{"id":231770,"date":"2026-03-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/plenty-of-changes-as-formula-1-drives-into-2026-season-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:00:00","slug":"plenty-of-changes-as-formula-1-drives-into-2026-season-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/plenty-of-changes-as-formula-1-drives-into-2026-season-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"Plenty of changes as Formula 1 drives into 2026 season | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST:<\/strong> Start your engines because Formula 1 (F1) is back, with a record-tying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/f1\/schedule\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">24-race season<\/a> on deck. From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/team\/lando-norris\/lando-to-use-number-1-in-2026-as-world-champion\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">new car numbers<\/a> to shiny new regulations, plenty has changed ahead of tomorrow\u2019s 11 p.m. ET Australian Grand Prix. Buckle up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udc4f Cadillac makes F1 debut:<\/strong> This year\u2019s grid will feature 11 teams for the first time in a decade as the U.S.\u2013based constructor joins the paddock, and it\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/formula1\/articles\/c4gjmkj4g88o#:~:text=If%20Audi%20was%20faced%20with,They%20reconfigured%20their%20bid.\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a long time coming<\/a>. Cadillac will feature a pair of fan favorite drivers for their debut season: Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, who boast 27 years of experience between them.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When \u201cnew\u201d teams join the fold, they\u2019re often rebranded preexisting teams (like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/audi-expands-commitment-to-formula-1-with-100-takeover-of-sauber.4g5fNv9jl03sw5btt4LuSw\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Kick Sauber becoming Audi<\/a> this year), but Cadillac isn\u2019t that: They\u2019re an entirely fresh entity, meaning new infrastructure, faces, and facilities\u2026and a highly-complex car built from scratch.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udfc6 Which team will win?: <\/strong>It\u2019s hard to say. F1 just underwent its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.formula1.com\/en\/latest\/article\/the-beginners-guide-to-the-2026-regulations.6j0tS0hrHG2T01tpmK6XYz\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">biggest regulation change ever<\/a> with 2026 rules affecting power units, aerodynamics, tires, and fuel \u2014 every single team had to reinvent themselves. Mercedes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7054817\/2026\/02\/18\/f1-engine-compression-ratio-car-controversy\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">controversially<\/a> showed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-race.com\/formula-1\/ranking-the-2026-f1-teams-after-pre-season-testing\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">promise in testing<\/a>, but don\u2019t count out the best to ever do it: four-time champ Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DVQ3MmPjIDm\/?img_index=1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a locked in<\/a> Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If we know one thing though, it\u2019s that Aston Martin is down bad, like <em>really<\/em> bad. Their car\u2019s engine vibrations are so severe that completing the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix could cause their drivers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/f1\/story\/_\/id\/48107697\/aston-martin-fear-driver-nerve-damage-f1-car-not-finish-australian-grand-prix\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">permanent nerve damage<\/a>. Not exactly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.the-race.com\/formula-1\/feels-like-electrocution-aston-martin-driver-harm-fears-explained\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the electric opener<\/a> they were hoping for.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/plenty-of-changes-as-formula-1-drives-into-2026-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: Start your engines because Formula 1 (F1) is back, with a record-tying 24-race season on deck. From new car numbers to shiny new regulations, plenty has changed ahead of tomorrow\u2019s 11 p.m. ET Australian Grand Prix. Buckle up. \ud83d\udc4f Cadillac makes F1 debut: This year\u2019s grid will feature 11 teams for the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-231770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}