The second race of the new regulations saw Mercedes once again take a 1-2 from a Ferrari 3-4. But this time, the positions for both teams were switched, giving Kimi Antonelli his first Grand Prix victory.

The 19-year-old converted his newest record (being the youngest Grand Prix polesitter in the sport’s history) into becoming the second youngest race winner (behind Max Verstappen) as the Mercedes carried the young Italian to victory, meaning we heard the Italian national anthem and the German anthem for the first time since Singapore 2019 and Seb Vettel crossing the line first. 

Older F1 fans may have memories of those anthems in a different order.

But while we don’t fully yet know what everyone is hiding under their bright carbon fibre shells, the order is looking like Mercedes vs Ferrari and everyone else battling for fifth. Something these two teams have in common is that they make the powertrain in house. 

These works manufacturers are historically the most successful engine manufacturers in the sport, with 489 victories, and with each dramatic ruleset change, they’ve been able to make each subsequent formula work for themselves and make a bucketload of money licensing engines to teams further down the grid to teams that cannot win the title, if you believe the prevailing belief.

Red Bull’s Vettel era was done under Renault engines, but they had priority as the French works team wound down its involvement in F1, Brawn before that was a special case, winning with Mercedes engines before becoming the in-house works team from 2010.

So we keep going backwards to Merc again with McLaren in 1998, but that was an exclusive relationship, so it’s maybe Renault again and the beautiful powder blue Benettons, but that was also a works arrangement in all but name so we wind the time machine further to Williams in 1981 and a Ford Cosworth engine that supplied 13 of the 17 teams on the grid!

Back then, engines were louder, more crude machines that provided power without subtlety or intelligence. There was no software that linked customer hardware with works chassis. You got a complex lump of metal, and you put it into your car.

Come back with me to the last couple of years then, and we’ve got McLaren bucking the trend, winning races with Mercedes power in the back. 2024 and 2025 were dominant years from a customer engine, where they made the power unit work better in their car than the people who made it themselves. That’s remarkable.

And in Shanghai, while the works teams were pushing each other forward, for a few laps,we got the Ferrari-Merc battle in miniature as Alpine and Haas fought it out between fifth and eighth. Alpine, running Mercedes power and Haas with a Ferrari in the back were showing the secret of any regulation change. 

Regulation changes only work well if at least two teams are very similar. 

Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto gained Alpine’s first double points finish since Sao Paulo 2024 and Colapinto’s first points finish since joining Alpine, 19 races ago. He may have been able to push for more, chasing Carlos Sainz at the end and colliding with Ocon.

I was surprised that Colapinto got the gig for 2026. I also did not think Colapinto would not make it until the end of the season. He still might not, but I imagine Flavio Briatore was looking at the inevitable cancellation of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as a chance to start measuring Paul Aron for a seat alongside Gasly.

A point - and it could have been more - keeps the wolf from the door for a few more races at least.

Here you had two mid-table teams who have taken different approaches. Haas are Ferrari-influenced, to the extent where they have an office in Maranello. They have a Ferrari Academy driver in Olly Bearman who looks like he’s on a pathway to be in red in the future. They have embraced taking the powertrain and everything else they can find off the Ferrari shelves. 

On the other hand, Alpine, who previously had Renault. I couldn’t understand the decision from the team to stop producing engines. I still don’t really. With manufacturers running into F1, paying hundreds of millions of dollars to join the sport, why would a manufacturer leave? And then pay another manufacturer millions so they can supply engines to them? But, based on two races, if you can’t beat them, join them seems to work for them.

The miniature battle was won by Bearman, who finished fifth in the race - the true best of the rest. Bearman got his first points finish of his F1 career in China last year and this might be a track he looks forward to the rest of his career.

But that battle was quickly broken up by another driver and another powertrain. Max Verstappen broke through the Alpine-Haas battle on fresh tyres after he pitted just before the safety car came out. Red Bull have developed their own engine with the help of Ford as another manufacturer who came back into F1. 

We have several engine manufacturers in F1 for this new era. The rules change brought Honda back, Audi entered, Ford entered, Renault left, Cadillac have aspirations of their own unit. But when you’re buying an engine, you’re also buying support (you are currently number THREE in the queue. Your call is very important to us) and also a version of the software that presumably gets upgraded.

After Mercedes’ dominant performance in Australia vs their rivals, there were rumours that they were not sharing as much information as they could be with their customers. It might be a different software version, for example, but the computers in the cars are more important than ever as they learn battery deployment in real time through the laps.

The engine isn’t everything, of course. Williams had a qualifying session that is best described by Alex Albon. But the reason for their woes is partly due to being 20-30kgs overweight (Williams, I feel you). Despite that, attrition helped Carlos Sainz to their first points of the season. Part of that attrition was due to another Mercedes-powered team, McLaren being unable to take the lights. It means Oscar Piastri has yet to complete a Grand Prix lap this season, but still has more points than 10 drivers this year due to his sixth place in the Shanghai sprint.

These new regulations are always a gamble for teams. This year so far is showing that most teams able to control and produce more in-house are having more success than those buying key components in, unless of course, you are Aston Martin.

🏍️ MotoGP moved their Qatar race to later in the season

🏎️ F1 Academy’s opening race of the year was won by Audi’s Emma Felbermayr

🦅 This meme from IndyCar deserved so much more

All the headlines in 2026 are video game references.

Every console has its own exclusive software. You’d never see a Zelda game on an Xbox, right? I thought that was an interesting parallel, even as exclusivity in most cases has weakened in recent years.

To illustrate exclusivity, I thought I’d use this video from Smash Bros. a game that mocks any exclusivity you might think of, except for it being on a Nintendo.