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.

Audi has urged the FIA to clarify how Formula 1 (F1) will police the new 16:1 compression‑ratio cap after claims rivals can exploit thermal expansion in conrods and other components. Reports suggest that some vehicles on‑track operating‑temperature compression could exceed the static ambient checks used for enforcement. Teams estimate that an undetected increase could be worth roughly 10–15 bhp (about 0.3–0.4s per lap).

The rules set a 16:1 limit measured in ambient conditions after a reduction from 18:1, and critics say the ban on measuring compression during an engine’s working cycle creates an enforceability gap that teams could exploit.

Audi COO Mattia Binotto raised the issue publicly at the team’s livery launch, and Audi, Ferrari, and Honda have written to the FIA. Audi technical director James Key has urged robust enforcement and likened the dispute to the 2009 double‑diffuser row.

Red Bull Powertrains director Ben Hodgkinson dismissed the concern as “a lot of noise about nothing,” saying his team has pushed to the limit of the rules. Mercedes also downplayed any impropriety, while executives at Ferrari and Honda have voiced reservations.

The FIA says it currently has no evidence of wrongdoing, points to the 2026 engine rules and the ADUO performance‑balancing framework, and says the matter is being addressed through technical forums. Binotto said he did not expect an immediate rule change and noted that race protests require demonstrable evidence of a specific breach.

A meeting of the five 2026 power‑unit suppliers and manufacturers is scheduled for Thursday, January 22, to discuss developing a real‑time methodology for measuring compression ratio and how on‑track compression should be assessed. Teams stress that meaningful enforcement is essential because power‑unit homologation freezes designs for the season, and any unchecked advantage could become effectively unassailable.

The dispute, therefore, centers on the interpretation and enforceability of the compression rules; the outcomes of the supplier and manufacturer talks, and the FIA’s ongoing technical work. These factors will determine whether measurement protocols or regulatory language must change.