F1 2026 driver line-up: Lewis Hamilton and other drivers already confirmed for 2026<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt was more difficult for teams to estimate the performance of their 2026 cars at the end of the season,\u201d Pirelli\u2019s Mario Isola explained. \u201cBut we needed those simulations because we needed to design a product that is lasting for one year. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they just give us an idea of the car performance at the start of the season, and if we don\u2019t know what the rate of development will be, then it\u2019s difficult for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have discussed some limitations with the teams, based on those first tests,\u201d Isola continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, we decided to avoid overloading the tyres on the straights. We were testing with a speed limit at 290km\/h or 300km\/h, because clearly they will have a lot less downforce on the straights next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo we agreed on some methodologies for testing with the teams. Thanks to these methodologies it was possible to have feedback from the mule cars that was a little bit more coherent, more close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s test gets underway at 09:00 local time and run until 18:00. Every time will field two cars, but the focus will be split.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen, George Russell, and neither Aston Martin driver nor Franco Colapinto will be present. <\/p>\n
However, F1\u2019s new World Champion, Lando Norris, will lay down the laps as he shares the driving duties with his teammate Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n
Abu Dhabi Post-Season Line-up<\/p>\n
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri \/ Pato O\u2019Ward
Mercedes: Kimi Antonelli \/ Frederik Vesti
Red Bull: Isack Hadjar \/ Ayumu Iwasa
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton \/ Dino Beganovic
Williams: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz \/ Luke Browning
Racing Bulls: Liam Lawson \/ Arvid Lindblad
Aston Martin: Stoffel Vandoorne \/ Jak Crawford
Haas: Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon \/ Ryo Hirakawa
Sauber:\tGabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg\u00a0\/ Paul Aron
Alpine:\tPierre Gasly \/ Kush Maini<\/p>\n
Read next: Brundle highlights what Hamilton is \u2018terribly\u2019 missing as Ferrari driver talks changes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Closing the 2025 chapter in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, Formula 1 begins a new one on Tuesday when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[94915,64,63,817,813,816,818,44,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-336556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-abu-dhabi-grand-prix","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-home-page","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}