This week, Audi launched a development program to identify and nurture drivers from karting through the single‑seater ladder, offering a pathway to F1. The initiative was announced alongside the unveiling of Audi’s F1 car, the R26, and forms part of a five‑year plan, following the entity’s acquisition of Sauber. Audi outlined their road map for the future, revealing its ambition to win a world championship by 2030.

Former F1 driver and three‑time Le Mans winner Allan McNish will lead the programme, bringing experience from sports car racing and senior management roles within Audi.

Audi said the program will give prospects access to the company’s technical resources, engineers, and specialists, along with training in engineering, human performance, media, and marketing. The aim is to embed young drivers in Audi’s technical and operational culture and to prioritise resilience, intelligence, and a team‑driven mindset with raw speed.

Team principal Jonathan Wheatley described the initiative as a key pillar of Audi’s long‑term F1 strategy and part of its vision toward 2030.

The move places Audi alongside other works-run talent systems, such as Red Bull, Alpine, and McLaren, programs that have produced champions including Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, and Fernando Alonso. Audi acknowledged that building and maintaining such a pipeline requires significant investment and carries risk, but framed the program as evidence of a continued commitment to building a competitive, sustainable F1 team.

Alpine staged its 2026 season launch on an MSC Cruises ship off the Catalan coast near Barcelona, unveiling a glossy showcar that retained the team’s trademark blue with prominent BWT pink branding. The display car was presented as an illustration of the team’s look under the new regulations rather than the final A526 race car, giving fans a clear view of the blue-and-pink sidepod graphics and sponsor placement at the event.

Earlier in the week, Alpine completed a limited shakedown of the Mercedes-powered A526 at Silverstone, where Pierre Gasly covered roughly 140 km of the 200 km permitted on a wet, dark day. Initial images from that run showed noticeable differences in engine and sidepod packaging when compared with the Mercedes factory car, a visible consequence of Alpine’s shift from works status to a Mercedes customer supply arrangement under the 2026 engine rules.

Executive technical director David Sanchez said the A526 faces fresh challenges from new features such as active aero and increased electric power as a result of Alpine’s technical partnership with Mercedes-AMG. The Enstone team substantially scaled back work on the 2025 car to concentrate resources on the new regulations, a strategy that left Alpine with a disappointing 10th-place finish in the 2025 constructors’ championship with 22 points. Pierre Gasly has committed his long-term future to the team and will race alongside rookie Franco Colapinto in Colapinto’s first full Formula 1 campaign. Alpine plans to take the A526 to the opening pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on January 26–30 to finalize preparations for the 2026 season.

Ferrari unveiled the SF-26 at its Fiorano base in a 10:30 GMT livestream, releasing digital images ahead of the rollout. Drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton attended, and the car undertook initial laps at Fiorano later that day, ahead of Barcelona pre-season testing scheduled to begin in three days. The timing was intended to give Ferrari early on-track data ahead of the formal test program after the team paused SF-25 development to concentrate resources on a clean-sheet 2026 challenger.

The 2026 regulations bring a new power-unit architecture and a revised aerodynamic philosophy, which Ferrari described as a rare opportunity to end an almost 20-year constructors’ title drought and return to drivers’ title contention. Team leaders pointed to the move to an in-house power unit and a reorganized technical leadership under Loïc Serra as potential long-term advantages, while stressing that eliminating past operational lapses will be critical to turning potential into results. Leaks and reporting around the launch suggested a return to pushrod suspension at both ends (including possible double-pushrod geometry) and experimentation with steel cylinder heads for the new power unit; those technical details remained unconfirmed at the official presentation.

Against a backdrop of a disappointing 2025 season, Ferrari finished fourth in the constructors’ standings with no wins. The launch combined a new livery, an on-track shakedown, and an operational message of renewed focus. Charles Leclerc, signed through at least 2026, outperformed his team-mate in 2025, while Lewis Hamilton recorded his first season without a podium after moving from Mercedes, leaving both drivers under pressure to deliver. The Fiorano shakedown and upcoming Barcelona tests will be the first practical measures of whether Ferrari’s technical and organizational changes translate into a genuine step forward on track.

Racing Bulls, the Faenza-based VCARB F1 squad, appointed Dan Fallows as technical director, and he will join the team in April. He will oversee the team’s design, aerodynamics, and performance programmes and will report to chief technical officer Tim Goss. The post had been vacant since Jody Egginton moved to Red Bull Advanced Technologies, and Racing Bulls said the hire is part of a push to accelerate its development ahead of the 2026 season. The team’s new car, the VCARB 03, completed its first run at Imola earlier that week.

Fallows returns to the Red Bull group after a long F1 career. He worked at Jaguar from 2001 to 2004 and at Red Bull from 2006 until 2021, and he was recruited to Aston Martin as technical director in 2022. He was dismissed after a disappointing 2024 campaign and left Aston Martin’s F1 operation at the end of 2024. After a spell at Aston Martin Performance Technologies, he founded Hiperformant in June 2025 to apply F1 expertise to high‑performance engineering and business development; reports said his Racing Bulls appointment comes about ten months after he moved on from Aston Martin Performance Technologies.

Team principal Alan Permane called Fallows’s technical understanding and leadership “a real asset,” while the man himself said he was “very pleased to be joining VCARB at an exciting time for the team.” However, he cautioned that it will be some time before a design he directly influences reaches the track. Fallows will assume full responsibilities in April after completing his gardening leave.