The F1 season-opener at Melbourne's Albert Park, which succeeded Adelaide's street circuit as the Australian Grand Prix's host venue, takes place a week later on March 8, kicking off a new technical era for the sport with new regulations ushered in.

Valtteri Bottas will drive a 1985 Ferrari 156/85 at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival ahead of his return to the F1 grid with Cadillac in 2026

At Williams, Rebecca Banks has moved on from leading the team’s F1 communications, having moved into the role in early 2022. Williams’ F1 communications will now be led by Dominique-Heyer Wright, reporting to group head of communications Craig Woodhouse.

Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu has joined the new Cadillac Formula 1 team as reserve driver. Zhou will act as support for Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, who are both returning from a year out to race for the American team, and will be first in line should either be unable to race at an event.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur reckons “pure performance” is quite irrelevant at the first pre-season test for the 2026 Formula 1 season due to the regulation change coming in. The 2026 campaign will introduce changes to both the power unit and chassis, as cars will become lighter and smaller and there’ll be more emphasis on electrical power.

Chinese racer Zhou Guanyu was one of two reserve drivers for Ferrari in the 2025 season, alongside Antonio Giovinazzi. Both drivers had previous experience in Formula One for the same team, with Zhou having raced for Sauber between 2022 and 2024, having replaced Giovinazzi at the start of his tenure.

Ferrari is planning to run two different versions of its F1 2026 car, Project 678, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in testing.

Valentino Rossi is best known as one of MotoGP's biggest legends, but he also had a stint as a test driver for Ferrari's Formula 1 team.