F1 2026 car launch dates: schedule for team and livery reveals – Motor Sport Magazine
Audi
Formula 1’s 2026 launch season is about to get into full swing, with Red Bull and Racing Bulls set to be first to reveal the look of their new cars on January 15.
But don’t expect to discover many design secrets when the covers are pulled off their cars — nor any of their rivals’ machines for that matter.
F1 teams are always cagey about revealing too much too early, and they are set to be ultra-cautious this year when new regulations have forced each team to design their cars from a blank sheet of paper, meaning that any team could have come up with an ingenious concept that will propel them to the front of the grid.
Any innovations are likely to be kept under wraps until testing — perhaps even until the first race of the season in Australia — so we’ll initially be shown teams’ updated liveries on what are likely to be show cars, reflecting a generic car built to 2026 rules.
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Haas, Audi and Mercedes will follow Red Bull with livery reveals but, as launch season continues, we’re likely to start to see more unique details: Ferrari may show a version of its new car on January 23, just ahead of the first testing session, at Barcelona in late January, which will be held behind closed doors.
Further launches are then planned, including new team Cadillac, which will reveal its livery during the half-time break at NFL’s Super Bowl on February 8. Later that month, there will be two public tests in Bahrain, where we should see all of this year’s cars in full for the first time — although perhaps still missing one or two key components.
The first running of the 2026 cars will take place behind closed doors at the Circuit de Barcelona‑Catalunya from January 26-30.
With the teams facing a seismic technical overhaul, the first shakedown will be kept entirely private: no television coverage, no journalists on site and no live social-media feed allowed.
After that, two full public test sessions are scheduled in Bahrain, first on February 11-13 and then on February 18-20, with fans, media and broadcasters finally able to view the new machines ahead of the opening round.
Audi was the first Formula 1 team to reveal its livery concept for 2026, but will present its official race livery on January 20 in Berlin.
The scheme, revealed in November, has been applied to a “concept” car that reveals little about the car we’ll see racing at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.
Another launch event will take place in Berlin ahead of testing, where Audi will show off its final colour scheme before it goes racing.
The team will be officially known as Audi Revolut F1 team following a partnership with the global fintech company.
Of more concern to drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, as well as F1 project boss Mattia Binotto and team principal Jonathan Wheatley, is how the car will perform. Audi has taken on a herculean task in producing its own power unit as well as its chassis, and admits that it’s likely to need five years to become a title contender.
2026 Audi F1 car launch
2026 Red Bull will be powered by in-house power-unit — with support from Ford
Red Bull
Red Bull, alongside sister team Racing Bulls, is the first team to officially kick off the 2026 Formula 1 car launch season, with both teams set to reveal their livery at an event on January 15.
The unveiling will take place at the Ford Racing Season Launch at the Michigan Central Station in Detroit.
This is the first time both of Red Bull’s teams will be unveiled together, and will mark the official introduction of the Ford Red Bull Powertrains unit, as Ford returns to Formula 1 after a 22-year absence.
“Since we announced our return to F1 with Red Bull, the team has been working night and day to get ready for 2026,” said Mark Rushbrook, Ford Racing’s global director. “But this is about so much more than just the racing.
“It is about how we use our learnings from F1 to make our cars and trucks better for our customers. What we will learn together with Red Bull will define the technologies of the future and that is what excites me most about this relationship.”
Red Bull will again have Max Verstappen as its leading driver in 2026, with his team-mate yet to be revealed.
Aston Martin is the latest team to commit a procedural breach
Grand Prix Photo
Aston Martin has now revealed it will launch its 2026 car on February 9.
This will come after the behind-closed-doors Barcelona test as teams run cars designed under the biggest technical regulations shake-up in the history of F1.
It will be the first Aston Martin car designed under Adrian Newey, as well as the first with him as a team boss.
The drivers will be Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, son of the team’s billionaire owner Lawrence.
Which drivers will be unveiling the Racing Bull in 2026?
Red Bull
Racing Bulls will share the spotlight with Red Bull Racing at a joint launch event, the first time both teams have unveiled their cars together.
The team will also be powered by the Ford Red Bull Powertrains engine in 2026.
The 2025 season saw Racing Bulls steadily close the gap to the frontrunners, with Isack Hadjar even scoring a podium finish at Zandvoort.
Like Red Bull, Racing Bulls’ definitive driver line-up for 2026 is yet to be revealed, but it is expected to be filled with a combination of Hadjar, Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Arvid Lindblad.
The team will be run from a factories in Indianapolis, Silverstone and General Motors’ motor sport base in North Carolina.
Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez will drive for Cadillac in its first year, with Colton Herta as test driver – the American will run an F2 campaign to gain the necessary superlicence points to become eligible for F1.
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