What have we learnt from the start to the F1 season?
Overtakes, system failures, more teams on the track, the F1 season is officially back with a bang.
The new F1 regulations for the 2026 season are already bringing some exciting changes to the grid. In 2025, the most overtakes in a single race was Abu Dhabi with 60 happening across the race. In the first 2026 race, there were 120 overtakes! The first 10 laps were particularly full of action - something of a rarity in previous years.
Now don't get it twisted, there will be a good chunk of this that can be chalked down to 'teething problems' with the new cars and regulations so we do expect this to level out as the season continues. But that doesn't diminish what we saw and the early indicators do make me believe overtaking will continue to be a much more prominent feature this season.
The first race also saw a high number of car faults, including DNFs from Red Bull, Cadillac, and Aston Martin, and the even rarer DNSs from Audi and McLaren. Once again, we can place these incidents down to the new regulations and it's fair to say that the 80-ish minute race time will have taught every team and driver a lot about the capabilities of their race car, as well as where they stand compared to everyone else.
The two obvious winners from the opening races are Mercedes and Ferrari, with all four racers finishing in the top 4 two races in a row.
But as a candidate in F1 who may be looking for a route in, what have the opening few races taught us? Here are the main points I have taken away that might be worth thinking about.
Energy Management is the key factor for competitiveness
The first two races have made one thing abundantly clear: energy management is now one of the key factors that decides who wins the race.
The early signs are that Mercedes have sussed this out earlier than the rest of the pack, they used their energy the smartest across the duration of each course. Across the rest of this season, the other teams in the paddock will have to find ways to catch up in this area to keep this season competitive.
For candidates this will prove to be a key area to focus their development. With this fresh rule only just coming into place, there are still many years where energy management will be at the forefront of gaining competitive advantage across the seasons. Putting time and energy into developing these skills could be a crucial step to not just entering the industry, but actually being a sought after entity.
Aerodynamics is evolving
It's not just energy management that has become a whole different beast with the new regulations, aerodynamics has also evolved in an interesting direction.
For years the focus of aerodynamics was purely on raw downforce, generating greater grip and more speed going round the corners. Now software and controls are much more common, with adaptable aero systems and the integration it has with energy systems. This means we're seeing aerodynamicist positions beginning to merge more with control systems.
Candidates that are interested in a role within an aerodynamics team will want to think about gaining an understanding of how aerodynamics now interacts with software, controls, and other technological aspects of the race car, as this will be essential to long-term stability and progression in this kind of position.
Talent pipelines are as important as ever
Kimi Antonelli achieving his first race win at the age of 19 is an (albeit on the extreme end) example of how F1 teams are starting to place more and more trust into inexperienced, but well-prepared, talent. This extends far beyond merely just the drivers; teams are looking to their development programmes to help fill out positions across their operations as they seek fresh faces with fresh ideas.
As a candidate, there's never been a better time to get involved with one of these programmes. Qualifications around specific disciplines are a great addition to a CV, but F1 teams want talent that are ready to make an impact from day one. Being part of a development programme can be that route into the market.
Non-engineering roles are also experiencing a shift in skills demand
So far I've mainly talked about the developments happening in positions that directly work on the race cars. But some of the most interesting developments are happening further behind the scenes. On a yearly basis the level of technology available that can analyse race car performance and provide hyper-detailed statistics is growing and growing, and it's this growth that is continuing to impact analyst positions.
If you’re interested in an analyst position, then you've got to make sure you're super keen on gathering the data for race cars as well as what the data means. Data and statistics are the backbone of any great F1 team, so being extremely skilled in converting stats into actionable insight is an invaluable skill that is continuing to be highly sought after in the space.
Those are just a few key insights we've gathered based on the first 2 races of the season. I'm sure over the next few months there will be even more insight that comes to light as every team becomes more used to the new regulations. The question for now remains: who will challenge Mercedes and Ferrari at the top?