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Red Bull launched their new engine partnership with Ford in Detroit on Thursday but the car on display there in the team’s new livery was a show car that bore almost no resemblance to their 2026 car.<\/p>\n
The new rules for 2026 change both the cars and power-units (PU). The engines remain 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrids, but the electrical components of the engine now have a much greater importance in overall performance, with significantly increased energy management around a lap and over a race, and the engines must run on fully sustainable fuel produced from either waste biomass or industrial synthetic processes.<\/p>\n
The teams will reveal their cars individually in a series of online launches over the next three weeks, before the first public pre-season test in Bahrain from 11-13 February, which is followed by a second on 18-20 February.<\/p>\n
There is a first test in Barcelona in the last week of January but this is private, with no independent media allowed.<\/p>\n
The first race of the season is the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 6-8 March.<\/p>\n
Team principal Ayao Komatsu said the extent of the regulation changes was a major challenge for Haas as F1’s smallest team.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think any team, even the biggest, is going to say they’re fully equipped to tackle this. However, for us, the challenge is bigger,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s going to be huge variation between teams because of two elements. <\/p>\n
“First is the PU, with the teams using the same provider presumably bunched up, so Mercedes providing four teams, Ferrari providing three, Red Bull two, Audi and Honda providing one. <\/p>\n
“Then on the aerodynamic side, it’s completely open, and development will happen fast. <\/p>\n
“A pecking order may get established in the first four races pretty quickly, but I think it’s going to be a very dynamic season. What you see in race one and race two, I expect will be totally different when we come to the final races of the year.”<\/p>\n
Komatsu said working out the complexities of energy management would be a large focus of the first weeks of work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n