PF1 verdict: What has been the biggest surprise of the F1 2026 season so far?

Three races into the new F1 2026 season, we have gathered the PlanetF1.com team to discuss their biggest surprise so far this campaign.

Be it on-track performance, a standout moment or a piece of off-track news, what has surprised our team the most so far at this early stage of the season? Let’s find out.

Fans decrying the number of lead changes in F1 2026

By Michelle Foster

I’d say how quickly fans have blasted the new-look F1. But let’s be honest, we are a fickle bunch who don’t like change. And F1 2026 is not only a change, but it’s a different way of racing.

The anoraks of yesteryear who argued that F1 didn’t have enough racing, enough passing, enough action, are now complaining that there is too much.

Pick a side.

F1 fans complained about a lack of action on the track, so F1 introduced DRS. It was decried as artificial. Now DRS has been swapped out with what can only be called battery-dependent passes. But that’s “Mario Kart”.

F1 2026 has seen more passes for the lead than any season I remember. While the midfield and rear-guard action have often produced the best racing, this season it has been highlighted at the front of the pack.

It may be battery-dependent, but it is also entertaining. And entertainment is the name of the game.

Cadillac’s exemplary start

By Thomas Maher

With Graeme Lowdon returning to the grid as an F1 team leader, spearheading Dan Towriss’ Cadillac entry, it was difficult to get a read on just how competent this brand-new team could be at the first time of asking.

Certainly, being a customer team has made the task slightly easier, but Cadillac’s achievements after the first three races have been nothing short of outstanding.

Reaching the chequered flag with five of its six entries so far, the accumulation of data and the ability to maximise learning in every area of operations has been very useful, and the drivers are even starting to talk with optimism about upcoming upgrades as the team starts to look at moving forward from its initial specification, which focused on simply being functional.

It hasn’t all been perfect: A fuel system problem ended Valtteri Bottas’ race early in Australia, and an “over-optimistic” Sergio Perez triggered contact between the two Cadillacs at the start in China; fortunately, the two veterans were able to put the incident in perspective and just move on.

In Japan, Perez finished on the lead lap. While this was helped by the Safety Car, finishing ahead of a Williams and an Aston Martin is no mean feat.

With upgrades coming to the MAC26 in Miami, are points completely off the table for Lowdon’s team? I don’t think so…

How quickly the air has come out of Red Bull’s balloon

By Oliver Harden

There has been no shortage of surprises at the start of F1 2026.

Not least the way Ferrari has put all the aggro of last season behind it simply by producing a handy, driveable racing car under the new regulations.

The competence of Audi and Isack Hadjar stands out, too.

To my mind, though, the biggest surprise is how quickly the air has come out of Red Bull’s balloon since the season started.

It looked like Max Verstappen’s decision to stay was inspired when the RBPT engine was the talk of the town in pre-season testing.

From the moment he spun at the first corner of his Q1 lap in Australia, though, it has been an uphill struggle.

The best team for much of the last 16 years suddenly looks quite… ordinary.

How frustrating F1 2026 qualifying is

By Jamie Woodhouse

The warning signs were there for qualifying as soon as talk of lifting on straights and recharging emerged.

But, I was not quite prepared for qualifying to lose so much of its worth under this formula.

With drivers no longer on the ragged edge over one lap, the driver who can best sweet-talk their battery wins.

That doesn’t cut it. The excitement is not there.

Mercifully, drivers re-claiming the ability to push flat-out looks set to be a key agenda during the April meetings. Here’s to hoping that a solution is found for Miami.

Jonathan Wheatley very suddenly departing Audi

By Henry Valantine

Given drivers had raised potential concerns about what may happen to the driving experience quite some time ago, my surprise has to be something off-track – and with that, it has to be Jonathan Wheatley’s departure from Audi.

Upon catching wind of the story and anticipating a statement announcing his departure, I was taken aback by such a move.

Not just because of how well he had seemed to take to his first team principal’s position, overseeing Sauber’s transition to Audi with great positivity and forward-planning, but how he’d so often spoken of wanting to put the foundations in place and move the team forward.

To plug a colleague’s work for a moment, Thomas explained the situation excellently in his assessment of Audi’s season so far, but this came to me as a bolt from the blue after a year of what appeared to be solid work.

I doubt we’ve seen the last of him in the paddock, with Aston Martin having been linked as a potential destination for him, but any team who acquires his services will have to wait out his gardening leave period first.

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