Last year’s Formula One season had everyone on the edge of their seats, and the 2026 season will be no different. Introducing new regulations for the teams to adjust to, this season will not only be a new era technically not just for us but also for the drivers: it will be interesting to see how a new team (two rookies, and four drivers in their second season) perform. But most importantly, it will be worth it to see who will have the fastest car and who will claim the title of world champion.

With pre-season testing coming up in February, there has been a lot of talk about how the cars will perform. Fans have already been trying to predict how each of the teams are doing, most of which include Mercedes and Red Bull being successful this year due to the loophole they found with their engines to get an advantage. And because McLaren gets their engine from Mercedes, this is making people think that they could also have a dominant year, following their claiming of both titles from last year. For the other two Mercedes engine users, Alpine—who has not much buzz around their car—does in fact have buzz around rumors of Christian Horner making his return to their team. And Williams has had a very disappointing start to the year, with their car being 30kg overweight due to a problem with the chassis, failing the crash test multiple times, and having to miss the Barcelona tests. Sadly for Williams fans, they seem to be let down as they were looking forward to having a comeback season. Along with Williams, Ferrari fans seem to have already lost hope for the season due to the engine of the other front runners, but only time will tell.

As for the outside of the cars, there have been very mixed opinions on the liveries. Mercedes and Red Bull seem to be in high favor, with the Mercedes (W17) and the Red Bull (RB22) liveries being the most unanimously praised cars of the season so far. Both refreshed their looks (Mercedes with the AMG stripes and Red Bull ‘s retro look), surprising their fans by changing their paint for the first time in a while. Alpine on the other hand, did not change their approach and went for a similar look as last year with their A526. The other liveries in high favor are the Haas (VF-26) and the VCARB (VCARB-03) liveries. VCARB is known for their fantastic liveries, and most definitely did not disappoint. Haas, who also had some memorable looks last year, came out this year with a very refreshed and nice looking car. But for the liveries that have fans split between sides (Ferrari and Audi), it’s a little harder to say. In the past year, the HP logo on the Ferrari car (SF-26) has bothered fans, along with the huge section of white covering the cockpit. For the Audi (R26), there have been photos comparing the car to an Energizer battery. But opinions are subjective, and both of these liveries are neither the best nor worst. There are still four more teams to release their liveries, with all of them no doubt coming out with something good.

While there has been a lot of speculation between the fans, it is hard to say anything about the cars for sure. After announcing that shakedown week in Barcelona would have limited publicity, it did not do much to stop anybody. There has still been footage of the cars on the track, with certain cars that had to get picked up out of the gravel. Either way, F1 fans cannot wait for this season to get started, and it looks like it will be an interesting one.