The Formula 1 grid expanded to eleven teams for the 2026 season, the first increase in entries since 2016. The new arrival is Cadillac, General Motors’ luxury marque, competing with Ferrari power units in its first phase.
The second change is not an arrival but a transformation: Audi replaces the Sauber team, moving from partner to full manufacturer building its own power unit. That means the sport now has six separate engine programmes instead of four.
Red Bull entered the season with a new engine partnership with Ford, under the Red Bull Ford name, after years of relying on an outside supplier. Honda moved in the other direction to Aston Martin, changing one of the most significant pairings on the engine map.
Without the removal of the MGU-H, neither Audi nor General Motors would have found building a Formula 1 engine worthwhile.
The regulatory background to all of this movement is a single clause in the 2026 rules: the removal of the MGU-H. That unit was the most complex, most expensive and hardest to master part of the power unit, and dropping it lowered the barrier to entry for any manufacturer considering building a Formula 1 engine from scratch. Without that clause, neither Audi nor General Motors would have found the arithmetic worthwhile.
The 2026 Formula 1 grid — teams and power unit suppliers
| # | Team | Power unit | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | Mercedes | Continuing |
| 2 | Ferrari | Ferrari | Continuing |
| 3 | Red Bull | Red Bull Ford | New engine partnership |
| 4 | McLaren | Mercedes | Continuing |
| 5 | Aston Martin Aramco | Honda | New supplier |
| 6 | Audi | Audi | Enters in place of Sauber |
| 7 | Cadillac | Ferrari | Eleventh team — new entry |
| 8 | Alpine | Mercedes | Becomes a customer |
| 9 | Williams | Mercedes | Continuing |
| 10 | Haas | Ferrari | Continuing |
| 11 | Racing Bulls | Red Bull Ford | Continuing |
The grid widens to eleven teams for the first time since 2016: Cadillac enters as a new team with Ferrari power, and Audi moves from partner to full manufacturer in place of Sauber. Saudi Aramco is title partner to the Aston Martin team. — Source ↗
The Gulf dimension of this map is not marginal. Saudi Aramco is title partner of the Aston Martin Aramco team — the largest energy company in the region has its name on a car competing every week. That is a presence sustained across the season rather than tied to a single race weekend.
For the buyer in the region the effect is indirect but real. Major manufacturers entering Formula 1 means investment in electrification and sustainable fuel technology, part of which will move into production cars. The history of the sport says energy recovery systems, battery management and lightweight structural materials reached public roads after passing through the circuit first.
The open question in the first season of any technical era is who read the regulations correctly and who did not. The spread in the first year is usually wider than in any year after it, before the field gradually converges.
