By Cody Ngo

With the start of a new year. Formula One (F1) has left behind an old era to pursue greener pastures in another. The 2026 season features an overhaul of the regulations and cars to promote better wheel-to-wheel racing, entice new manufacturers, and promote the goal of becoming net-zero by 2030. However, public opinion isn’t quite set on the new season as the new regulations haven’t been fully showcased in a competitive way. With this, varying opinions have arisen about how the new season will turn out.

Preston Bencs, a student at IRHS had mixed opinions regarding particular changes as when questioned about the new electrical shift and the replacement of the racing mechanism “Drag Reduction System (DRS)” in the car, he stated that, “Making it 80-20% or 100% gas is better than transitioning into electric and the DRS system is much better than what the new active aero system is going to be like.” Later when asked about his overall expectations of the season, he had stated that, “The teams who have been dominant will continue being dominant with the new guys having to catch up.” When asked about specific teams, he stated that, “Honestly, I think it is the people driving them. I see McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes doing some fun stuff.”

PE coach Mr Stewart had also voiced opinions regarding the new regulations of the cars. Mr Stewart had shown mixed feelings regarding the systems of the new car as he stated that, “The DRS system was at least limited to certain parts of the track and it worked. So now I’m worried they’re going back to a system where all the cars will be real equal and they’ll have a hard time passing.” When asked about potential storylines in the season, Stewart had expressed optimism as he stated that “I think seeing what happens at Ferrari is going to be a huge storyline. McLaren, can Piastri get ahead of Lando this year and stay ahead. So I think that’s another storyline and I think a bunch of storylines will pop up throughout the year.”

Another IRHS student, Xime Briones, had spoken about the season with cautious optimism regarding the overhaul shift of the primary racing mechanisms. When asked about the new racing mechanism “Active Aero”, Briones said that, “I think it would make the overall race experience more enjoyable. That is if it works, if it doesn’t work, then it’s going to be a whole mess.” When asked about the potential of the regulations suiting different drivers, she stated, “Maybe I’m biased for Sergio Perez, because he’s a big overtake guy and with the new active aero, I guess that could give him an advantage because he’s already really good at overtaking cars in the first place.”

With these various opinions, expectations for the new season are mixed among the public eye. At the moment, preseason testing is underway from January to February in Spain and Bahrain as teams are evaluating reliability and performance before the season opening race which will be hosted in Melbourne, Australia on March 8th. The consensus of the frontrunners for the season are unknown but has mostly been speculated as Mercedes being the title favorites. Overall, as time progresses. There will be a clearer picture of the frontrunners and who will be the stars of the next generation of F1.