Singapore’s challenge is more physical. Punishing heat and humidity, bone-shaking bumps and one of the longest races by duration, it’s one that puts man and machine through the ringer.

F1 makes a second trip to North America for the US Grand Prix and the Mexican Grand Prix at the end of October. The race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas has turned into a real classic since it joined the calendar in 2012 and coupled with the amazing hospitality of the wonderfully weird city of Austin, the US GP is one every F1 fan should visit at least once. Mexico’s race is equally stunning, and the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has one of the wildest vibes of the whole year. It’s just beautifully bonkers, as is the city on its doorstep. After that we head to the only race that can rival Mexico for its feverish atmosphere – the São Paulo Grand Prix. It’s not only the passion of the fans that makes the calendar’s sole South American race special. Interlagos is an amazing circuit and though it’s short it has an undulating flow that always provides exceptional racing.

F1’s final visit to the USA is to the neon wonderland of Las Vegas. A 22-corner, largely flat-out blast around 6.2km of prime Sin City real estate. Taking in the Sphere and iconic Strip locations such as Caesars Palace, the Bellagio (and its incredible fountains) and the Venetian, the Las Vegas Strip Circuit not only provides an incredible backdrop, it poses a hefty challenge due to the low temperatures and low grip of the desert night in November, the high speeds and the bumpy streets. Like playing in the city itself, if you win here, you win big!

The season races towards a close with a double header in the Gulf. First up is the Qatar Grand Prix at high-speed Lusail International Circuit. The Doha track is one of the season’s most challenging for driver and car. For the driver it’s a combination of heat and high speeds and for the car it’s the relentless nature of those fast, flowing sequences, which pit extraordinary loads through the tyres. The season-closing race is, of course, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the state-of-the-art Yas Marina Circuit. After significant changes in 2021 the harbourside semi-street circuit is now faster, more challenging and provides more opportunities to make a bold move stick. It’s where overall honours are handed out and where, on many occasions, champions are crowned.

As has become customary, there will be six Sprint weekends in 2026 and for the third season in a row, China has the honours of hosting the first. Sprint king Max won the first one in 2024 with Sergio Pérez on the podium, so the omens are positive. It’s a similar story in Miami, location of Sprint #2. The Florida event joined the roster in 2024 and Max won that one, with Checo again on the podium. Next up is Canada, which will host a Sprint for the first time. The tight, fast layout of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve should make for a thrilling Saturday race. The season’s fourth Sprint takes us to Silverstone. The Northamptonshire circuit last hosted a Sprint back in 2021 when it debuted the concept and the power circuit should again prove a great venue for a 100km dash. The season’s penultimate short race is also a first – and a last. This year’s Dutch Grand Prix will be the last for the foreseeable future and Zandvoort is bowing out with its first Sprint. The season’s final Sprint is in Qatar. Lusail has hosted Sprints since 2023 and it’s where Max took his third championship with P2 in the short race.

The new front wing is 100mm narrower than that of the previous generation of cars. It features a two-element active flap. That flap will be closed in high downforce Corner Mode and open on selected straights where a low-drag configuration will help with energy management. The narrower wing is also designed to minimise outwash.

F1 is sticking with 18” wheels for 2026 but the tyres are now smaller. The tread width is 25mm less at the front and 30mm less at the rear. The total diameter is also 15mm less at the front and 10mm less at the rear. Pirelli will continue to provide three compounds (Hard, Medium and Soft) per race from a range of six different tyres, along with the intermediate and full wet weather options. The dry range stretches from C1-C5, with the C6 tyre seen in 2025 dropped for now.

As the last generation of cars underwent development and refinement the old issue of wake disruption again reared its ugly head, making it harder and harder for following drivers to get close to a rival ahead. Dirty air is being tackled again with the new cars and one part of the solution is in-washing bargeboards. These will sit in front of the sidepods and should make wake control a bit easier. The over-wheel ‘eyebrows’ we saw on the ’22 cars are also gone.

The incredibly complex (and quite remarkably sculpted) floors of the ground effect era cars is gone and 2026 floors are much simpler, flatter affairs with extended diffusers with bigger openings. The RB22 floor and diffuser arrangement reflects that concept. The diffuser is likely to be less powerful than in previous generations.

The rear wing also changes, with a three-element active rear wing. As with the front wing, in Straight line Mode it will be opening to reduce drag, thus requiring less energy to get to the end of straight and in Corner Mode it will close to provide maximum downforce. The rear of the car has undergone another change with the beam wing – the small horizontal plane underneath the main rear wing – that was such a feature of the last generation of car absent.

The 2026 season will be Max’s 12th campaign in Formula 1. That’s pretty remarkable for a driver who turns 29 this year but the Dutch driver made his debut at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix at the age of 17 years, five months and 13 days, making him F1’s youngest starter. How many days will have elapsed between then when he kicks off his 12th season at this year’s Australian Grand Prix? A whopping 4,012.

Max’s outstanding career means he’s racked up quite a lot of grand prix starts and this year he will hit a big milestone – his 250th Grand Prix start. It’s going to happen at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the 26th of September, just four days before Max’s 29th birthday and he’ll mark 250 starts a full four years before the next youngest to hit the milestone, Sebastian Vettel, who was 33 years, 2 months and 25 days old when he made it to 250 at the 2020 Russian Grand Prix. Max will be the 15th driver in F1 history to reach 250 starts to be just the 15th driver in F1 to hit 250 starts, as Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas will get there at this year’s race in Bahrain.

Max is racing with a new number this year – 3. The Dutchman raced with #1 from 2022 through 2025, but having lost out on a fifth title by just two points at the end of last year he could either revert to the #33 he used from 2015 all the way to winning his first title at the end of 2021 or choose a new digit.

He chose to switch to the number 3, explaining: “My favourite number has always been three, apart from number one. We can now swap, so it'll be number three. Number 33 was always fine, but I just like one 3 better than two."

And it’s an auspicious number. Of course, it has plenty of history at Red Bull Racing, with Daniel Ricciardo racing as #3 to his each of his seven wins with the team and using 3 throughout his career.

But there’s even more success behind the number, with a host of F1 greats racking up wins and titles with the number three on their car. Mike Hawthorn used it on his way to the 1958 title, Graham Hill also ran #3 in both of his title years – with BRM in 1962 and Lotus in 1968 – and three-time champion Jackie Stewart used the number on his way to titles in 1969, with Matra, and 1973 with Tyrrell.

Three was also used by title-winning luminaries such as Jim Clark and Jochen Rindt during their careers but it wasn’t until 1997 that it was on a title-winning car for a full season. Then, Jacques Villeneuve raced to overall glory in his number three Williams FW19. Michael Schumacher then took the number over the 2000 crown using #3 and that was the last time the number won a title. As a four-time champion it’s fitting then that Max becomes number three for 2026.

Unless you’re British or Italian (with each nation staging F1 races every year since the start of the championship) your chances of competing in a home grand prix are hit and miss. For example, if you’re Moroccan you’d have had to have been racing at the top level all the way back in 1958 to have had a home run.

Max has been one of the lucky few to not just compete on home soil but also to win in his backyard. However, after taking three Dutch Grand Prix wins since the return of the race in 2021, Max will bid farewell to Zandvoort this year as the race is dropping off the schedule.

The event’s withdrawal was announced in December 2024, and Max was naturally disappointed. “Of course, when I look at it, it’s something that I’m sad about, that it’s not going to continue.

“On the other hand, I’m very proud of what they have done,” he added. “When I started in Formula 1, I would have never imagined that we would go back to Zandvoort. And the races that we’ve had there, the event that they put on, I have a lot of respect for that and I’m proud that I played a part in that as well. I think the final year, ’26, with a Sprint event also, they say they’re going to go out with a bang. So, I’m also very excited to see that.” Can’t wait!

We don’t like to tempt fate but in a career of landmarks there is one more Max can add this season – 50 poles. The Dutchman is currently on 48 and if he manages to top qualifying and start from the front of the grid a couple of times this season, he’ll become just the fifth driver in F1 history to grab 50 poles or more. If he does that, his next target will be the 57 scored by Vettel and then the 65 landed by the legendary Ayrton Senna. In P2 on the list is the great Michael Schumacher with 68 and then there’s a mighty leap up to Lewis Hamilton who has a remarkable 104 pole positions.

Isack’s road to F1 started with a particularly colourful cartoon character – Lightning McQueen. “I was always interested in cars but not particularly the racing, because of the movie ‘Cars’,” he says. “My grandparents and parents are mainly doctors or physicists, so they have nothing to do with motorsport, but my dad always watched F1.

“I was always the one pushing my parents to go into it,” he adds. “I don't know why they’ve been so supportive. It’s not like we are millionaires. They’ve sacrificed a lot of things for me to get my chance. I think it's because my dad knew I was good. The first time I jumped into a kart, I think he saw something special. That’s the only reason. Otherwise, my dad is a tough guy, and he wouldn’t have let me do any go-karts if I was not, let's say, made for it!”

One of Isack’s most impressive rookie season traits is his ability to absorb information and learn, with Racing Bulls Team Principal Alan Permane citing his “willingness to learn and to listen” as a major strength. It should come as no surprise, however, given his background.

Isack’s father, Yassine, is a quantum physicist and a senior researcher at the University of Technology of Troyes, in the Laboratory of Light, Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies. And Isack is clearly a very smart chip off the old block.

“I really enjoy the technical aspect of F1,” he says. “There are so many tools to play with. Every weekend, I'm learning something new. I can tell that I'm just not there yet, but it really excites me to know that I can make the difference outside of the car as well as in it.”

In his early racing days, Yassine was Isack’s kart mechanic and while his dad isn’t quite so hands on these days, he’s still ever present – thanks to a series of scientific formulae that are displayed on Isack’s helmet.

Among the equations and calculations that feature on Isack’s helmet are Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, Werner Heisnberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Daniel Bernoulli’s Theorem and Erwin’s Schrödinger’s Equation that forms the basis of quantum mechanics – his father’s speciality.

The scientific formulae have been a feature of Isack’s helmet from early in his junior career, being added to his first painted helmet – an orange, yellow and green affair that replaced the full white helmet of his earliest days in karting.

After picking up five podium finishes in the first half of his maiden season with Racing Bulls, an outstanding drive at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix earned Isack P3 and his first F1 podium – quite the achievement for a driver with just 15 top tier races under his belt. In claiming third place in the race, Isack, at the age of 20 years, 11 months, and 3 days, became the fifth youngest driver to stand on an F1 podium behind Max Verstappen, Lance Stroll, Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris. He also became the youngest French driver to land a podium finish in F1, almost three years younger than the previous record holder, Pierre Gasly, who grabbed his first podium finish at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Remember back in 2023 when Max Verstappen ended up with a shattered piece of pottery instead of a Hungarian Grand Prix winner’s trophy? To be fair, Max’s Hungaroring mishap was actually Lando Norris’ fault as the Briton’s trademark bottle-bashing antics resulted in Max’s trophy taking a smashing dive off the podium. Then, just a week later, the Dutchman’s Belgian Grand Prix win was marred by another calamity when the winning Constructors’ trophy was flattened when a pit board toppled onto it.

Well, in Isack, it seems we’ve got another cup cracker on our hands. The celebrations in Zandvoort were all going swimmingly until the post-podium photoshoot. Isack went to place the porcelain trophy on the ground ahead of the ritual spraying of Red Bull only for the stem to snap, leaving him with half a trophy.

Isack shrugged it off with a grin (and a request to keep the broken pot) but the mishap makes him a perfect fit for our little band of trophy trashers. Welcome to the club, Isack!

Isack’s rise to a seat at a front-running team has been rapid. How quick? Well, consider this: before the 27th of October 2023, the French driver had never sat in an F1 car before. He made his grand prix weekend debut with an FP1 drive for AlphaTauri at the 2023 Mexican Grand Prix, logging 25 laps on his way to 17th on the timesheet and called the experience “the best day of my life!” It means that it will be just 2 years, 4 months and 10 days between his first F1 drive and his Oracle Red Bull Racing debut at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix. Impressive.

The step up to the senior team is daunting but for Isack it feels like a move he’s been waiting to make since his earliest days of racing.

“When I grew up watching Formula 1, I saw [Sebastian] Vettel winning all these races, as a kid, with Red Bull,” he says. “And being team-mates with Max, to see what facing the best level in the world feels like. I’m really looking forward to that.”

But while following in the footsteps of four-time champions might be daunting for many drivers, Isack is approaching the challenge with trademark pragmatism and good sense.

“I have no expectations at all because it's starting from scratch for everyone,” he says of joining the team as F1 prepares for a new era of all-new cars. “I'm just really looking forward to January, February, working with the team, getting to know all the people. Yeah. It's going to be crucial to try and be ahead a bit. It's a new regulation, so the timing is ideal for me. And then in terms of styles, I think Max has a unique style – and I would say myself as well. So, I'm not obviously trying to copy what he's doing. But in terms of mindset, we have some things in common.

“What I find very impressive with Max is that after four world championships, he's still very, very hungry and very mad when it doesn't go his way, because he always wants to win. And, you know, I don't think every champion can do that. Once you pass a certain level, you can maybe slow down a bit in your approach, but he seems to be starving, just like I am. So, it's very impressive.”

No one knows what to expect from the next generation of F1 cars but there is one development we are hoping for from Isack – a Japan special helmet. While Isack’s lid was largely unchanged in 2025, he has said that he fancies creating a special helmet for the race at Suzuka.

“If I did a special one – I’m a big manga fan so if I ever get to race in Japan, I think I would love some anime characters on it,” he said in an interview with fiaformula2.com in 2023. “Obviously, you have the popular ones, Goku, some Hunter x Hunter characters. I could get myself on there as a Super Saiyan, that would be nice.” All we can say is “ichiban!” and we can’t to see that and to see Isack crushing it in Oracle Red Bull Racing colours in 2026.