Story byKieran JacksonThu, December 11, 2025 at 8:50 AM UTC·8 min readNo sooner has the 2025 season concluded with Lando Norris’s maiden title triumph in Abu Dhabi that attention already turns to 2026 – and a brand new dawn in Formula One. It is an exciting period, particularly for a number of teams who’ve been eyeing up ’26 for some time. New engine and chassis regulations, moving away from the ground-effect era of cars introduced in 2022, threaten to shake up the pecking order. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThere is also a new team in Cadillac joining the grid as F1’s 11th team, while automotive giants such as Audi and Ford are back in competitive contention in different ways. As for the drivers, there’s more continuation next year but Max Verstappen will once again have a new teammate and there will be another Briton on the grid in the form of Arvid Lindblad – with Brits now making up five of the 22 spots. With just 87 days until the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, The Independent breaks down why 2026 is set to be the most unpredictable season yet:New regulations, new cars and goodbye DRSF1, or F1’s governing body the FIA, refreshing their regulations is nothing new, with the last major rule-change taking place in 2022. Yet the scale of these latest modifications are significant – and perhaps the biggest shift in the sport’s history. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe most significant aspect is the engine/power unit: the MGU-H, which recovered energy from the exhaust and turbo, has been removed and now there will be a near 50/50 split between internal combustion power and electric power. The actual engine is still a 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrid, yet the proportion of power produced by the hybrid aspect of the engine has been doubled to approximately 50%.