The 2026 season has officially been one of the craziest season openings in F1 history. With Mercedes building a literal rocketship that got 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli his first win, Ferrari giving fans hope for the year of the horse, Oscar Piastri going from a world championship contender to failing to even finish a race, and Max Verstappen talking about wanting to retire, there is a lot to unpack.
Through just two races, the grid has already begun to fracture in unexpected ways. Teams that once dominated now look lost, drivers who once felt untouchable are making uncharacteristic mistakes, and a new generation is already beginning to leave its mark on the sport.
At the center of this shift are the new regulations. Designed to overtake both aerodynamics and power units, the 2026 rule changes were meant to introduce a more sustainable and competitive era of Formula 1. Instead, they have so far exposed just how difficult adaptation in this sport can be. Teams were forced to rethink everything, from car balance to energy deployment, and not all of them have done so successfully. The result is a grid that feels unsettled, where performance varies not just between teams, but from race to race.
While the podiums have consisted of similar names, the races themselves have been anything but predictable. Reliability issues, inconsistent pace, and strategic missteps have defined both weekends. Max Verstappen, for example, who was arguably the most dominant driver of the past few seasons, has already suffered multiple incidents, including crashes that have taken him out of the race entirely.
Another team that has struggled in the face of these new regulations is Cadillac. While they brought legacy names such as Valtteri Bottas and Checo Perez, the cars haven’t done justice to the drivers. Being new to the F1 world, they are struggling to make a place for themselves in this extremely brutal and competitive sport.
On a similar note, McLaren, who infamously won the Constructors Title two years in a row, have not been able to keep the same expectations for this season. In the Australian Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri’s home race, Lando Norris had difficulties with the car that landed him in fifth place, while Piastri was pulled early and not able to finish the race. In the second race, neither car made it out of the pit lane.
On the other hand, teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, Alpine, and Haas have seen exceptional performances. In the first two races, we saw Ferrari and Mercedes being in a battle for taking the top spot, Alpine performing better than Redbull, and Haas’s car put Ollie Bearman in fifth place for the world championship.
Both Mercedes’s drivers have stood on the podium the first races of the season. George Russel won the Australia GP and Kimi Antonelli got second place. These roles were reversed in the Shanghai GP, with Antonelli winning his first race ever and going down in F1 history as the second youngest driver to ever win. Ferrari also stood out in the Shanghai GP, where Lewis Hamilton got his first podium with Ferrari since he joined the team last year. Their race starts have been the strongest of any other team so far, with both drivers being able to take the lead really early on, as the lights go out, giving fans the hope of this being the much awaited year of the horse.
In conclusion, with Grand Prixs being postponed, teams having unpredictable performances, and with twenty two races left, this is going to be a season for the books.
Featured image: Betty Cavicchia’28
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