The 2026 season has been one of the most memorable ones in the entire 75 years that Formula 1 has existed. However, this is not entirely for all the right reasons.
With sixteen of twenty-three rounds complete, the 2026 Formula 1 championship is starting to look decided. Kimi Antonelli leads with a grand 320 points after the race at Sepang—84 points ahead of his Mercedes teammate, George Russell. He has won eight races: China, Japan, Miami, Canada, Monaco, Belgium, Italy and the first Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit. The Mercedes team has won eleven of the sixteen races, and is currently leading the constructors’ championship with 556 points—easily ahead of Ferrari who has a score of just 405.
The most recent round was unusual. The Bahrain Grand Prix was held at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia because the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races were cancelled in April due to the conflict in the Middle East. Heavy rain delayed the start by ninety minutes, and Max Verstappen then dominated the race. It was his first win of the season and the first ever win for the new Red Bull Ford power unit. Mercedes driver George Russell’s podium hopes took a serious blow when his car failed five laps from the finish line while he was running in third. With an engine penalty still to come, his chances of winning the title now look slim.
However, the biggest talking point of the season has been the new regulations. Roughly half of the engines of this 2026 season have been running on electric power, meaning that drivers must recover energy between each lap. In practice, this means lifting off,coasting, and “super clipping,” which is when the car slows down at full throttle to recharge its battery. Verstappen described the cars as “anti-racing” during pre-season testing, and Lando Norris said in Japan that “there’s just not enough control for a driver.”
Safety concerns followed. At the Suzuka race, Oliver Bearman crashed with a 50G impact after approaching Franco Colapinto at a speed about 45km/h faster than him. The reason why this crash happened was because one car was deploying energy while the other was recharging. The FIA adjusted the energy limits that weekend and introduced further changes to the Miami race and onwards. There was also a pre-season dispute over Mercedes’ engine compression ratio, which was ultimately resolved with additional testing from June. At Sepang, rainy-weather energy settings left cars crawling until the FIA issued a software update.
On another note, among the drivers, Lewis Hamilton is a standout performer. At Sepang, he dropped to seventeenth after gambling on slick tyres and still managed to recover to third. Earlier in the season, he took his first win for Ferrari in Barcelona. McLaren’s performance, on the other hand, has been greatly disappointing. Currently, the reigning champion Lando Norris is fifth, tied with Verstappen on 188 points, while Cadillac have yet to score and Aston Martin have only seven points.
The championship moves to Singapore this weekend. Antonelli cannot clinch the title there, but he could do so in Austin or Mexico.