The many questions will find their first answers in Australia, the opening stage of one of the world championships with the most unknowns ever. A highly convulsive race is expected, between the starts still to be fine-tuned and the energy management that in Melbourne promises to be critical. Winning at Albert Park will not only be the one who has the most performance to bring out after the hide-and-seek tests, but the one who can adapt to a radically different track and learns to manage the novelties of a revolutionized Formula 1 first.
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The track
Unlike the ground-effect era, the new cars appear more docile and easier to balance, less prone to those large leaps in competitiveness from one race to another that were seen last year. This does not change the fact that Melbourne will highlight different qualities compared to Bahrain. The Australian track is not as limiting for the rear axle, lacking those hairpins that instead abounded in the Middle East. Red Bull rejoices, having already admitted to not digesting slow corners well, while those powered by Ferrari are smiling less. The Australian circuit values less a power unit that performs better in acceleration like Maranello’s, giving more emphasis to absolute power and top speed.
At Albert Park, it is important to have a precise car in rapid changes of direction, without overstressing the front, but at the same time capable of managing the rear tires in the technical final sector, as McLaren demonstrated in 2025. Generally, the Australian track requires a medium-low aerodynamic downforce configuration and it will be interesting to see what the choices will be this year. If in the past the optimal load depended on the compromise between cornering and straight-line speed, now its impact on energy consumption must also be evaluated.
Battery management promises to be critical in Australia. The long straights and high average speed, which in 2025 exceeded 250 km/h in qualifying, increase energy expenditure, while the few braking zones offer scarce opportunities to recharge. Teams and drivers will be forced to resort to various strategies to recover energy, such as lifting the foot or cutting power on the straight, even in qualifying.
The weekend’s unknowns
History teaches that over time teams always learn to manage the problems of a new regulation, but the first races could be a bit messy, especially the inaugural one. No one yet has full mastery of energy management, which is why very different charging techniques could be seen. Another theme will be understanding the difficulties of overtaking, on which the importance of track position advantage and the possibility of setting up a race with one or more stops will depend. Safety Cars will have to be taken into account, given the youth of the new cars and the high probability that some might encounter reliability problems.
The start phase will also be something to watch. The FIA has lengthened the procedure to help get the turbo up to speed and reach a pressure high enough to be able to start without stalling, with the hope that no one remains stuck on the grid. The Ferrari power unit, credited with a smaller turbine and greater readiness at low revs, has shown signs of a good advantage at the start, which will be interesting to confirm and quantify.
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Qualifying
Last but not least, there is the variable of the new tires. Pirelli brings the softest compounds in the range, C3, C4 and C5, exactly like last year, with the difference that it is an entirely redesigned product. The teams have already tried the new tires in testing, but the techniques for exploiting the tires well vary from track to track. In Bahrain, for example, the tires work on one of the most abrasive asphalts in the world, where mechanical grip is king, while on the smoother one in Melbourne, adhesive grip will count above all.
The special watch will be on the softest compound, the C5, which the teams used least of all during testing. Making it work will be one of the keys in qualifying, when another theme will also arise. To get the tires up to temperature, a preparation lap at sustained speed is always necessary, but Pirelli has already encountered a peculiarity. The need to fully charge the battery before launching forces a moderate pace on the out-lap, which certainly does not help to warm up the tires.
Updates coming
It will also be a weekend of great technical interest. In Melbourne, the obligation to use the new sustainable fuels will begin, after the exemption granted for testing to allow more time for their homologation. It is very likely then that updates will arrive on the cars, with Andrea Stella having already said that McLaren will fit lightened components to get closer to the minimum weight. There is also great curiosity to see if Ferrari will use the Macarena, the inverted mobile wing tested in Bahrain, which would be of great use on a track critical for energy management.
The updates remind us that never more than this year the verdict of the first race will not necessarily correspond to that of the end of the year. The teams have wide margins for growth ahead of them, suggesting a championship to be played on development, where the winner will be whoever learns to exploit the new variables first. Everyone, however, is anxious to discover where they really stand compared to their rivals, a curiosity that in Australia will finally be satisfied.
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