The engines are quiet, but the politics, programmes and 2026 projects are flat-out. From an FIA election that barely qualifies as an election, to Ferrari’s chairman firing public shots and Audi sketching out its title timeline, the week after Brazil has been anything but downtime.
FIA Elections: One Candidate and a South American dead end
The FIA’s December presidential vote has effectively become a referendum with no alternative. The federation has confirmed Mohammed Ben Sulayem as the only eligible candidate for the 12 December election in Tashkent, after his presidential list became the sole slate that met the requirements.
On paper, candidates must submit a full leadership ticket, including seven Vice-Presidents for Sport, each from a different region and chosen from a pre-approved list of World Motor Sport Council nominees. In practice, that structure creates a built-in dead end.
The critical choke point is South America.
On the approved list, there is only one eligible South American: Fabiana Ecclestone, already locked into Ben Sulayem’s ticket. And yes, if the surname sounds familiar, she is indeed Bernie Ecclestone’s wife. Any challenger must use her, which they cannot or fail to submit a valid list.
Former FIA steward Tim Mayer abandoned his bid, calling the process “the illusion of democracy”, noting that in South America and parts of Africa the only eligible nominees are tied to the incumbent. Swiss-French racer Laura Villars has taken the FIA to the Judicial Court of Paris, arguing that the rules violate the federation’s statutes by making real competition impossible.
The court will rule on 3 December. It could suspend the vote or confirm that the system, however restrictive, meets legal standards and the election proceeds with one name on the ballot.
Whichever outcome emerges, the damage is done. A presidential race where only one South American nominee exists and is already aligned with the incumbent resembles a confidence trick, not an election. For F1 teams used to modern governance, seeing their regulator drift toward pre-decided leadership is the kind of scenario that raises serious concerns among manufacturers.
Lando Norris and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, Image Credit: McLaren
Elkann vs Ferrari: “Talk Less, Drive More”
At Maranello, the post-Brazil autopsy has gone very public.
Ferrari chairman John Elkann used media interviews this week to call the Scuderia’s F1 campaign “a huge disappointment” and told his drivers to “focus on driving and talk less” after the double DNF in São Paulo.
The comments landed hardest on Lewis Hamilton, who has already described his first Ferrari season as a “nightmare”, with no Grand Prix podiums so far and Brazil ending in floor damage, a penalty and retirement after collisions with Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz.
For now, Elkann is publicly defending engineers and mechanics while tightening the screws on the drivers. The underlying tension is obvious: Ferrari sold the Hamilton move as the start of a new era. Twelve months later, the results sheet reads more like a soft reboot gone wrong.
Lewis Hamilton during 2025 F1 São Paolo Grand Prix, Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
Luke Browning lands Abu Dhabi FP1 and post-season test with Williams
While Ferrari tries to steady the ship, Williams is quietly building its next phase. The team confirmed that Luke Browning will drive Alex Albon’s FW47 in FP1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his third official F1 session after Bahrain and São Paulo, and will also take part in the post-season Young Driver Test at Yas Marina.
Browning’s schedule matters on three fronts:
- It gives Williams another data point on a driver they have fast-tracked through their academy in a compressed F2 season.
- It provides extra correlation mileage between simulator, junior machinery and current F1 hardware at a circuit that features in the calendar every year.
- It keeps pressure on the existing line-up at a time when multiple midfield teams are openly weighing up their 2027–28 options.
For a team still rebuilding its identity and infrastructure, Browning is both a performance project and a signal: Williams intends to have its driver staircase clearly defined before the next regulation cycle hits.
F1 Academy future locked in with all 10 F1 teams
The other big structure story this week is firmly on the positive side.
Formula 1 announced that all 10 current F1 teams have signed a multi-year extension to keep running branded cars and backing drivers in F1 Academy, locking the series into the sport’s long-term ladder plan.
The renewed deal also confirms that:
- Incoming 2026 F1 entrant Cadillac will join as a grid sponsor from 2027, bringing the total number of F1-linked liveries to 11.
- Managing Director Susie Wolff wants to expand the grid from 18 to 20 cars, backing that ambition with an increasingly full calendar alongside Grand Prix weekends.
For all the justified scrutiny of F1’s governance elsewhere, this is one area where the structure is starting to look coherent: a permanent women-only series, fully badged by F1 teams, with a clear commercial and sporting future.
Payton Westcott named Las Vegas Wild Card for F1 Academy finale
Las Vegas will not just be about neon, celebrity grids and tyre temperatures. It will also host a new American name on the junior ladder.
Payton Westcott, a 16-year-old American, has been confirmed as the Visit Las Vegas Wild Card for the F1 Academy season finale on the Strip, racing with a special Las Vegas-themed livery and race suit backed by the local tourism board.
Her story fits neatly into F1 Academy’s playbook in 2025: use high-profile weekends to showcase regional talent, put local backing on the car, and turn a one-off drive into a shop window. For Westcott, it is a high-pressure audition in front of the entire F1 paddock; for the series, it is another data point that the Wild Card concept actually connects with local fans.
F1 Commission: more colour, new numbers and no mandatory two-stops
The latest F1 Commission meeting delivered a small but significant set of regulatory tweaks for 2026.
From next season, cars must have at least 55 percent of their visible surface (from side and top views) covered in paint or livery, not exposed carbon fibre. Alongside that, the Commission has:
- Updated driver number rules, making it easier for drivers to change numbers mid-career and clarifying when long-unused numbers can be reassigned.
- Adjusted elements of the aerodynamic testing restrictions, fine-tuning the tiered allocation system that grants lower-ranked teams additional wind-tunnel and CFD time.
What it did not do is just as interesting. Proposals to mandate two-stop races and further tighten parc fermé were discussed but not adopted, to be revisited once more modelling and feedback have been gathered.
Taken together, the changes nudge F1 in a clearer direction: more visually distinctive cars, stronger driver branding, and a cautious approach to artificial strategy manipulation. The sport wants more colour on the grid, but it is not yet ready to legislate its way out of one-stop Sundays.
Audi’s R26 Concept: From Munich Launch To 2030 Title Target
Finally, the long-trailed Audi F1 project has a shape, a colour palette and a public deadline.
At the “Audi One” event in Munich, the manufacturer unveiled the R26 Concept, a fully-dressed preview of its 2026 F1 car’s design language and livery. The car, finished in Audi red, black and titanium tones, is built around the brand’s new design philosophy – “clear, technical, intelligent and emotional” and will feed directly into the launch spec of the team’s first chassis early next year.
Key pillars of the project as laid out this week:
- Chassis and race operations centred on Hinwil, with full ownership of the former Sauber operation.
- Power unit development based in Neuburg an der Donau, with a bespoke 2026 hybrid designed entirely in-house.
- Leadership under Mattia Binotto (Head of Audi F1 Project) and Jonathan Wheatley (Team Principal), reporting directly to Audi CEO Gernot Döllner.
- A driver pairing of Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, already racing together at Kick Sauber as a rolling dress rehearsal for 2026.
Döllner has now put a timeline on the ambition: Audi wants to be a challenger in 2026–27, solidly competitive by 2028, and fighting for the world championship by 2030.
For a sport used to manufacturers arriving with vague talk of “long-term projects”, the R26 launch felt different. The concept is not just a show car; it is a public contract with fans and shareholders. Audi has circled a year on the calendar and effectively said: if we are not in the title picture by then, we will have failed our own brief.
Feature Image Credit: AUDI AG