5 Burning Questions For The 2026 Formula 1 Season

Welcome to the first race week of the 2026 Formula 1 season. As racing gets underway in Melbourne, Australia, this weekend, the global racing series sees the most dramatic regulations to the car design in well over a decade. With all the changes, the teams have looked for ways to get an advantage within the rules in the earliest days of the schedule. But looming over the season are global factors completely out of the FIA and F1’s control that could have the biggest impact. Here are five burning questions for the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Will The Iran Conflict Cause Race Cancellations?

The Israel, U.S., Iran conflict has already caused flights to be rerouted and Pirelli to cancel tire testing. With President Trump saying that operations could last several weeks and Iran retaliating across multiple countries in the Middle East, the F1 schedule could be at risk of cancellations.

Of key concern are Rounds 4 and 5 on the Formula 1 calendar, which are in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on April 12th and 19th. After the initial attack on Tehran and counterattacks into Israel, Iran launched additional attacks into the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait, confirming missile strikes, while Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, and Qatar said they intercepted missiles.

Should the conflict move into a full-blown war with other countries in the region, other races could be imperiled. Qatar (Round 23, Nov. 27-29) and Abu Dhabi (Round 24, Dec. 4-6) close out the 2026 season.

ANKARA, TURKIYE – MARCH 2: An infographic titled “UK, US and French bases in Middle East” that could be targeted by Iran. Rounds 4 and 5 of the F1 season take place in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Anadolu via Getty Images

Will Aston-Martin Drop Honda As Their Powerplant?

Preseason testing did not go well for Aston-Martin: strike that, it was a disaster. All told, drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stoll combined for a total of 128 laps – a fraction of what other teams were able to get in. The reason? Honda’s powerplant has been wholly unreliable. Throw in the fact that Adrian Newey came over from Red Bull as technical director last March, and it sets up possibly the worst scenario Aston-Martin could be in heading into the season.

So bad is the situation that there is talk of Aston-Martin only having Alonso and Stroll conduct the formation lap in Melbourne this weekend, should vibration issues that have impacted the engine recovery system for the battery, which now accounts for roughly half of the powerplant output for 2026. Given that the test sessions went so poorly, any track time is going to become critical, making prospects of dropping entirely out of Melbourne, citing force majeure, only a desperate maneuver.

But what transpires not only in Melbourne but also in other upcoming races on the schedule raises the possibility of Aston Martin ditching the Honda powerplant in favor of Ferrari or Mercedes powerplants. So much was made of trying to improve on the 2025 season that Honda could be on a short leash.

Does FIA, F1 Ruling On Engine Compression Resolve Mercedes Advantage?

Since the dawn of Formula 1, teams have looked for ways to gain an advantage via loopholes in the rules. Mercedes caused a clamor on the grid by gaining extra compression with the internal combustion engine (ICE) due to altering the design to take advantage of the rules.

The FIA and F1 had stated that the engine compression ratio for the 2026 season would drop from 18:1 to 16:1. This was done to make things a bit easier for Audi and Red Bull Powertrains, who are new to the grid this year.

Regulations stated that the 16:1 compression ratio would be measured at cold temperatures. Mercedes, which supplies engines not only to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas factory team but also to McLaren, Williams, and Alpine, figured out a way to increase the car’s compression ratio when hot while keeping the engine rated at 16:1 when cold to stay within the regulations. That design change created extra power, causing a row across the grid.

To address it, the FIA and F1 agreed to change the rule so that 16:1 compression is measured when both hot (130 °C) and cold. The catch? The change to the regulations won’t be put in place till June 1, giving teams with the Mercedes’ ICE an advantage through Round 7 in Canada.

Will Ferrari’s Inverted Rear Wing Give Them An Early Benefit?

The 2025 season was the last to see DRS – a flap opening on the rear wing within certain zones when a trailing car was within 1 second of another. Multiple changes to the car for 2026 see active aerodynamics with Straight Line Mode replacing DRS. While other teams have opted for a hinge that sees a trailing flap to reduce drag, Scuderia Ferrari’s rear wing flips 180°, therefore diffusing exhaust.

Ferrari’s ‘flow turning device’ is located close to the bottom of the wing assembly. It is roughly square in section – and aligned with the gap ahead between the two rear wing pillars – and is angled very steeply upwards.

It appears to be directing exhaust flow to the underside of the rear wing main plane, but it is almost certainly also energizing the airflow exiting the diffuser in that central part of its width.

As is often the case in Formula 1, it’s quite possible that other teams on the grid copy the design as the season unfolds.

Will Cars With Ferrari Powerplants Get The Jump On Starts?

Another eyebrow-raiser from testing in Bahrain was how quickly all the teams with Ferrari powerplants were out of the blocks on simulated starts. Below shows how quickly Lewis Hamilton jumped on the field.

Another technical change for 2026: the powerplants can no longer carry the MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit) attached to the turbocharger. Ferrari knew this would come into play with starts, given it would take longer to get the turbocharger to spin up, effectively dragging down power with the turbo not fully spun up. It is believed that Ferrari designed a smaller turbocharger to address lag and spin it up faster.

“Without the MGU-H, it was clear that turbo lag would become a factor to manage, from drivability to race starts,” Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, stated to Motorsports.com. “This has been known from day one. When evaluating choices in defining the guidelines for a power unit, it’s not just about pure power; other aspects matter as well, and one of these is the start.

“That’s why we made certain decisions, and the FIA has been quite clear from the beginning about not wanting to change the starting procedure, so I was surprised when this topic resurfaced in Bahrain.”

Worried that cars could plow into one another at the start, the FIA adjusted the rules to add an extra five seconds between the final car reaching their grid position and the ignition of the start lights, thereby giving turbochargers the extra time to spin up at the start.