Two further key events in the build-up to the new Formula 1 season have just taken place in Germany and Japan, namely the glitzy official unveiling in Berlin of the livery for Audi’s first ever F1 car and in Tokyo the unveiling of Honda’s new power unit, which it hopes will help make the Aston Martin team more competitive.

The global financial technology company, Revolut, is the title sponsor of the new Audi team, which has arrived after the German car manufacturer’s acquisition of the Swiss-based Sauber outfit, and the new contender has high hopes for on-track success in due course. It has to be acknowledged, though, that it has set itself major challenges in terms of designing and building both its own power unit and chassis under the new 2026 F1 technical regulations.

Its senior management team has strength in depth, though, being headed by the former Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, and with Jonathan Wheatley as the Audi team principal after significant success prior to this with Red Bull. The driver pairing offers an intriguing combination of experience and youth, with the 38-year-old German, Nico Hülkenberg, representing the experienced side, and the 21-year-old Brazilian rising star, Gabriel Bortoleto, embodying the youthful aspect.



After many seasons as the highly successful power unit supplier for Red Bull and Racing Bulls, Honda has unveiled its 2026 offering, which will only be used by Aston Martin. Mercedes units will power not only its own team but also McLaren, Williams, and Alpine. Ferrari units will propel the red cars from Italy as well as Haas and Cadillac, and Red Bull-Ford units will be used by its pair of teams. This, of course, leaves Audi with its own in-house-designed power supply.

Unfortunately for Honda and Aston Martin, the former has already admitted that it is suffering problems with the petrol internal combustion side of the new unit, even if the hybrid electrical element is progressing well, and it has concerns about being off the pace of other teams and struggling when pre-season testing starts next week in Barcelona. If so, it may prove to be a shame for the Silverstone-based team’s 44-year-old Spanish driver, Fernando Alonso, for whom 2026 might well represent his final year competing at the peak of world motorsport.



In other news, Toyota Gazoo Racing has replaced MoneyGram as Haas’ title sponsor for the new season, with the global automotive giant increasing the level of its existing technical partnership, and the American-owned outfit’s new livery has been revealed, featuring, as you expect, a greater level of TGR on-car branding.

Also, three days earlier, the new Cadillac team had undertaken a private filming day at Silverstone, with its race drivers, Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas, plus reserve driver Zhou Guanyu all in attendance. It represented the first time that its car had run on track, and special measures were taken to stop any unofficial images being taken, with the car set to be unveiled during a television advert partway through American football’s Super Bowl event on 8 February.



Meanwhile, it has emerged that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is widely regarded as the best driver among the current F1 crop and one of the greatest ever, spent two days at Portugal’s Portimão circuit while en route to the Red Bull/Racing Bulls Formula 1 launch in the USA last week. This was so that he could test a Mercedes-AMG GT3 sportscar there ahead of his hope to compete in one in this year’s iconic 24-hour race on Germany’s Nürburgring circuit. In short, the four-time F1 champion simply loves driving racing cars of whatever kind, and it’s reminiscent of the days when the likes of the legendary Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Graham Hill regularly used to compete in additional categories beyond their Formula 1 duties, yes, for additional money, but also very much for the sheer pleasure of doing so.

On a different front, Aston Martin has announced that it will no longer provide safety cars and medical cars for F1 rounds this season, leaving Mercedes as the sole supplier. The company had shared these duties with the German manufacturer since 2021 and has yet to provide any specific reason for its withdrawal, but this may be for commercial reasons.