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That is the warning from Haas driver Ollie Bearman, who sees the new regulations as the chance for his team to jump up the F1 pecking order.
It comes as the American team unveil their 2026 car – the first team to do so after Red Bull and Racing Bulls only showcased their livery – with digital renders of the VF26 being shared online.
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The new cars are smaller and narrower than before and are built to a revised set of aerodynamic rules. On the Haas, the most obvious changes are a slimmer front wing and a fin on the engine cover.
A similar fin was seen on the new Cadillac car, which ran for the first time at Silverstone on Friday during a private test. Cadillac released photos from the session, but they were deliberately taken from a distance or blurred to avoid giving away too much detail.
The 2026 regulations overhaul both car design and power units. Engines remain as the 1.6-litre V6 turbo hybrids, but the electrical side now plays a far bigger role. Energy management is significantly increased over a lap and a race, and all engines must run on fully sustainable fuel made from waste biomass or synthetic industrial processes.
A private test will be held in Barcelona in the final week of January, with no independent media present. The season then begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne from March 6-8.
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Haas team principal Ayao Komasu said: “I don’t think any team, even the biggest, is going to say they’re fully equipped to tackle this. However, for us, the challenge is bigger – there is going to be huge variation between teams because of two elements.
“First is the PU, with the teams using the same provider presumably bunched up, so Mercedes providing four teams, Ferrari providing three, Red Bull two, Audi and Honda providing one.
“Then on the aerodynamic side, it’s completely open, and development will happen fast.
“A pecking order may get established in the first four races pretty quickly, but I think it’s going to be a very dynamic season. What you see in race one and race two, I expect will be totally different when we come to the final races of the year.”
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British driver Ollie Bearman, entering his second season with the team, added: “I feel these changes are the biggest in the history of Formula 1, so with that is a huge deal of excitement for me.
“It’s impossible to gauge where we’re going to be right now. Everything I’m seeing from the team is positive, but we don’t know how we stack up, and we won’t know until qualifying in Australia.
“Even then, I feel like in the first few races reliability is going to be playing a big factor. There are going to be teams and people making mistakes with these new regulations. It’s going to be tough to establish a true pecking order.”
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