Author Archives: PressBox

McLaren will not run the new MCL40 on the opening day of the five-day closed Barcelona pre-season shakedown (January 26–30). Instead, the Woking garage will delay on-track running until day two or three while still using the three permitted test days. The car was started up late last week and is undergoing dyno and systems reliability work at AVL in Graz, Austria. McLaren will perform its on-track shakedown directly at Barcelona rather than hold a prior private run. Team principal Andrea Stella called the decision ‘plan A’, saying the deliberate delay is intended to maximize development time and ensure the car is properly built and signed off amid what he described as ‘almost unprecedented’ regulation changes.

Technical staff framed the rollout as cautious and data-driven. Chief designer Rob Marshall said the Barcelona car will be ‘pretty much’ the package McLaren takes to the season opener. Only incremental updates are expected before the official pre-season tests in Bahrain. Technical director Mark Temple and Stella stressed the scale of the rule changes, noting that new electrical hybrid systems and tighter energy-management constraints will make battery use and recovery central to performance and strategy.

McLaren will limit public visuals early, publishing a silhouette until the eve of Barcelona and holding a full livery reveal on February 9. The move underscores the team’s focus on internal validation before public exposure.

The decision trades immediate on-track mileage for additional factory development and reliability validation, a calculated choice shaped by logistics (the car’s dyno programme in Austria) and cost-cap considerations. Several rivals, including Audi, Cadillac, Racing Bulls, Alpine, Mercedes, and Ferrari, have already completed or scheduled early shakedowns or filming days and could run on day one. McLaren’s later start reduces early running but keeps the team within regulatory allowances.

Overall, the reigning Constructor Champions presented the approach as a strategic effort to protect long-term performance and preserve flexibility across the Barcelona test and the lead-up to the season opener. It allows McLaren to prioritize a controlled rollout of this season’s package over chasing early mileage.

Netflix announced today that Season 8 of Drive to Survive will be released on February 27, arriving on Netflix alongside the previous seven seasons.

Netflix and the producers say Season 8 will offer behind-the-scenes access to the major storylines that shaped the 2025 F1 season. The latest installment will cover Lando Norris’s maiden drivers’ championship and McLaren’s constructors’ title, after Norris edged Max Verstappen by two points in a title fight that went down to the final race. The series will also address Lewis Hamilton’s first year at Ferrari, the dismissal of Christian Horner from Red Bull after two decades, Nico Hülkenberg’s first F1 podium, and Oscar Piastri’s role in the title battle.

Netflix timed the release for about a week before the 2026 F1 season opens at the Australian Grand Prix, positioning the series as both a retrospective on 2025 and a promotional lead-in to the new campaign. Observers point to Drive to Survive’s role in growing F1’s global audience, citing attendance surges at races such as Austin, Miami, and Las Vegas, and related projects like the companion series F1: The Academy and the 2025 F1 film. Season 8 is expected to run about ten episodes of roughly 30 minutes to an hour each, continuing to blend on-track outcomes with off-track narratives that broaden mainstream interest in the sport.

Red Bull enters the 2026 F1 season with its first in‑house power unit, built by Red Bull Powertrains with technical input from Ford. The new engine is scheduled to debut at the Australian GP in March, and the team has scheduled a closed‑door shakedown in Barcelona for January 26 as part of early preparations.

A regulatory dispute has arisen over Article C.5.4.3 of the 2026 Technical Regulations, which sets a maximum geometric compression ratio of 16.0 measured at ambient temperature. Reports suggest Red Bull Powertrains and Mercedes may be exploiting wording in the article to run effectively higher compression ratios on track. The reports have prompted the FIA to convene technical experts to resolve differing interpretations. Red Bull technical chief Ben Hodgkinson defended the design, saying the team had pushed the package “right to the very limit,” expected measured targets around 15.999, and argued the nominal 16.0 limit is conservative given advances in combustion.

Teams and the FIA agreed component limits for 2026 include four internal combustion engines/turbochargers and three MGU‑Ks per driver before penalties apply. The regulator granted an exception, giving Red Bull and Audi one extra power‑unit component across the board in 2027. Audi entered 2026 after purchasing Sauber and is the other new engine manufacturer alongside Red Bull Powertrains; the FIA’s concession to both newcomers could create a late‑season competitive swing in 2027 if either manufacturer contests the title.

Red Bull also arranged to supply its sister team, Racing Bulls, through a technical partnership with Ford, extending its in‑house architecture beyond the works cars.

Team principal Laurent Mekies described 2026 as a transition year in which in‑season development will be decisive. He warned Red Bull would not immediately match Mercedes and Ferrari in outright power and said a slow start could reignite speculation about Max Verstappen’s future. Verstappen is reported to have reaffirmed his commitment to Red Bull for 2026, despite holding exploratory talks with Mercedes and carrying a contract with performance-related exit clauses. Mekies said the team hoped to show “enough progress” during the season to secure Verstappen’s continuation.

The technical switch, ongoing rule clarifications, and the FIA’s component concession leave Red Bull as an underdog entering 2026, with a recovery path defined by rapid development and regulatory outcomes.

Red Bull finalised its 2026 driver line-up and plans to announce it on Tuesday ahead of the Abu Dhabi finale. The decision was made with input from Laurent Mekies, Helmut Marko and CEO Oliver Mintzlaff; management said the timing was chosen to avoid distracting Max Verstappen during the title run‑in and to allow any driver who misses out a proper send‑off in Abu Dhabi. Mekies emphasised that anyone racing in Abu Dhabi must be able to support Verstappen and praised Yuki Tsunoda’s recent pace as the team weighed its options.

The core decision promotes Isack Hadjar into the senior Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen, creating a vacancy at sister team Racing Bulls that is set to be filled by 18‑year‑old FIA Formula 2 (F2) race winner Arvid Lindblad. The other Racing Bulls seat is contested between Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda; reports said a high‑level meeting favoured retaining Lawson to partner Lindblad, while Tsunoda faces alternatives including a move to Racing Bulls, a reserve role, or release.

The Qatar Grand Prix served as a final audition: Hadjar signalled he knew his future, Lawson finished ahead of Tsunoda and impressed team figures, and Tsunoda showed flashes of speed in the sprint despite an otherwise difficult season (15th in the standings with 33 points). The announced structure settles a key piece of Red Bull’s driver programme, reshuffles its junior pathway and has immediate implications for driver careers and partner‑team line‑ups in 2026. The Tuesday announcement is reported to finalise those placements and bring clarity after one of the off‑season’s most closely watched decisions.

Ferrari announced it is moving Riccardo Adami off Lewis Hamilton’s car and appointing him manager of Ferrari’s Driver Academy and of its test and previous cars. Ferrari said it will use Adami’s trackside experience to help develop drivers and to manage the team’s test and previous cars, framing the change as an internal reallocation rather than a technical shake-up. Adami had been Hamilton’s race engineer throughout last season and previously worked with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sebastian Vettel; Ferrari publicly thanked him for his commitment.

The reassignment follows a season in which Hamilton underperformed relative to expectations and drew scrutiny after several awkward radio exchanges, though he publicly defended his working relationship with Adami. Ferrari acknowledged communications between the pair had sometimes been strained, citing their final radio exchange at the Yas Marina finale — where Hamilton, who finished P8, said, “Been a long season, guys. Grazie a tutti.” — and said there was room for improvement. Ferrari confirmed Hamilton will have a new race engineer for the upcoming season, but has not yet named a successor. The announcement came just over a week before the pre-season test in Barcelona and a week before Ferrari’s new-car launch, creating a tight timeline to appoint a replacement; the team said a decision is needed before on-track activity begins. Ferrari emphasised organisational continuity and positioned the move as a way to strengthen its performance culture and talent pipeline without signalling immediate changes to the car’s technical programme.

Alpine completed the A526’s first on‑track shakedown at a wet Silverstone. Pierre Gasly drove laps in heavy rain as the team ran system checks and packaging validation rather than performance runs. The filming day was limited to 200 km, giving Alpine early mileage ahead of formal testing. The outing, attended by figures including Flavio Briatore and Franco Colapinto, made Alpine the fourth team to put a 2026 car on track after Audi, Cadillac, and Racing Bulls.

Video and close-up photos showed the car in a livery similar to 2025 and revealed several visual and aerodynamic changes versus the A525. Noticeably, the reconfigured rear fin behind the airbox, removed wheel brows, revised front‑wing endplates, and covered cooling vents above the sidepods. Alpine did not officially confirm the car’s identity.

Separately, Alpine ran a TPC session in Barcelona using its 2025 car as a final shake‑down. Gasly, Franco Colapinto, and reserve driver Paul Aron shared running in a short “wake‑up” outing. The team said the session was preparatory for the closed‑door five‑day pre‑season test in Barcelona, scheduled for Jan 26–30. With teams limited to three testing days each, Alpine portrayed the TPC run and the Silverstone filming as complementary steps to validate systems and power‑unit packaging ahead of the full test programme.

Alpine is scheduled to unveil the A526 livery on Jan 23, the same day Ferrari plans its reveal.

The shakedown was Alpine’s first running with Mercedes power units after parent company Renault ended its in‑house works programme, formally making Alpine a Mercedes customer for 2026. The team is targeting a rebound from a difficult 2025 campaign: it finished last in the constructors’ standings with 22 points after halting A525 development in early June to focus on the 2026 regulations. Alpine ended the year 58 points behind ninth‑placed Sauber (now competing as Audi). Gasly said he is focused on pure pace and has been working over the winter to find any advantage.