Former Formula 1 driver-turned pundit Karun Chandhok has sent a warning to the early title favourites that nothing can be determined until the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne.
2026 sees the biggest regulations upheaval since the start of the V6 hybrid era in 2014, which saw the previous status quo of Red Bull dominance ended by Mercedes.
And upon the conclusion of the first iteration, the ground-effect era saw Red Bull knock the ‘silver arrows’ off its perch and return to dominant ways via Max Verstappen.
But the new set of radical technical regulations guarantees a real difficulty in predicting a winner early on, despite signs of some teams, looking strong in comparison to others.
The new cars were kept out of public view, and a data and media blackout led to most of the information relayed being rendered ‘unofficial’ or ‘unconfirmed’.
Mercedes do carry a tentative label as ‘favourites’ due to its power unit, which, along with Red Bull’s, can reach higher compression ratios than that of the regulated 16:1, due to a loophole in the new rulebook it has exploited.
This has led to an early projection that a Mercedes or Red Bull-Ford-powered car could reach lap times 0.3s faster than those of its rivals.
Honda is powering the new Aston Martin AMR26, designed by Adrian Newey, which, by association, gives the Silverstone-based squad a specific expectation to perform.
And Ferrari showed some competitiveness in the latter days of the Barcelona testing week, with Lewis Hamilton setting the fastest time of the whole five days on the final day.
But Chandhok, speaking to talkSPORT, has indicated that all of this is speculation.
“The proof will only come when we get to the first qualifying session at the first grand prix in Melbourne,” the Sky Sports F1 pundit said.
“In the last 12 years, F1 cars have been hybrids, but only 20 per cent of the power has come from electric. This year it is going to be 50-50.
“I don’t think we should read too much into testing or judge too much. Let’s wait and see when we get to Melbourne.”
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