A new era of Formula 1 is upon us and there's significant intrigue as to how the grid will shape up in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
McLaren head to Melbourne as the Constructors' Championship holders, but their title defence will be far from straightforward following the sport's “biggest technical shake-up in a generation”.
There have been major changes to power unit, chassis and aerodynamic rules, while an iconic feature of the last decade has been discarded with the drag reduction system (DRS) no longer in action.
Even with a Barcelona shakedown and two Bahrain pre-season tests, the grid's technical overhaul makes the competitive order difficult to predict - but we're going to have a crack anyway!
Here's our Power Rankings for the new F1 season.
11. Aston Martin
The sight of a dismayed Lawrence Stroll traipsing through the paddock in Bahrain told you everything you need to know.
Aston Martin put all their eggs in the 2026 basket, pinpointing the technical overhaul as an opportunity to establish themselves as frontrunners. Design extraordinaire Adrian Newey was acquired to get ahead of their rivals.
But there's no such thing as guaranteed success, especially in Formula 1, and Aston Martin are suffering the hardship of a flawed design and the inadequacies of their new engine partner, Honda, whose reliability issues have limited running since the first AMR26 engine fired.
Not only is durability a concern, but the Honda power unit is significantly behind on power. The car is also overweight, there are gearbox issues and their attempts to iron out these deficiencies were undermined by a lack of running.
There's no doubting Aston Martin have the resource and brains to overcome these issues, but there's no denying they enter the new season in the worst position of all the teams - including new boys Cadillac.
10. Cadillac
2026 will also mark the debut of Cadillac in F1 and while they will be commencing life as a backmarker, they head to Melbourne in a far healthier shape than Aston Martin, even if they ended the second test in Bahrain just over three seconds off the pace.
Nobody is expecting the American manufacturer to be pulling up trees this term and they will be targeting reliability in the opening races, with the view to making strides with their performance as the season progresses.
Having the experienced pairing of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel of both of their cars will be invaluable for development, and the Ferrari power unit in the back might just enable them to put a cat amongst the pigeons in race starts.
9. Williams
Like Aston Martin, Williams shelved all development of their 2025 car in order to focus all their resources on the new regulations and it's not gone to plan so far.
Their failure to attend the shakedown in Barcelona put them on the back foot, while concern lingers over the weight of the FW48 remains. The car also appears aerodynamically limited compared to its rivals, although reliability doesn't appear to be too much of a concern at this stage.
Williams did chalk up decent mileage, even if they did rank ninth of all teams for distance covered, and given the driving talent at their disposal you would expect the Grove-based outfit to haul themselves out of their current situation.
8. Audi
Audi appear to have made a smooth transition from the Sauber team and considering they've built their own power unit for 2026, putting in just shy of 5,000km across the two Bahrain tests is impressive.
They've had to overcome some gremlins, but there was evidence of genuine progress with the performance of the car. Audi were unable to unearth solutions to their initial rear instability and their pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were able to deliver consistent, eye-catching pace across their longer stints.
With an additional place available in Q2 following the introduction of Cadillac to the grid, Audi will be targeting a run of appearances in the second stage of qualifying to start the season.
7. Racing Bulls
There was a great degree of uncertainty concerning Racing Bulls and their sibling team Red Bull, but the dawn of the Ford-backed Red Bull Powertrains has exceeded expectations at this stage and any worries about the engine being a major limitation has so far been quelled.
Make no mistake, Racing Bulls are perched admirably in the middle of the pack, but they have solid foundations in place to develop into a leading contender in the midfield battle. They completed the fifth-most laps of any constructor, while rookie Arvid Lindblad was the busiest driver in the paddock, completing 240 laps across the final three days of testing.
Lindblad's fastest time was noticeably four tenths quicker than what his team-mate Liam Lawson could produce, and it will be interesting to see how the Brit fares against his Kiwi counterpart.
6. Haas
Haas have continued the momentum generated by a strong end to 2025 by enjoying a predominantly problem-free testing programme in Bahrain.
The American constructor clocked over 6,000 kilometres across the two tests in Sakhir, a figure only Mercedes could better, and both drivers noted considerable improvement in the handling of the car compared to their first running of the VF-26 in Barcelona.
The car appears well-balanced, which should enable Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon to achieve points finishes in the opening races.
5. Alpine
The immediate fight behind the 'Big Four' looks like it will be contested between Haas and Alpine, with the latter running just under a second a lap slower than the leading pack in testing.
Switching engine supplier to Mercedes for the forthcoming season, Alpine racked up some impressive mileage in Bahrain and their long-run pace was encouraging. The team made subtle tweaks to improve traction out of the slow corners, although the sweeping nature of Albert Park will hide those gains.
Alpine could ill-afford a disastrous start to the new regulations and they appear to have benefited from chucking all of their resources into the forthcoming campaign.
4. Red Bull
Red Bull and Laurent Mekies were bracing themselves for teething issues as the RB22 roared onto the Bahrain International Circuit for the first time, but testing went rather swimmingly for the six-time constructors' champions and they're certainly in the mix, even if they're not quite the "benchmark" Toto Wolff was suggesting after day one.
Across both short and long-run pace, the Red Bull was eventually surpassed by Mercedes and Ferrari, with their long-run pace more similar to McLaren.
The great equaliser within their ranks is of course Max Verstappen, who is no doubt capable of hauling the RB22 into race-winning contention even if the car isn't quite there yet.
3. McLaren
“This test has confirmed that Ferrari and Mercedes look like the teams to beat,” declared McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
The reigning world champions have been eager to direct attention to their rivals when discussing the leading contenders for the forthcoming campaign and the underlying numbers suggest they're the third-quickest package, marginally ahead of Red Bull.
However, McLaren were not running the latest spec of the Mercedes power unit which might explain their energy management headache, and their overall improvement in the second test compared to the first indicates there is vast potential in the MCL40.
2. Ferrari
Years of unfulfilled promise mean even the most optimistic Tifosi now err on the side of caution when assessing Ferrari's title chances, but their race simulations and one-lap pace across the second test in Bahrain suggest the famed Italian manufacturer could make a strong start to the upcoming campaign.
Ferrari introduced a series of innovative design features, including the spectacular 'upside-down' rear wing, while at the centre of the furore concerning race start safety, the Ferrari power unit holds an advantage over their rivals thanks to the integration of a smaller turbo.
Charles Leclerc was punching in some impressively quick and consistent times, while Lewis Hamilton was no slouch either. The SF-26, after several aerodynamic tweaks, appeared noticeably easier to drive as the mileage ticked up.
1. Mercedes
Mercedes' preparations for the new campaign have not been smooth-sailing but with each issue they've encountered, whether it be a power unit failure or concerns over battery harvesting, the Silver Arrows have hurdled every problem and head to Melbourne in fine fettle.
Yes, their fastest lap time in Bahrain might be eight tenths of a second slower than the benchmark time Leclerc set for Ferrari, but there was a strong feeling within the paddock that Mercedes were sandbagging and hiding their true pace.
The fact they also triumphed in the protracted compression ratio row - where Mercedes, along with Red Bull, unearthed a loophole enabling them to run at a higher compression ratio undetected - bodes well for Toto Wolff as he looks to restore the team at the summit.
