Paddock Pulse: Verstappen backs Audi to spring a surprise as F1’s 2026 reset looms
Audi hasn’t turned a wheel in anger yet, but the noise around Neuburg is getting louder. Max Verstappen, never one for empty hype, reckons the incoming works outfit could land an early punch when Formula 1 tears up the playbook for 2026.
The Sauber squad has undergone its full Audi rebrand and, in recent weeks, became the first to roll out a 2026-spec test car. Beyond the shiny new four rings, the recruitment drive has been just as eye-catching. Jonathan Wheatley, the long-serving Red Bull sporting director, was among those to swap Milton Keynes for the Audi project last year — part of a quiet but definite stream of experience heading to Hinwil and Neuburg.
Verstappen’s read? Don’t sleep on them. With fresh regulations set to reset the field, Audi’s early organisation and that growing list of hires from proven winners give the programme a whiff of momentum. It’s not a guarantee of pace, but it’s the sort of groundwork that tends to tell when a rulebook flips.
Horner’s fingerprints on Red Bull-Ford power
Over at Red Bull, the Ford-badged future continues to take shape under the Powertrains banner. Team boss Oliver Mintzlaff has been quick to credit Christian Horner for assembling the brains trust inside Red Bull Powertrains, where the 2026 hybrid unit will be born in-house for the first time.
With Honda in the rear-view after 2024, the RBPT-Ford tie-up is the spine of Red Bull’s next era. Horner, polarising figure or not, has been instrumental in building out the engine department long before the switchover. The recruitment has been relentless and targeted — exactly what you need when the next regulation cycle makes battery deployment and energy management as important as old-fashioned horsepower.
The 2026 chassis — likely the RB22 — is due for its livery reveal soon, with Verstappen the constant and Isack Hadjar poised for his first full-season shot alongside him when the reset kicks in. For a team that’s dominated the current formula, the stakes are obvious: keep the edge, or watch it evaporate in one winter.
McLaren locks in Fornaroli and O’Ward as 2026 insurance
McLaren has confirmed a two-pronged safety net for 2026, naming Leonardo Fornaroli and Pato O’Ward as shared reserve drivers. Fornaroli arrives with serious momentum after winning the 2025 Formula 2 title, collecting four wins on the way and earning a fast-track spot in the McLaren driver development ranks. O’Ward, a fan favourite with a long-standing McLaren tie in IndyCar, offers race-winning experience and ready-made simulator and test mileage.
It’s a neat blend: a young European champion and a battle-hardened racer who already knows the papaya way of working. Neither is expected to be idle next year.
Andretti calm on Ferrari PU chatter as Cadillac readies its own
While the 2025 grid gets on with its business, eyes are on the 2026 engine slate — especially for the new entrant bearing the Cadillac badge. Mario Andretti, now a Cadillac board member, has cooled talk that Ferrari might be under threat from a supposed loophole others have identified in the 2026 power unit regulations, specifically around compression ratios. The plan, Andretti says, remains straightforward: run customer Ferrari power at the start while Cadillac’s own unit continues through development.
If nothing else, it underscores how alive the engine game is ahead of 2026. The power split shifts more heavily towards electrical deployment next cycle, and any grey area — real or imagined — is being pored over in dyno rooms all over Europe and the U.S.
Brawn tips the hat to the B194, controversies and all
Ross Brawn has never been afraid of a spicy pick when it comes to F1 machinery, and he’s put the Benetton B194 on his personal favourites list. It’s one of the most argued-over cars in the sport’s modern era: Michael Schumacher’s first title winner in 1994, and the machine that spent a season under accusations — never proven — of using banned driver aids like traction control after the FIA outlawed them at the end of 1993.
Why include it? Because it was a landmark piece of engineering from a group that was relentlessly pushing the envelope. Love it or grumble about it, the B194 left a mark.
Big picture
We’re midway through 2025 with the World Championship very much its own fight, but the undercurrent is clear: 2026 has already started. Audi’s early laps and savvy hires, Red Bull’s Ford era taking root under Horner’s guidance, McLaren’s reserve bench locked and loaded, Cadillac plotting its debut pathway, Ferrari shrugging off the rumor mill — the grid is moving in three timelines at once.
That’s the thing about a regulation reset. The gains aren’t made under floodlights on a Sunday. They’re made now, quietly, under a strip lamp, by the people you hired last month. And right now, a few teams look like they’re hiring very well indeed.
