5 biggest disappointments of F1 2026

High hopes, radical new rules, and brutal reality checks, the F1 2026 season has already delivered plenty of drama off the track.

Here is an honest look at the teams, drivers, and regulations that have fallen short of expectations so far.

F1 2026 regulations

With the exception of whichever driver is crowned champion, there are few who will look back on F1 2026 as a high point in the sport’s history.

Rather than arrival and launching F1 into the stratosphere, they’ve created nothing but negative headlines and an era that we’re already keen to consign to the history books.

An increased reliance on electrical energy, and the harvesting techniques that introduced, brought with it unpalatable trends.

More than that, overtaking became meaningless and lost the panache it had once had, with the key difference being who had more battery rather than bravery.

The aerodynamic regulations have been a positive, there’s no doubt they are a significant step forward over what has come before, a happy side effect of a poor set of engine regulations.

Indeed, so bad were the rules that they were changed ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, acknowledgement from the sport as a whole that what we have is an unmitigated disaster, reinforced by ongoing discussions about how to fast track a move away from these rules.

Aston Martin

The opening half of the F1 2026 season has been a brutal one for Aston Martin, which had hoped that it would mark the dawn of a great new era.

Instead, there have been teething issues as the squad looks to step out of the midfield and become a fully fledged manufacturer in its own right.

In fairness, there was always a lot to bring together for this year.

While the workforce has decades of experience many of them are working together for the first time, under the leadership of Adrian Newey who himself will have had to grow into his new role.

Coupled that with an all-new factory and tools like the wind tunnel that, while online and mature to an extent, are not entirely bedded down.

Then throw in an all-new factory power unit supply from Honda and there were a huge number of ingredients that needed to be blended together perfectly for success.

Against that backdrop we can therefore understand how and why the squad struggled in the first half of the season; it’s not an excuse, it’s a statement of fact, not that it makes it acceptable.

For a team many thought, or perhaps hoped, would join the leading pack, to have been battling at the other end of the grid marks Aston Martin out as one of the biggest disappointments of F1 2026.

Williams

The late arrival of the FW50 meant the disappointment surrounding the Grove team came even before cars had got on track.

What has followed has largely been a consequence of that, and while there has been progress the squad remains short of where it had hoped to be.

That’s especially the case after team boss James Vowles spent the previous two years building towards this moment, so have to missed it as the team did was a huge disappointment.

Taking a step back, one might argue that while the new rules offered a fresh opportunity for a revitalised Williams team, the regs arrived a year or two too early.

Significant work remains ongoing behind the scenes, with Dorilton Capital continuing to invest in the operation proving that the efforts to return the team to its former glory are more that a snappy soundbite.

But, having set high expectations, to miss them as the squad did, leaving it on the backfoot ever since, was one of the biggest disappointments of the opening phase of F1 2026.

George Russell

From the initial laps of the first pre-season test (sorry, shakedown…), it was evident that Mercedes had built the best mouse trap.

As the more senior of Mercedes’ two drivers, it was logical that it was George Russell who everyone pointed at as the early favourite, and no doubt the Brit held the same opinion.

And while he lived up to that expectation in Melbourne, nobody expected Kimi Antonelli to go on a run of five wins on the trot and emerge as a genuine superstar.

Whether it’s the rise of Antonelli and the pressure that has created, an unhealthy helping of bad luck, or a genuine struggle to get to grips with the 2026 cars is debatable – perhaps it’s all three – but they combine to mark Russell’s opening half of the season as a disappointment.

I hasten to add that branding it a disappointment doesn’t mean Russell has been terrible, but when expectations are high, you’re the favourite for the world title, and yet you’re only third in the championship fight headed by your teammate… It’s difficult to put a positive spin on that.

Red Bull

Red Bull hasn’t been woeful, but it hasn’t been especially good, either. It’s just been, well, there.

Over the Hungarian Grand Prix the question was asked: what would change in F1 2026 if Red Bull wasn’t on the grid? It was difficult to answer.

For a team that has been an ever-present at the end, that has dominated headlines through its marketing and communications strategies, has become almost irrelevant.

There have been some good results and we’ve got to point out this a commentary on the team and not Max Verstappen or Isack Hadjar.

A lot has changed behind the scenes at Milton Keynes, a team that seems to be at the very start of a significant rebuilding phase.

On track, that has seen Red Bull become the fourth best team on the grid, and arguably the least likely of the top four squads to claim a race win this year.

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