{"id":494449,"date":"2026-02-23T16:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/494449\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:42:09","slug":"big-four-teams-still-clear-as-2026-gap-widens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/494449\/","title":{"rendered":"Big four teams still clear as 2026 gap widens"},"content":{"rendered":"

(GMM) The established \u2018big four\u2019 teams appear to have stretched their advantage under Formula 1\u2019s new 2026 regulations, according to several midfield drivers after pre-season testing in Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Speaking as the clock to Melbourne ticks down, Franco Colapinto said it was no surprise to see McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull at the front \u2013 but the margin was eye-opening.<\/p>\n

\"\"43 Franco Colapinto, (ARG), BWT Alpine Mercedes F1 Team A526, Formula 1 World championship 2026 Bahrain 18-20 February 2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already knew the four at the front were going to be fast,\u201d the Alpine driver said. \u201cSometimes the difference surprises you because when you say that all the teams have been developing the car since January 1 and you see that there is a two-second difference, you wonder how it can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s the philosophy of each team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been working in a certain way for many years, the wind tunnels are the best, the engineers too, so it is a combination of things that keeps these structures constantly at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 Carlos Sainz agreed, suggesting the 2026 rule overhaul has not delivered the reset some hoped for.<\/p>\n

\"5555 Carlos Sainz, (ESP), Williams Mercedes Fw48, Formula 1 World championship 2026 Bahrain 18-20 February 2026<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be very frank, that step forward isn\u2019t likely to happen anytime soon,\u201d he said. \u201cThe initial impression from testing is that the top four teams from last year are even better than they were last year, while the midfield is even more midfield than it was last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I think the rule change has widened the gap between teams, as often happens,\u201d he told Soy Motor<\/a>. \u201cWe thought we could close that gap with a rule change, but perhaps it has exposed exactly the areas where we\u2019re still not at the level we need to be.<\/p>\n

Colapinto\u2019s teammate Pierre Gasly set a clear target for the year ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to close the gap to the top four teams,\u201d he said. \u201cThe important thing is to demonstrate a level of performance that allows us to regularly compete in good positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re up against very experienced teams \u2013 Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari. We don\u2019t necessarily have that recent experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even further back, the newly Honda-powered Aston Martin\u2019s struggles have raised eyebrows in the paddock.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner described Adrian Newey as an artist on a podcast in 2021. Horner said that there would be no point in asking Newey to manage a team as it would be chaos. So what did the Aston Martin team do? They put Newey in charge of the team \u2013 he is the Team Principal \u2013 and so far it is complete chaos.<\/p>\n

Colapinto admitted he was surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cAston Martin surprised me a lot \u2013 we\u2019ll see how they do in Australia, but they surprised in a different way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Former F1 team boss Franz Tost also questioned Aston Martin\u2019s form.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s strange,\u201d he told Kronen Zeitung<\/a>. \u201cThe engines haven\u2019t changed that much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(GMM) The established \u2018big four\u2019 teams appear to have stretched their advantage under Formula 1\u2019s new 2026 regulations,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-494449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}