Formula 1 doesn’t just have a completely new set of regulations in 2026, but is also welcoming new teams and engine manufacturers.

For the first time since 2016, the grid will expand to 11 teams, with Cadillac making its highly anticipated debut.

The landscape of engine suppliers is also set for a shake-up as Audi joins the grid with its own team and power unit, having taken over Sauber.

Red Bull will also use its own engine through a new partnership with Ford, and Honda returns as the works supplier for Aston Martin.

Audi

Announced in 2022, Audi’s Formula 1 project is built around the 2026 regulations, which place greater emphasis on electrification, sustainable fuels and cost controls.

Audi is entering Formula 1 under its own name for the 2026 season via the transformation of the Sauber organisation into a full Audi works operation. Audi is also entering F1 with its own power unit.

The team’s core operations span two principal locations: Neuburg an der Donau in Germany (power unit) and Hinwil in Switzerland (chassis), with Audi also planning a future technical centre in England. Audi has said its Neuburg facility features 22 state-of-the-art test benches and that the power unit has already completed full test-bench runs and simulated race distances.

​Audi restructured its F1 leadership in 2025, centralising responsibility under Mattia Binotto as head of the Audi F1 project, overseeing development across the programme’s sites. Jonathan Wheatley is team principal, responsible for managing race operations and representing Audi at team-principal level in F1’s strategic forums, working in close collaboration with Binotto.

​On the power unit side, Christian Foyer was appointed Chief Operating Officer at Audi Formula Racing GmbH, taking over operational responsibilities previously held by Adam Baker (who left by mutual agreement), while Stefan Dreyer continues as CTO leading power unit development and acting as spokesperson for the AFR management board.

Audi’s racing drivers for 2026 are Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. Both have already driven the 2026 car during an early on-track milestone run ahead of the team’s debut season.

Cadillac

Cadillac will become Formula 1’s 11th team in 2026, expanding the field to 22 cars for the first time since the 2016 season. The Cadillac entry is the culmination of several years of efforts to bring a new American team to F1, and the programme is now backed by a partnership between General Motors and TWG Motorsports.

Its entry received final approval on 6 March 2025 from the FIA and Formula One Management, although work on the project had already been underway well before that point.

GM has said the organisation has been scaling up since the project’s public launch, including expanding facilities, hiring staff, and progressing development activity such as wind-tunnel model work and early manufacturing/testing programmes.

In its first seasons, Cadillac will use Ferrari-supplied power units and gearboxes. In parallel, GM and TWG have created an engine organisation (GM Performance Power Units/TWG GM Performance Power Units) to develop a future Cadillac power unit, with the stated aim of becoming a full works team by the end of the decade.

Cadillac’s operation is headquartered at Silverstone in the UK, supported by additional facilities in Indianapolis (Indiana), Charlotte (North Carolina), and Warren (Michigan). Its arrival means F1 will have two American teams on the grid in 2026, with Cadillac joining Haas.

​Graeme Lowdon will serve as team principal. Russ O’Blenes is CEO of the GM/TWG power-unit entity, and Dan Towriss (CEO of TWG Motorsports) holds an executive role overseeing the GM–TWG partnership.

Cadillac will use Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as its drivers in 2026.

Red Bull Powertrains

The 2026 season will see Red Bull being powered by its own F1 engine for the first time since it entered the series in 2005, joining Ferrari, Mercedes and Audi in building its power unit in-house.

The move marks a major strategic shift, with Red Bull preparing to race with its first internally built power unit under the 2026 regulations, developed with Ford as a long-term technical partner.

Ford is returning to Formula 1 after more than two decades away, via its partnership with Red Bull Powertrains.

Red Bull Powertrains (RBPT) was established in 2021 after Honda announced it would withdraw from F1 at the end of the 2021 season, and RBPT was created to build the structure to develop and manufacture Red Bull’s own future power units.

From 2022 through 2025, Red Bull continued to race Honda-derived power units with ongoing Honda/HRC technical support (with the branding “Honda RBPT” used in this period), while the longer-term RBPT programme targeted a fully in-house unit for 2026.

​Red Bull’s RBPT/Ford power unit programme is led technically by Ben Hodgkinson, who joined from Mercedes to become technical director in May 2022. From 2026, the RBPT/Ford power units are planned to supply both Red Bull Racing and sister team Racing Bulls.

Honda

Honda is not coming back to Formula 1 in 2026 because it actually never left, despite announcing its exit at the end of the 2021 season.

Honda announced it would withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of the 2021 season, but it continued to be involved via Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) technical support for Red Bull Powertrains through 2025.

From 2026, Honda will begin a full works-era return as Aston Martin’s exclusive power-unit supplier under the new F1 power-unit regulations.

While Honda’s recent on-track success has been tied to Red Bull, the switch is significant for Aston Martin because it will become a works partner rather than a customer team. Aston Martin’s Silverstone-based team has used Mercedes power units across its various identities since 2009, so the Honda deal represents a major change in long-term supply.

Aston Martin and Honda expect the 2026 rules reset to reward tighter chassis–power unit integration, and the partnership has been framed around the new regulations’ increased electrical deployment and the move to 100% sustainable fuel.

Honda has also explicitly linked its deeper F1 commitment to F1’s sustainability direction and the relevance of electrification technology development.

Honda’s 2026 engine programme is led by Tetsushi Kakuda, who is described as F1 project leader and executive chief engineer, and he has said the project aims to push development until the last possible moment ahead of homologation.