Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said he had been in contact with Adrian Newey and described him as “not doing well.” Aston Martin subsequently announced Newey will relinquish his team-principal duties after failing to get the AMR26 competitive.

The AMR26 — Newey’s first design for Aston Martin after he joined the team in March 2025 — has been significantly off the pace and has suffered severe vibrations linked to Honda’s new power unit, along with persistent reliability problems.

According to reports the car has yet to complete a Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll failed to finish the opening two races, leaving Aston Martin last in the standings.

On-track results through Australia and China underlined Mercedes’ early advantage. George Russell won the Australian Grand Prix and the Shanghai Sprint and led the drivers’ standings on 51 points, while Mercedes topped the constructors’ standings on 98 points — more than 30 clear of Ferrari.

GPS telemetry from the opening rounds showed the Ferrari SF-26 had a pronounced traction weakness versus the Mercedes W17, costing time on corner exits and harming race pace and overtaking. Engineers attributed the deficit to that loss of traction, and Mercedes’ onboard and GPS data helped pinpoint where the SF-26 was losing performance. Analysts and rival teams treated the SF-26’s weakness as a car-development problem, with GPS evidence linking the traction deficit to poorer race-distance performance and fewer overtaking opportunities.

The traction issue shaped Ferrari’s mixed early return: the team arrived in 2026 stronger than in 2025 and kept Mercedes from running entirely away with the opening rounds. Charles Leclerc remained one of the quickest drivers — he pressured Russell in Australia and still finished fourth in Shanghai despite the circuit being a known weakness for him. Lewis Hamilton ended a 16-month podium drought with third in Shanghai — his first rostrum in his 26th race weekend for Ferrari. He said he felt “back to my best” after heavy winter training, the addition of a new race engineer and improved team morale while adapting to the cars’ energy-deployment systems, but warned Ferrari still needed significant gains to match Mercedes, estimating the W17 holds roughly four to five tenths in race trim. With the Japanese Grand Prix approaching, Ferrari is aiming to build on the Shanghai podium and address the traction shortfall as it attempts to close the gap to the early leaders.

Audi announced Jonathan Wheatley left its F1 operation earlier this month, describing the departure as immediate and for “personal reasons.” Other outlets linked the exit to months of internal friction with Mattia Binotto and, in some reports, Audi CEO Gernot Döllner. Reports varied on the length of his tenure — some put it at 24 races, others described it as roughly 12 months or “less than a year.” Several outlets tied Wheatley to Aston Martin; those claims remain unconfirmed and any appointment would be subject to gardening leave. A podcast suggested Audi might waive or shorten gardening leave to allow an earlier start, possibly by the Dutch Grand Prix in August, but none of these outcomes is confirmed.

Aston Martin’s possible interest comes amid technical turmoil. Reports described the AMR26 as “unreliable and dangerous,” and the team has publicly cited problems with its Honda power unit. As part of a wider shake-up, Aston Martin plans to reposition Adrian Newey back into a technical role; Newey had previously identified Wheatley as a primary target for the team-principal post, and owner Lawrence Stroll has reiterated Newey’s role as managing technical partner. Timing speculation about any Wheatley appointment ranges from a year-long gardening leave that could delay a start until 2027 to the podcast scenario of an earlier debut.

Audi moved quickly to stabilize operations by installing Mattia Binotto as team principal and describing the change as operational while a longer-term senior leadership structure is finalized. Binotto, already head of Audi’s F1 project, has assumed Wheatley’s responsibilities. Audi said driveability weaknesses in this season’s power unit cost Nico Hülkenberg positions at Turn 6. The team also pointed to mixed early-season results: Gabriel Bortoleto reached Q3 and finished ninth in Australia, while both cars recorded DNSs in Melbourne and China. Audi reiterated its goal to win a world championship by 2030 and continues to experience senior-management turnover; Allan McNish has been suggested as a possible internal candidate for a senior role.

Haas unveiled a Godzilla-themed livery created in collaboration with Toho ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, leading the team’s Tokyo launch at Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. The special scheme, applied to the VF-26 cars, retains Haas’s core white, black and red colorway while adding Godzilla artwork to the sides and rear quarter and textured detailing around the sidepods. The reveal continues a season-long partnership with Toho and was described as a first for both organizations.

Team and corporate ties framed the announcement: the project reinforces Haas’s deeper alignment with Japan after the team was rebranded TGR Haas F1 Team following a technical partnership with Toyota, and Haas treated Suzuka as a de facto home race because of its naming-rights relationship with Toyota Gazoo Racing. TGR Haas said the livery is intended to introduce the Godzilla brand to new audiences; Toho executive Keiji Ota said Godzilla’s symbolism of power and resilience reflects the team’s ethos. Team principal Ayao Komatsu, who attended the launch, called the design a new milestone for both partners and said the team’s priority at Suzuka is to focus on fundamentals and get both cars into double points.

Drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman will carry the special paint at Suzuka, where Ocon called the track “the best circuit on the calendar.” Bearman entered the weekend fifth in the drivers’ standings after recent finishes that included seventh in Australia and eighth and fifth across the sprint and grand prix in China. Haas confirmed the Godzilla collaboration will reappear at the United States Grand Prix in Austin later this year, timed ahead of Toho’s new film Godzilla Minus Zero due November 6. The launch generated a positive reaction from fans and media — some joking that Haas had “cooked” with the concept — and it doubled as both a race-week visual tribute and a broader cultural and commercial partnership between the team, Toho and Toyota.

Jenson Button said he was “jealous” that Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll get to drive cars shaped by Adrian Newey and admitted he would love to try a Newey-designed car himself. Writing on the Aston Martin website in his “Jenson’s Journal,” the 2009 world champion — who retired at the end of 2025 and joined Aston Martin as a multi-year ambassador in February after moving his ambassador role from Williams — described watching Newey operate up close as “fascinating” and called him “old school” for sketching ideas in a notebook. Button said he even tried to sneak a peek at Newey’s notebook and that he would “jump at the chance” to do a demonstration run in a Newey car, though he joked that a full 24-race season in one would be too much.

Aston Martin, with Newey serving as its managing technical partner and team principal for 2026, endured a sluggish start under the new regulations. Media reports said the team had not yet scored a race win and had failed to record a classified finish early in the season, with Honda power-unit problems, including severe vibrations in Australia that limited running and disrupted qualifying, among the issues.

Button warned the new technical era has altered power-unit behavior, with hybrid deployment and brake-pressure interaction now influencing available power and forcing drivers to manage systems differently. Given Newey’s long record of championship-winning designs, Button and others have framed his arrival as a potential technical boost for the Silverstone-based squad.

Mario Andretti, a Cadillac board member, told the Drive to Wynn podcast he hopes the Silverstone-based, Ferrari-powered squad will be “challenging the Top 10 by the end of the 2026 Formula 1 season,” and he said ambitious goals are needed to progress toward race wins.

Two races into Cadillac’s debut F1 campaign the team sits at the back of the grid but has shown early signs of improvement. Valtteri Bottas finished 13th in Shanghai — the team’s best result to that point — and both cars completed the Chinese Grand Prix, marking Cadillac’s first double finish. Reports differ on Sergio Pérez’s exact placing in China: some outlets listed him 14th while others listed 15th. Bottas called the result “decent and a good starting point.”

The opening rounds have underlined the scale of the challenge. Drivers are still adapting — Andretti described Bottas and Pérez as “a bit rusty” after time away from full-time seats — and the team has faced technical shortcomings, including a lack of outright pace, perceived downforce and rear-stability issues, trouble extracting consistent performance from the Ferrari power unit and difficulties managing battery charge. Cadillac had not yet recorded a trouble-free weekend, and Bottas said the squad is, for now, primarily able to compete with Aston Martin. Qualifying deficits have narrowed from roughly four seconds early on to about two seconds: Bottas was 2.261s off Charles Leclerc’s Q1 benchmark in Shanghai, while Pérez had been about 3.1s adrift in Melbourne qualifying.

Team leaders stress an aggressive development programme. Parts are due in Japan and a larger upgrade package is planned after the spring break as engineers work “flat out” to convert improving reliability into stronger on-track performance. Andretti tempered expectations with realism about the scale of the task but said the season’s unpredictability and the strength of the Ferrari power unit could create opportunities for rapid gains.

Racing Bulls unveiled a Japan-inspired one-off livery as a promotional and cultural activation ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The team said the design was explicitly inspired by Red Bull’s Spring Edition “cherry sakura” can and the new flavor from the energy drink backer, and intended the visual treatment as a marketing push rather than a technical change. Coverage variously described the car as crimson- or cherry-colored, while other reports noted it reworks Racing Bulls’ usual blue into a white, red and silver palette—a difference reflected in the team’s social posts and event imagery. Fans reacted positively on social platforms, many joking that driver Liam Lawson was “winning the livery championship.”

The livery was revealed at the Red Bull Tokyo Drift event in Tokyo, where drivers Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad attended and Racing Bulls presented the design alongside a drift demonstration by Mad Mike (Mike Whiddett). The motif was created with Japanese calligrapher Bisen Aoyagi, whose shodo brush strokes and calligraphic treatment wrap both the car and a matching team kit; Aoyagi is also slated to produce special artwork for the team during the Suzuka weekend.

CEO Peter Bayer framed the Tokyo unveiling as a strategic effort to deepen the team’s connection with younger fans and the host nation. After the Tokyo showcase, the car was scheduled to visit landmarks including Meguro River, Tokyo Tower and Shibuya before making its track debut at Suzuka. Racing Bulls — Red Bull’s second Formula 1 team — presented the one-off look as a cultural collaboration and product-promotion tied to a high-profile race weekend, part of a wider trend of circuit-specific liveries in F1; coverage noted similar gestures in recent seasons, including a Japan-themed Red Bull livery last year to honor Honda and a bespoke Haas design linked to its partnership with Toyota, underlining that such treatments function as marketing and local cultural activations rather than competitive developments.

Ralf Schumacher publicly rebuked Max Verstappen for airing strong complaints about Formula 1’s 2026 technical regulations and urged him to show leadership and restraint as Red Bull struggled early in the season. Schumacher called on Verstappen to embrace a formal team-leader role to steady the team rather than withdraw into public criticism, saying Verstappen currently “takes center stage.” He contrasted Verstappen’s posture with how Michael Schumacher would have responded, adding that Verstappen “has proved he’s no Michael Schumacher,” and urged Red Bull sporting director Laurent Mekies to hire stronger, more media-savvy personnel to share the spotlight.

Verstappen had criticized the new power units as “Formula E on steroids” and said anyone who liked them “doesn’t know what racing is like.” He first made the remark during pre-season testing and had raised concerns privately with the FIA. The paddock pushed back: Guenther Steiner mocked Verstappen’s stance, saying “it’s not the fault of the regulations… Max is not happy because the car is not where he likes it to be” and that Verstappen “always throws the toys out of the pram when it doesn’t go his way.” Some observers also noted Helmut Marko’s absence had focused more attention on Verstappen.

The dispute coincided with tangible problems for Red Bull: on-track incidents, reliability concerns and a perceived drop in pace for Red Bull’s RB22. Verstappen had eight championship points after two weekends, suffered a qualifying crash in Australia and retired at the Chinese Grand Prix, and showed struggles with race starts compared with teammate Isack Hadjar. The debate has taken on both sporting and leadership dimensions: Schumacher argued Verstappen’s public airing of grievances has amplified attention on the driver rather than on team leadership, and suggested Red Bull looked like only the fourth-best team in the early part of the season. Reactions among top drivers were split — Lewis Hamilton praised the new regulations and took a podium for Ferrari in China — underscoring divergent views within the paddock as calls continued for responsibility and restraint from one high-profile figure toward another during a challenging phase for the team.

Both McLaren cars failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix after separate electrical faults that have been reported to be linked to the Mercedes power unit. Engineers identified a critical control‑unit fault on Lando Norris’s car during pre‑race preparations while Oscar Piastri’s car shut down on the grid. McLaren and Mercedes‑AMG HPP opened a joint, intensive investigation into how the new hybrid power units are integrating with the car’s electronic systems. McLaren has publicly complained of a lack of information from Mercedes HPP since Melbourne, adding an organizational communications strain to the technical probe. Team principal Andrea Stella said the partners worked intensively to try to resolve the issues and that the team will focus on learning lessons and returning stronger.

Telemetry from Shanghai also forced McLaren to reassess its on‑car package. A shorter‑wheelbase configuration introduced after this season’s floor decision produced persistent handling problems, with GPS data showing time loss in medium‑to‑high‑speed corners. As a result, McLaren shifted development priority at its Woking base toward chassis and drivability improvements, re‑evaluating where to concentrate upcoming updates and saying it would likely reallocate resources and testing focus.

The double DNS had immediate sporting consequences. McLaren sits third in the constructors’ standings on 18 points, roughly 80 points behind leaders Mercedes; Norris has 15 championship points and Piastri three. Piastri is yet to complete a racing lap this season after his Melbourne crash, which some reports linked to an unexpected 100kW battery power event. The Shanghai non‑starts were McLaren’s first double DNS since the 2005 United States Grand Prix, Norris’s first missed grand prix start in his eight‑year career and Piastri’s second consecutive DNS — the first McLaren driver to miss two races in a row since Bruce McLaren in 1969. Drivers and team figures framed the setback as a technical and developmental challenge: Piastri described the Mercedes units as “incredibly complex” and warned that small changes can have unintended consequences, while Norris said engineers knew the shortcomings and that development work and reliability fixes are the immediate priority as McLaren aims to salvage its season amid growing external pressure.