Formula One’s 2026 grid includes 11 teams, with Cadillac joining the championship and Sauber entering its first season as Audi. Arvid Lindblad is the only rookie, while established drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris return after a 2025 season marked by title battles, podiums and team changes. The line-ups combine returning partnerships with new pairings at Audi, Cadillac and Red Bull.

McLaren begins the new era of regulations as constructors’ champion, retaining the two drivers who fought for the drivers’ title last season. Lando Norris won his first world championship at the Abu Dhabi finale. The 26-year-old Briton will seek to become the first McLaren driver since Mika Hakkinen, in 1998 and 1999, to win consecutive drivers’ titles.

Oscar Piastri led the championship for much of 2025 and recorded seven victories and 16 podiums. The 24-year-old Australian struggled during the second half of the campaign and ended the year third in the standings. He and Norris return to McLaren for another season together.

Ferrari also retains its 2025 pairing of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, despite what was a disappointing first campaign together. Hamilton, 40, is a seven-time world champion. He took sprint pole position and won the sprint at the second race of the season in China, but did not reach the main podium at any of the 24 grands prix and experienced several Q1 qualifying eliminations.

Leclerc, 28, finished fifth in the championship, one place ahead of Hamilton. The Monegasque driver claimed all seven of Ferrari’s podiums and the Scuderia’s only main-race pole position of the season, in Hungary. The pair will enter their second season as team-mates in 2026.

Red Bull has changed Verstappen’s team-mate for the season, promoting Frenchman Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls. Verstappen, 28, competed for a fifth consecutive title in 2025, but lost the championship to Norris in Abu Dhabi. Despite a difficult season for Red Bull, the Dutchman recorded eight victories, the most of any driver.

Hadjar, 21, earned the promotion after a rookie season that included his first Formula One podium, at the Dutch Grand Prix in August. He joins Verstappen as the team begins the season with the new driver pairing. Verstappen will also use a new number in 2026.

Racing Bulls pairs Hadjar’s former team-mate Liam Lawson with Lindblad. Lawson, 23, was dropped by Red Bull after only two races last season but kept his place at the junior team, finishing 14th in the championship. Lindblad, a Briton aged 18, joins as the sole rookie on the grid.

Lindblad won two races in Formula 2 in 2025. His father is Swedish and his mother is of Indian descent. Red Bull has identified him as a potential future star since he was 12. He will race alongside New Zealander Lawson at Racing Bulls.

Mercedes brings back George Russell and Kimi Antonelli for another season together. Russell, 27, enters his fifth year with the team, known as the Silver Arrows, after a strong 2025 campaign. He won grands prix in Canada and Singapore and finished fourth in the drivers’ standings.

Antonelli, 19, had a mixed rookie season but finished it with podiums in Brazil and Las Vegas. Those results followed his first podium in Canada in June, and he placed seventh in the championship. The Italian returns to Mercedes for his second season.

Williams also keeps its pairing, with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz starting a second term as team-mates. The team finished fifth in the constructors’ championship in 2025, helped by an early run of points from Albon. The 29-year-old Thai-British driver placed eighth in the standings, nine points ahead of Sainz in ninth.

Sainz, 31, joined Williams from Ferrari after Hamilton’s arrival at the Italian team. The Spaniard secured two podiums last season, finishing third at both the Azerbaijan and Qatar Grands Prix. Albon is beginning his sixth campaign with Williams.

Alpine again pairs Pierre Gasly with Franco Colapinto. Gasly, 29, scored all 22 of the French team’s constructors’ championship points in 2025. The 2026 campaign will be his fourth with Alpine. Colapinto, 22, replaced Australian Jack Doohan after six races in 2024, then went scoreless in the 18 grands prix he contested.

Aston Martin keeps Fernando Alonso and Canadian Lance Stroll for a fourth consecutive season. Adrian Newey, described as a design legend, will serve as team principal in 2026. Alonso, who turns 45 in July, finished 10th in the drivers’ standings after a points-scoring run during the European leg of the season. He outqualified Stroll at all 24 race weekends.

Stroll, 27, finished 14th, four places below Alonso. The team will therefore retain the same two drivers as it enters the new season under Newey’s leadership. Alonso’s qualifying record over his team-mate was maintained across every race weekend in 2025.

Audi’s debut line-up consists of Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, as Sauber becomes the German team in 2026. Bortoleto, 21, had a solid rookie campaign and finished a career-best sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix in August. Hulkenberg, 38, ended a 15-year wait for a podium by placing third at the British Grand Prix after 239 race starts.

Cadillac is set to become the 11th team on the grid, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez returning to lead its debut line-up. Bottas, 36, previously drove for Mercedes and began his Formula One career with Williams in 2013. He has recorded 10 grand prix wins, 20 pole positions and 67 podiums.

Perez, 35, is Mexican and has been on the grid since joining Sauber in 2011. He lost his Red Bull seat at the end of the 2024 season and brings six victories, three poles and 39 podiums to the American team. Bottas and Perez will lead Cadillac as it enters the championship.

Haas again pairs Britain’s Oliver Bearman with Frenchman Esteban Ocon, following their first season together. Bearman, 20, produced notable drives in his rookie year, including a sixth-place finish at Zandvoort after starting from the pit lane and a career-best fourth in Mexico City.

Ocon, 29, was narrowly beaten by his team-mate over the season. He finished his first campaign with Haas 15th in the championship, three points and two places behind Bearman. Both drivers return for the American-based team in 2026.

Based on reporting by BBC Sport.