Month: February 2026

Aston Martin becomes the eleventh and final team on the 2026 Formula 1 grid to present their livery for the upcoming new season.

As in tradition, the British Racing Green is on the AMR26 with the car powered by Honda. This is the first racing car to be led by Adrian Newey, who is also the new team principal.

The Silverstone squad has retained its British Racing Green colour scheme using a matte finish, at an event at the Ithra cultural centre in Dhahran, near Dammam.

In a powertrain partnership, the AMR26 carries Honda’s new logotype. Title sponsor Aramco, which has developed the team’s fuels for the new season, commands the majority of advertising space.

Under the supervision of Newey, who has assumed the team principal role at Aston Martin, the car ran for the first time across the final two days of the Barcelona shakedown.

The reveal of the AMR26, as it left the garage for the first time at the shakedown, gathered much interest – specifically with many of its aerodynamic solutions and placement of its suspension.

It also makes use of additional fins around the halo and the central air intake, plus inlets on the sidepods, which caught the attention when the car was first seen.

While the Newey-led design has proven to be intriguing, the team’s fortunes will also rely on the Honda powertrain as the famous car brand makes its full return, having officially departed Formula 1 after the 2021 season, but remained in place to develop and maintain the power units for the two Red Bull-owned teams through its HRC subsidiary.

While Honda’s Formula 1 project leader Tetsushi Kakuda had earlier stated that “the electrification side is progressing as planned,” he added that it was “not necessarily the case for the internal combustion engine”.

Hopefully the reliability of this Honda-powered car will be a non-issue and it will be fascinating how competitive this car will be considering it is designed by the legendary Adrian Newey.

The McLaren Formula 1 racing team has revealed their livery for the upcoming 2026 season with an increase sponsorship with Mastercard.

The drivers’ and constructors’ champions presented their MCL60 at the Bahrain International Circuit, which will be the track for the pre-season test.

There’s an increase in the papaya orange for the MCL60 as well as branding from the lead partner Mastercard.

The main sponsor has an increased presence after upgrading its deal with the team to a title sponsorship, McLaren’s first such deal since the Vodafone days over a decade ago.

New Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris will race in car number one and is out to defend his title this season. Oscar Piastri is determined to beat his teammate after missing out on the big prize last year.

“It’s fantastic to reveal the livery for our 2026 challenger, the MCL40, as we reach an important milestone in our team’s incredible work and dedication before we begin racing this year,” team principal Andrea Stella said.

“While we have the benefit of the lessons learned from our success in the past few years, the whole grid is restarting from zero and our past achievements count for nothing. Our objective is to hit the ground running, and we have the best combination of team, driver pairing, collaboration with Mercedes HPP, partners, and fans to be able to do this.”

The Cadillac Formula 1 team have unveiled an unique two-sided livery during an advertisement break in the NFL’s Super Bowl.

The American brand’s Ferrari-powered challenger, whose chassis name is yet to be known, will sport a two-sided look. With the left revealing a grayish white, while its right is in black.

The design is similar to British American Racing’s livery in the 1999 season, which featured red and white on the left side with blue and yellow on the right side to accommodate different sponsors.

Few partners can be seen on this livery thus far. On the sidepods, TWG is the team’s owner, and the IFS logo on the rear wing endplates. The bargeboards feature bourbon whiskey brand Jim Beam as well as telecommunications company Claro, a longtime sponsor of Sergio Perez. Telcel, also linked to Checo is in front of the cockpit. Clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger is among several logos featuring on the nosecone.

“This livery represents far more than a paint scheme; it represents who we are and what we bring to Formula 1,’” CEO Dan Towriss said. “Every detail is intentional: bold, modern, and unmistakably American, while respecting the heritage and precision that define this sport.

“Choosing to reveal our first race livery during the Super Bowl and in the heart of Times Square is a way to introduce our identity to the world at the intersection of performance, culture, and entertainment, and to connect with fans in places far beyond the paddock.”

Both Perez and teammate Valtteri Bottas are returning to the grid this year after spending the 2025 season on the sidelines. They have won a combined 16 Grands Prix, taking 23 pole positions from 106 podiums – with Bottas scoring the main share of all these during a five-season stint at a dominant Mercedes outfit.

This is the new livery that Williams will run in the upcoming 2026 Formula 1 world championship featuring a vibrant glossy blue and a new sponsor with Barclays.

The team announced that the British bank corporation would be its “official banking partner”, while Komatsu, a Japanese construction equipment manufacturer, has been sponsoring the outfit since the 2024 season.

“2026 is the next step on the path back towards the top for Atlassian Williams F1 Team as we enter a new era for the sport, and we are excited about the season ahead,” team principal James Vowles said.

“We have a great driver line-up, some fantastic new partners, an ever-growing fanbase and want to build on the success we tasted last year, but we are not naïve about the challenge ahead of us. Nobody quite knows what will happen at the first race but we are looking forward to finding out, and hope our fans will love cheering us on with this great new livery.”

The team’s journey “back towards the top” got off to a tricky start as Williams missed the Barcelona pre-season test, making its FW48 the only 2026 car yet to appear publicly – which remains the case as this is just a livery reveal.

The team owned up to “delays in the FW48 programme”, but Vowles subsequently insisted Williams “could have made it to Barcelona”, though he admitted this would have put the outfit on the back foot in terms of spare parts.

The team missed out in running an early shakedown test at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona due to manufacturing issues but will take part in the following Bahrain pre-season test in preparation for the new season.

Hopefully this new car will get decent laps at Bahrain after missing Barcelona. Despite the recent testing set back, the Mercedes power unit did run meaning it has recorded some solid reliability thanks to the other teams especially the main factory outfit.

“We have the power unit provided by Mercedes, the gearbox provided by Mercedes, so the learning that they’re going through this week in Barcelona will carry over into us, into Bahrain,” Vowles said last week.

“It’s not that I want to be resting on their hard work, but also it is worth stating that that is still an advantage for us that falls out of it, or a disadvantage that’s negated. I’m confident with six days in Bahrain, we will run through the programme that we need to and it’s why we’re on the VTT [Virtual Test Track] now.

“What I wanted to do is to make sure from the outset in Bahrain, we have a reliable car ready to go so that we’re not sitting there doing what a lot of individuals and teams are trying their best to do in Barcelona, but not leave the garage. We’ve got to be there ready to go.”