F1 team rankings: Four-way fight for No 1 and how Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls will fare

Pre-season testing is over and we are now less than two weeks away from the 2026 season kicking off in Melbourne on March 8. But who is leading the charge?

Formula One’s “biggest technical shake-up in a generation” has made it even more difficult than usual to read the runes. But that has not stopped the Daily Telegraph from trying. Here is how it sees the competitive order heading to Australia.

11. Cadillac

Formula One’s newcomers are behind Aston Martin in these rankings, but in many respects, they are in far better shape. For a start, Cadillac are using a Ferrari power unit. That has allowed them to complete almost double the mileage of Aston Martin. And while Cadillac were the slowest team in Bahrain, they would probably swap one-lap pace for reliability at this stage.

Cadillac have little pressure on them this year results-wise. They just want to get their heads down and let the experienced Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas do their thing.

The fact that they might actually challenge Aston Martin – at least initially – gives their debut season added spice.

10. Aston Martin

A nightmare pre-season. The video doing the rounds on social media of the owner, Lawrence Stroll, climbing into his car outside the Bahrain paddock with a face like thunder, explains why Aston Martin’s staff are reportedly pulling all-nighters ahead of the new season. Having splashed the cash on a new factory, a new wind tunnel and Adrian Newey, the most successful F1 designer in history, Stroll wanted results yesterday. Instead, the car was late to pass FIA crash tests, and has suffered a litany of reliability issues since breaking cover.

Aston Martin completed the fewest laps of any team, even Cadillac, in testing. It has been embarrassing. The new Honda engine is miles down on power – Newey told last week’s F1 commission meeting attendees that it could not even recover energy at the lower limit of 250kw, let alone the higher one of 350kw – the gearbox has experienced issues; the car is overweight.

Aston Martin’s pre-season was summed up when, on the final day, Honda had only one battery left and decided to limit running to “short runs”. Lance Stroll managed six laps all day.

9. Audi

It has been an impressive start by Audi, who have taken over the Sauber team and designed and built their own power unit for 2026. Like Red Bull, Audi deserve huge credit just for getting out there on time and putting in nearly 5000km across the two Bahrain tests. There have been some gremlins to overcome. But they look in far better shape than Aston Martin.

Audi could surprise some this season, despite being behind certain rivals because of the Mercedes power unit. They are ambitious and it will be interesting to see what Jonathan Wheatley can do with the team.

8. Williams

Williams’ public failure to make the “shakedown test” in Barcelona last month was a major source of embarrassment, not least because James Vowles said last season that his team were switching their attention to 2026 in good time so as not to repeat the mistakes of previous years, when they arrived late and overweight. Doubts over the car’s weight persist.

And the reliability issues and lack of mileage – the Grove team were ninth out of 11 in distance covered – are also a concern. On the plus side, Williams have a Mercedes power unit, two brilliant drivers and Vowles at the helm. They are trending in the right direction, even if they might struggle to improve on their fifth place in the constructors’ championship last term.

7. Racing Bulls

Fifth-best in terms of kilometres covered (5458km), Racing Bulls, like their parent team, are in far finer fettle than anyone expected. British rookie Arvid Lindblad, 18, notched 240 laps on his own across the last three days of testing – more than any other driver.

His fastest lap of the week was also around 0.4s quicker than his teammate Liam Lawson, albeit in more favourable conditions. Lawson was a bit quicker in race pace. That battle is going to be an interesting one. Lindblad admitted in a recent Telegraph interview that his aim was to beat Lawson in his rookie season.

6. Alpine

Could easily be at No 5. Alpine were about a second a lap slower than the big four in testing and, crucially, are now using Mercedes power units. It might seem like a strange decision from Alpine’s owner Renault to use the power unit of one of their biggest car-making rivals. But from a performance standpoint, it makes perfect sense.

If Mercedes have the most reliable and powerful unit, we can expect to see Alpine take a huge leap forward this season, which is just as well because Flavio Briatore looked as if he was going to take out a very different sort of contract on his drivers at times last year.

5. Haas

Haas are vying with Alpine and Racing Bulls to be “best of the rest” behind the established “big four”. They slot in at five in this list, based largely on the fact that they managed 6095km across the two tests, second only to Mercedes. Impressive from one of the grid’s minnows, who are settling under Ayao Komatsu.

Oliver Bearman, the young British driver, came very close to finishing on the podium in Mexico last year. Who is to say he cannot achieve that in his second season in the sport? On the evidence of testing, he has a good shot.

4. Red Bull

Red Bull may no longer be considered the “benchmark team” (Toto Wolff’s description in Bahrain test one), and their straight-line pace may not be as “scary” (George Russell’s description) as it appeared then, but they are absolutely in the mix, which in itself is impressive, considering they are building their own power units for the first time.

Even they did not expect to be so competitive so quickly. Red Bull have got a good handle on energy deployment, their long-run pace looked similar to McLaren, and when you have Max Verstappen at the wheel, anything is possible.

3. McLaren

The reigning world champions have been busy talking up their rivals. “This test has confirmed that Ferrari and Mercedes look like the teams to beat,” team principal Andrea Stella declared at the end of the week. “McLaren and Red Bull [are] probably very similar, Ferrari and Mercedes a step ahead.” There may be an element of sandbagging going on but the numbers at least back Stella up.

McLaren were third-quickest on one-lap pace, and fourth in terms of kilometres covered. McLaren, though, were not running the latest spec of Mercedes power unit. And the Woking team are such a tight ship at the moment. It would surprise no one if they had a trick or two up their sleeve. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be quietly confident of challenging.

2. Ferrari

Ferrari have flattered to deceive so many times in recent years, only to disappoint when push comes to shove. But on the strength of headline times alone – Charles Leclerc ended the two Bahrain tests with the fastest lap time by 0.811s and also set the fastest race simulation of the week – you have to have them up there.

Encouragingly, Ferrari brought one or two innovations to Bahrain, including the eye-catching “upside-down rear” wing, which even if it is never seen again, suggests they are pushing the envelope. They were also clearly the best team at race starts thanks to their smaller turbo, albeit their advantage appeared to be dwindling by the end of the second test. Could Sir Lewis Hamilton challenge this year? Time will tell. But his fans can at least dream.

1. Mercedes

George Russell remains the bookies’ favourite and you can see why. Not only did Mercedes manage the most kilometres of any team in testing, with 6193km banked over the course of the two Bahrain tests, they appear to have emerged victorious in the long-running compression ratio row. Rival manufacturers had pushed for changes to the test to try to limit their advantage, but now look set to vote against the FIA’s proposed changes as they will not suit their purposes after all.

It is true that Mercedes had some reliability issues in the second test – mostly on Kimi Antonelli’s car. And they never banked a lap as quickly as Ferrari. But it felt throughout testing as if Mercedes might be hiding their true pace. Wolff’s team look well set for the new regulations.

– Daily Telegraph