Happy new year, happy new F1 season anticipation and everything that comes with a new F1 era to you. It’s all awfully exciting heading into this year, isn’t it?
With that in mind, and none of the cars having yet launched, our writers are starting the new year with one early bold prediction each, with what we think might unfold at this incredibly early stage.
Watch out for Audi as a dark horse
By Henry Valantine
In both team and power unit terms, Audi F1 will arrive on the grid as the great unknown heading into 2026, but the team’s long run-up makes me think it might hit the ground running.
Remember, the brand revealed all the way back in the summer of 2022 that it would be joining the grid in 2026, and has only had that goal in mind when building up to its entry.
It is taking over a solid existing working infrastructure at Sauber and is adding its own flavour by becoming a factory team in the process, so the potential for the team is exciting as a neutral.
Let us not forget, too, that whenever Audi enters a series, sooner or later, it has tended to win. Be it sportscars, rallying, touring cars, you name it – its pedigree is undeniable.
Formula 1 is an altogether different challenge and probably the biggest of the lot, but if we were looking at ‘dark horse’ teams based on the unknowns heading into the year, Audi would be my early pick to possibly surprise a few people.
Pierre Gasly will win a race
By Oliver Harden
Call me crazy, but I have a good feeling about Alpine this year.
The team’s disastrous 2025 belied the quiet confidence with which the team, now with a Mercedes power unit at its disposal, is approaching 2026.
It isn’t just the engine either: with David Sanchez, highly regarded at Ferrari and welcomed as a major coup when signed by McLaren, working on the A526, the car should be pretty handy too.
Pierre Gasly was an afterthought in the debate about the best drivers of 2025, but he has matured beautifully into a team leader and time and again he took last year’s Alpine to places it did not deserve.
Gasly spoke often last season of his certainty that the promise of 2026 would compensate for all the pain he had to endure in 2025.
A reminder of what Carlos Sainz said about the Alpine after qualifying at Bahrain 2025: “Have you seen how quick that Alpine is in Turns 6 and 11? It’s as quick as a McLaren through those corners.
“They say they are 0.3s down [with the Renault] engine.
“With a Mercedes engine, it would be on the front row!”
More on the all-new regulations for F1 2026
F1 2026 tech analysed: The future of overtaking and biggest car advantage identified
F1 2025 vs F1 2026: Nine key questions ahead of massive regulation changes
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Red Bull Powertrains-Ford engine delivers
By Jamie Woodhouse
F1 2026 should serve up a treat.
Major chassis regulation changes are already enough to shake-up the pecking order. Add in new, 50/50 electric and biofuel engines, and that really is throwing a hand grenade into things.
Mercedes is the popular pick to develop the top engine. I’m backing the Red Bull Powertrains-Ford creation to be a match for it.
On the face of it, an energy drinks company competing with brands like Mercedes, Ferrari, Audi and Honda sounds ridiculous. But, Red Bull has been making the ridiculous possible in Formula 1 for over two decades now.
Working alongside a powerhouse in Ford, Red Bull has what it takes to mount a major fight in the engine ranks, just like it did as a chassis-only F1 entrant, against expectations.
The team with 14 world championship wins is about to shock again as a leading F1 engine manufacturer.
Neither of the McLaren drivers will be in the top three
By Sam Cooper
As the reigning prediction champion – I will be saying this until it is no longer factually accurate – I have looked deep into my crystal ball and foresaw that neither McLaren driver will be in the top three of standings come the end of the year.
My reasoning for this is mostly guess-based as none of us really have any clue what to expect given the new regulations but looking at the way it started the previous cycle and a focus on the extended 2025 title fight – even if it did not upgrade long into the season – may allow others to steal a march.
Of course, much of the technical team is different since 2022 but I just have a feeling it will be hard to recreate the dominance it enjoyed this year and I think its insistence to treat the drivers equally could result on both of them losing points.
Read next: 10 things we say goodbye to in Formula 1 after 2025