P1 with Matt and Tommy - Our 2026 F1 season predictions

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Seemingly about ten minutes after Lando Norris was crowned the 2025 World Champion, we are BACK! From our Championship winners to big flops, bold Patreon predictions and new race winners, join us as we unveil our predictions for the biggest set of regulation changes in F1 history!Sign up to our Patreon! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. The 2026 Formula One season is just around the corner. How? And I mean, yeah, ridiculous. The corner wasn't very long. I was put it that way, was it? Like the actual straight towards the corner. It's been a short break. But look, Tommy, it's been nice to turn our brains off a little bit, you know, reset, you know, spend some time with family and friends.

But then there's also a part of me when the weekends come around where I'm like, I should be doing something. I should be cheering on that glorious red team, even though I'm wearing black today, because I'm mourning everything because, you know, it's so over. Spoilers. Like, you don't know. You don't know what's going to come up my mouth on me once we get to the predictions. But how excited are you to be back?

I'm very excited. It feels like the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finished 20 minutes ago. Now I'm sat here recording with you. But I'm excited for the new season. It's quite literally the 7th of January. So this is the earliest we've ever done content ever, I think. Yeah, definitely, because we're basically going to be getting car launches very, very soon, which is insane.

They're very rarely this early because I think all the cars are going to break down and private tests and all that kind of stuff. So it means very, very early predictions, but it means we can get into the F1 excitement even earlier, which I'm certainly not going to complain about. Yes, the first car launch is under a week away now. And when this goes out, it would be like three days' time. Yeah, I guess when it goes out.

Of course, time of recording is about a week. But yeah, it's crazy to see the amount of car launches. We were even going to one as well. We won't see any more than that than we are going to a car launch. Very excited for that. But I know you're all here for one thing and one thing only, and that's our predictions. For the 2026F1 season, something we like to do. If you're new to P1, we do our predictions before testing.

And then we revisit after we've learned a little bit to see how we would sit with a first to 20, or sorry, 22 now. And then still be wrong. And then still be wrong after testing. And categorically, catastrophically even wrong. But that's the beauty of P1. And if everybody was correct, they'd all be making a lot of money. And this is even more fun because we've got new regulations, which means that pecking order should be shaken up.

We don't know. It's only Twitter rumors and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, should be interesting to see what we go for. Because we're basically, you know, we've made these predictions before. you know, we always do before testing, like you say. But normally it's kind of like same reg, so you kind of know who's going to be up there to a point, whereas this is like, whoa.

This is so many changes. I'm sure we'll talk about everything that's coming for 2026 at some point and give our opinions. One thing I want to clarify right here and right now, Tommy, is of course we're doing these predictions. It's very similar format to what we have for our main race podcast stuff and our predictions. Are we allowed to go for the same thing?

any point or is it whoever gets in there first, that's locked in and then you've got to think on the fly because in my brain I'm thinking the second one's more fun because when we come to reviewing this, oh, I went for the same thing. Well, we'll see. I don't know. I don't know. Last year I'm trying to think we didn't do any of the same, did we? I don't think so.

Will this be the same? Well, maybe. Who knows? Who knows? We might just have... It becomes a problem and we've done exactly the same thing. We'll re-record and none of this ever happened. Right.

Let's get into it. The first prediction is a good surprise for the season. All right. Hear me out. So my good surprise for this season is Pierre Gasley. Don't tell me. You've done the same thing, haven't you? No, I'll save it.

I'll save it. We'll save it for you a bit. Pierre Gazley is absolutely, this is, I may as well just give myself a point now, because Alpine, we all know just how dreadful they were. When they put literally no resource into 2025, they put everything into 2026. There's a few things, right, that my brain, yes, I do have a brain, you know, it thinks about here. It's not just a, well, let's just roll the dice and see what happens.

Alpine, they've put everything into this year. Pierre Gasly is a brilliant drive. I couldn't believe, by the way, when we went on Tomo's big fat quiz of the year and found out it had been in Q3 11 times or something. Absolutely ridiculous. Crazy, yeah. Was it even 13, 11. Anyway, there's a big number. That also, Alpine have Mercedes engines, which if we go by the rumours that have been floating around, Mercedes and Red Bull have found a loophole already in the 226 regulations of essentially giving them three-tenths a lap with the way in which their engine is.

as much as I know from a technical standpoint. Yeah, should we chat about that? Because my father-in-law actually used to build engines for his job. And we've got him on the phone right now. So he actually explained it to me. And basically it's the... Oh, my God. I can only imagine, by the way, how wrong this is going to be.

And also how he's explained it to you because we both are not particularly, you know, engine nerds. He told me weeks ago, so this is all going to be wrong. So I apologize for throwing him under the best. very good engine builder. But it's something to do with the piston and the compression ratio of the piston going within the, like as it moves. And basically what the teams have found is they can expand that. So there's less gap going into the kind of piston going up. And basically that means that it delivers more more power. So like it's 16.1 is the rules. But they've found and basically it said it has to be an ambient temperature, which means they've,

they've basically seen that loophole and gone well it is when it's sat there doing nothing but when we're actually driving it's going to be 18 to 1 given three tenths a lap and there might well be clear and all the other teams are complaining already so I am going to say right now that that is the one and only time we will ever do technical talk for the rest of the P1 existence

you're particularly when all the comments say it's wrong yeah it's wrong and we're also trying to be very technical so let's say that's the last time we ever do that oh yeah don't worry but yes it is interesting to see And also the fact that it's come out basically saying the FIA, they're not going to do anything. They can't change it now because it's far too late in the rulebook and the development for the teams.

So it's going to be fascinating to see if that genuinely is a massive advantage for those teams. Didn't hear Ferrari in that loophole part. But that's why I've gone for Pierre Gazzley, good surprise. Tommy, who have you gone for? So I had gone for Alpine. I'm going to change it because it's boring to go for the same. and I'm going to do for the good of the podcast. I'm going to go for another one that I had that I was thinking about doing.

So I'll go for that one, which is Gabriel Bortoletto. He was in my locker as well. Was he? Okay. That's a worry. The predictions that are all going to be the same. Yeah, I think, look, I don't think Audi are going to be like absolutely unbelievably amazing and really, really good.

I think this is more based on the fact that I don't think, well, I know for a fact his position in the world championship does not reflect on the season he had doesn't certainly reflect at all the kind of how comparable he was to Nika Holkenberg and things and I think he's going to do a good job and he's only going to be better having that rookie year under his belt so I do genuinely think he is a really special talent and could have a very high ceiling and I think he's going to have a really bright future and I don't think that that 19th last year in the championship reflects his talent at all. So I'm going to go for Portoletti. Gosh, was he 19th in the end? That is crazy. He was the, he was last of the point scorers, which is mad because he scored 19 points,

which last year would put you quite high up the championship. The beauty of the midfield and the way it chopped and changed. Yeah, it's a fair one. I think it was also, as I say, a backup for me to potentially say Gabrielle. So best of luck to him. Now, something we have included as well in this predictions for the season episode, which I think adds a nice little new feature, is that we got all of you to vote as to who you believe would be the good surprise. And we've got the top three. So in third place, with 9.3% of the vote was Carlos Sines. Carlos Sines. Could see that. So is that winning. Is it a good surprise? Yeah. This is the thing like, obviously people

are expecting Williams to be good. They've got the Mercedes power. I think they'll be good. but would it be like a surprise if Carla Sainz is like getting the odd podium and we had a couple of podiums last year well yeah so it'd need a good five or six I think I think you'd do well for sure maybe even a cheeky win you know that that would be oh yeah that would be a good surprise locked in in second place with 10.6% of the vote Kimmy Antonelli this one I can I can see again it's funny the way you measure the way you measure a surprise because everybody. is expecting Mercedes to be very quick, Kimmy Antenay would have to win a couple of races at the very least, I would say. Yeah, exactly. This is funny how you measure a surprise, and this is why we have the conversations after and makes it fun in the podcast that we can, like,

have a little bit of banter about it, because you can say, oh, well, they only scored this many points the year before, or, you know, because you can argue that, like, you know, we've spoken about Mercedes and potential advantage they could have. George Russell is going to be obviously one of those people that's very favored, but if you said George Russell's going to be a surprise, people would be like, wasn't a surprise, but then you could go, well, he finished fourth in the championship

and a hundred points off last time. So, yeah, it could change. But Kimmy Antonelli, yeah, he's going to have a very good car you'd imagine underneath him, and could see him certainly getting wins and things for sure. And first place for the fans, an overwhelming 20% of the vote, is Isaac Hadjar. Now, this one, I think, is free real estate.

as long as he doesn't finish 17 in the first four races. It's like he doesn't get 24 road basically. Yeah, pretty much. And I can agree with this one. I think it's a very fair shout. We both, I think, are of the opinion, aren't we, that Hajjar's going to do better

than what we've seen in recent years with the new regulation change. I think being something that should massively help a driver coming into the dreaded second seat of Red Bull. So, yeah, Isaac Hadjar, 20% of the vote. And I would have been one of them if I wasn't going to go with the flow. I was going, you know, go a little bit different with Pierre Gasley.

Yeah, definitely. I can see why this is a popular take because, yeah, Red Bull. New regulations maybe he's kind of got that buffer of if Red Bull are good and he does well, that's, that's the chance for a good surprise, but also if he's just anywhere near comparable to Max or occasionally beats him in a qualifying session because it's been so bad for the second driver, the bar is incredibly low for him and it might help with the low expectations for him. Yeah, low, but also a lot of spotlight still very much will be on Hajar and a lot of pressure there as well. So let's see how he does. Although Helmut Marquez gone now, so maybe not. He has gone. I wonder how that whole dynamic is going to work at Red Bull with him leaving. Right, we now go

from good to bad to a big flop. We can go for driver or team Tommy. We can't confirm that. Yep. Okay, all right. It's over to you. So my big flop. is Ferrari again. It's free real estate, like you mentioned earlier. I'm going for them again. I thought about going for something different. I thought about who it would be, but I just, I'm worried about Ferrari.

I really am. Funnily enough, when I did my big flop prediction in 2025 for Ferrari, my exact words, while I reveled in it, was, I think they're going to be absolutely amazing in 26, and they're just going to sack off the season. I don't think that now, mainly because obviously this loophole is worrying. Let's talk about Charlercée Claims saying he's not too impressed and things. They seem a team that are under pressure and I'm not confident in Ferrari's ability.

Cool. All right, nobody asked. That's probably the first point. You're starting 2026 really strong with the Ferrari slander. back to back flopping. Well, you mark my words, Tommy. You will eat them. You will eat those. You will eat those.

One win. Yeah, exactly. And I'll be saying, well, that was a successful season compared to the last year. Oh, dear. Look, fair enough. I got to respect it. Well done. It's not going to be as, oh, well done, Tommy this time.

Because people I don't think have the highest hopes for Ferrari either. No, I can't sit here and go, the joint constructors' favour. yes because they're definitely not. No, no. But if you run out of belief, what's left? All right. So that's good. All right.

Thanks for that, Tommy. The old black t-shirts. Yeah, no, I'm wearing black for reasons because of Ferrari. So there you go. My big flop for 2026 is Cadillac. On a similar thought train, they are, you know, coming into the sport, fresh. they also have a Ferrari engine in the back of that. So if the engines are pretty good on the Red Bull and Mercedes side

and Cadillac are joining the sport completely new, I just think they are going to be one of the slowest cars on the grid. I don't mean any disrespect by that. I just, the odds are stacked against them, I would say. As much as it is a new regulation set, it's still so difficult to come into Formula One and come out the blocks fire. They've brought in two very experienced drivers, which I think the way my thought process is going is that they've brought them in for a reason to give them both a spanner and a wrench and say, right, how do we build this?

Maybe even a hammer as well. Let's try and get a team working and firing in the next few years. I may well eat my words with this and they get loads of podiums. But for me, the big flop is Cadillac. Interesting. Yeah, I'm not. I can see why you've gone for this one. in the live shows I remember people mentioning about Cadillac

and I said with my chest like I don't think they're going to be as bad as some people think because they're basically doing the right thing of not starting from scratch with an engine and stuff I'm more concerned now that it doesn't sound like the Ferrari engine is going to be that good had they got a Mercedes engine in the back maybe but so they're doing the right thing in that sense And I think my initial thinking was, well, if Ferrari build a good engine and, you know, it's all looking good for Ferrari, they're taking parts from them and then it's not going to be as bad and it's going to be an engine formula. It's certainly not looking as good for Cadillac. It is going to be a big ask, I think. And based on, I mean, at the end of the day, this could all age really badly. We're obviously of a similar opinion with engines and things, but there is, there is, you know, things can surprise us and you, and you, you know, you. you never know until we get to that first test you know it could be a complete surprise and we might

you know Ferrari or Cadillac might turn up and do a brawn GP and I'll accidentally we've built a car half a second quicker than everyone and who knows and then you'll bring in the Tommy's tech talk and be like well they've got a one in twenty one compression now yeah and yeah fantastic well but for now we're both of yeah thinking that anything Ferrari powered might well struggle so the fans top three for a big flop. In third position with 9% of the vote, Lance Stroll. How bad does it need to be? Yeah, I was going to say, does he just not turn up for half the season?

Maybe. That would kind of... Rage quits. Adrian Nui doesn't cook and he goes, Dad, I've had enough. You promised. To be fair, as well, if he out-qualifies Alonzo once, that is almost good surprise territory for Lance Stroll. So, 9% for Lance. In second place, with 14.6% of the vote,

Lando Norris. We've not even mentioned McLaren. The champion. The rain champion. Yeah, the reigning champion, the constructors champions McLaren, and we've not mentioned them in this entire podcast so far. So a lot of fans thinking that Lando will not win the world championship, clearly, with this flop vote and perhaps not much confidence in McLaren. Yeah, that's a bold one to flop Lando.

Are people forgetting that McLaren also will have a Mercedes engine and they beat Mercedes with their own engine last year? and also had a lot of the year. Obviously, they only just got it over the line, but there was talk that they could develop their car a lot more because they were like, well, we're clear, we can focus on 26. So, yeah, I don't see Lando flopping, but you never know. Me neither.

I think McLaren will weirdly, like the actual expectation from, I think quite a lot of fans is this massive shakeup and McLaren not being the fastest. and they could so easily still be the fastest car come the start of this season. And in first place, for a big flop, with 22.4% of the vote, Lewis Hamilton. Ooh.

I mean, that's an overwhelming choice. Yeah. Nearly a quarter of all votes. Despite the regulation change, despite some theories which I back, of Lewis Hamilton just not being good in this ground effect era, and maybe now that we're coming out of that, he'll be able to find some of his form again.

I don't think Hamilton's going to flop this year. I think Ferrari may well. Let's see. But for Hamilton, also a bit like your Alpine prediction, the bars low already, right? Because people are expecting that he's kind of finished. He didn't have a podium.

How bad? Does it need to be no top five? Oh God, don't even float that because that just shows just how bad Ferrari it got. Wow. You're not even expecting a top five for Ferrari or a year. No, I'm just saying that's what would have to happen for a flop to come. on the crazy predictions later.

Yeah. Oh, goodness. Is it even that crazy anymore? Oh, you're so depressed. Yes, I'm wearing full black, Tommy, and you know exactly why. Right. Let's go to a new race winner. This is where we decide whether there will be or won't be a new race winner.

And if we say yes, then we get to select who is going to become a new race winner. And if we get a driver correct, then we get a point for each. But if you go for multiple and they don't win, you lose all the points. So it's like a gamble of how many do you go for? Yeah, it's true. It's true. Damn, I've listed the entire grid. You've listed everyone. You've gone for all of them.

Oh, no. You thought you'd seen an engine compression loophole there, didn't you? Yeah, I really did. I really did. I was like, he hasn't even specified that. I'm just going to roll out. The rule book. The P1 rule book is out.

Oh, okay. All right. Do I, do I, do I come to this for the rules are? I think, ah, screw it. Let's just, let's just, let's just, let's just roll the dice. So, My new race winner decision is yes. And my new race winner is Kimmy Antonelli.

Is Alex Albone. Oh, I love that. And is Isaac Hadja. Oh, wow. I'm putting three down. I'm putting three down. None of those are coming true. They're not even going to get a podium this year.

Really sorry for all three of them. The reason I've gone for that, Kimmy Antonelli and a Mercedes that I believe may well be the fastest car. Yeah. Alex Albon. In a Williams that is moving forward, I'm thinking crazy race right now. I'm not saying Alex Albon is going to challenge for the World Championship.

He's not even had a podium at Williams. But I can't go for Carlos Science. He's already won a race. So I'm going for Alex Albon, crazy race. Mercedes-powered Williams. Yes, please. Isaac Hadjar. I think he's going to do a lot better at Red Bull.

Red Bull also are this team supposedly with a quick engine. And who's to say that he won't score one victory over the course of 24 races? So that's my thinking. I've rolled it. Let's see how much more crazy or less crazy Tommy goes. So a new race winner I have gone for, yes, I've gone for just Kimi Antonelli. And I was really close to going for Alex Albon as well. Were you?

I was close. Don't think Hadja is winning a race. I don't think, because looking at the realistic options here, Lance Stroll is Aston Martin going to be amazing? I forgot that my list. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, yeah, I've gone for Kimi Antonelli because I think the Mercedes is going to be very, very good.

And, yeah, surely he's going to get a win this year. You'd assume if the car is as hyped as everyone thinks. Can you imagine if the Mercedes isn't actually any good now and the amount of egg on everyone's faces will be insane? Mercedes mainly would be, yeah, would not be a good look. I don't, can't remember, it's really hard to remember back in 2014. And also back in 2022 when we've basically had these new regulations.

And they're being such like an overwhelming favorite when we've not even had testing yet. It's really quite bizarre, isn't it? Yeah, it is. We're just scarred from 2014, I think, of how good they were. Exactly. into another engine formula. And if you weren't watching then, one, you're kind of lucky because it was so bad. Yeah, we're talking safety car restarts.

That is the one. There's seven and a half seconds down the road. That is the moment, isn't it, that everyone brings up when you got a taster of just how good they were. They were probably running like 40% engine mode for the whole season and we're still clear. And just it was a foregone conclusion that were going to win everything. So here's hoping, no offence of Mercedes, that it's not that. Right, well, let's go to Constructors Champions. I wonder what Tommy's going to lock in.

I have gone for Mercedes. Yeah, I have gone for Mercedes. I really, this is no disrespect to Mercedes. I really would like it to be different or at least close. I'm not against them, obviously, winning. I love how we're sick of their domination and not even dominated. We're sick of their imaginary domination based on vibes. and rumor tweets and what is it,

like runnings of engines and rumors coming out of the paddock. But it's just so hard to see past them. We mentioned 2014. I think it is the fact that 2014, they were so rapid. You think, I already, I already thought Mercedes were going to be strong. And I think they would have been favorites. but I think this loophole thing and hearing that it's just knocked it up another level of overwhelming favorites, I think, in terms of just the fact that they are going to be potentially, it's suited to them massively anyway,

and they've potentially found this loophole. Okay. Mercedes. Mercedes have won in Tom Bellingham's eyes. Constructors champions for myself! I'm going to go different. McLaren. Okay.

I want to put some respect on their name after winning the Constructors Championship by 400 points or whatever it was last year. I was going to go for Mercedes, but you may as well go for something which is also a very viable suggestion. Everyone, not everyone, but as you say, there's a lot of, there's a lot less hype for McLaren coming into this year, despite them having exactly the same engine as Mercedes. Of course, it puts Mercedes in a better stead

because they can develop their car around the plans that they are creating for said engine, so they're always going to have a slight advantage. But McLaren could easily do it as well. A great driver lineup as well, strong drivers. Yes, who are only going to get better, I think. So, yeah. Yep, McLaren for me. What about the fans? They're top three. In third place, with 7.4% of the vote, Ferrari. How many burner accounts did you make? Well, not me, mate. Yeah, true. I'm not even wearing Ferrari today. 7.4% of people haven't been reading any Formula One news for the last. It makes a lot of sense actually. 7.4% just over the Christmas period. A lot of people, you know, having some nice jolly drinks. And they've just, their delirium has gone

skyrocketing. They've had a red wine and gone red, Ferrari. Ah, it's a sign. So yeah, 7.4% of the vote have been wrong. So well done everybody. Ferrari in third place. In second with 24.2% of the vote, McLaren. There we go. Okay. We speak about McLaren by the fan. fans and 24% is a pretty high percentage. And I think it's a very fair one to keep them in the mix. They're not going to be miles off. I really can't see that. Yeah, I think McLaren are going to be there.

Like, let you say, they're kind of forgotten about. I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a rogue shout. They've got two great drivers. They've got a Mercedes engine, the battery is going to be strong. They've had that time potentially to develop because they were so strong last year and could, yeah i i do think maclaren will still be a very strong um package and you know there's no there's no uh points for saying who's going to finish second but just out of just to say how much i sort of like believe in maclaren as such um if i if i had to predict who i thought would be second behind

Mercedes in the championship i'd probably have gone for mclaren so okay and in first place and this kind of consolidates what we've been saying about fans thinking Mercedes is going to be quick with 59% of the vote is Mercedes. So a lot of people on the Merck bandwagon, a lot of people could easily be wrong. And that's the beauty of 2026. Don't turn off yet. The season has not begun.

And as much as I'm in morning, like things will get rosier. Nothing has happened. They might turn up to testing. And well, right, I'm going to change everything now for anyone that thinks Mercedes is going to dominate. I know I've predicted Mercedes and saying that they're going to be, but look at what happened with the wind tunnel and then when they actually got onto the track with their size zero thing in 22, people thought they were going to be very good then, and they

weren't. So you never know. Like they haven't turned a wheel yet. I can see why they're overwhelming favorites. And obviously we have bought into that theory as well. And I think it's a sensible theory to go for. But it's not, you know, they've not won the championship, is what I'm saying, before testing. Tom Bellingham announces the season is not over yet. Keep watching. Yeah, yeah. I need one in Drive to Survive, like a Will Buxton style.

You can't win the championship without doing any running. Without ever driving your car on a track. Right now, Alex Alvin is leading the world championship on alphabetical order. And Maxus Sappen's last, absolutely, finished driver. So finished, honestly. Why would you support him? Okay. Now we get on to the interesting one.

World Champion. 2026. Who are we going to lock in? So it's my turn to go first. World Champion. I'm changing it as I... Head or heart. I'm changing it as I go.

There's about eight different names. my world champion for this season. Charlie Claire. We're so back. We're so back. We're so back. We're so back. Come on.

If I can't believe on the 6th of January as of recording that some miracle might happen. Right, by the way, this is the last time I will predict Charlotte, the world champion. The only reason is because it's a new regulation set. If Ferrari are genuinely that bad, And we see them sixth fastest. I won't, I won't be, I won't be predicting until the next regulation change.

Or he's moved teams. But for now, as I said last year, as I said the year before that, I would kick myself if Charlotte Clare did become world champion and I did not predict him. So we're so back. Morning complete. And I am now in belief mode until the first corner of, testing. So, so you've gone for your heart

was your head, George Russell. My head was Charlotte Clair, bro. I don't know what you're about. I am locked in. Ignore all the rumors is what I'll say from here on. Load of rubbish. Merck and Red Bull 3 tenths clear. Whatever. Wow. Okay. Interesting. No, my head was George Russell. I hadn't written down the entire time.

But let's, let's be real here. Well, let's not be real. Let's be fun. Let's be fun. Let's be fun. Come on. Okay. I think I get five points if Charlotte Glow World Champion comes in, just out of interest. Yeah, maybe it's like you're not allowed to go for George Russell. I love that. George has not won a World Championship. He's not allowed to shoot him.

It's crazy. He's don't even led the World Championship. Okay, world champion, I have gone for Mercedes driver, Kimi Antonelli. Yeah, I was going to go for George Russell, but it's boring. So, right. So. Two very viable options, by the way. Charles McLough and Kimi Antonelli.

No, I'm going to present the evidence now of Kimi Antonelli. Don't ask me for my evidence. Four, this sounds like a listical. Four reasons why Kimmy Antonnyi is going to win the watch. I don't know. Do it a bit more. Four reasons why. Four reasons why.

Okay. So first, first one is, last year, Oscar Piastri, no one gave him a prayer compared to Landon Norris. And yet McLaren rolled. out with the best car and the car was suited more to the driver that people didn't expect. And Oscar went on this amazing run and was so close to winning the World Championship. And I think there's part of me in that head that goes, yeah, there's no way Kimi Antenelli's

going to be able to win the championship against Russell. But like, stranger things have happened in F1. Two, I read that the new regulation of cars feels more like a Formula 2 car to drive. And he's driven it recently. So that goes on with the... So we're back. We're so back. three, the final seven races of last year,

Kim Yantinelli's four three up in the head-to-head. So he's actually had a better end to the season if I take the exact results that I need to make that happen. Have I missed the fourth one, which is a news headline that titanium dioxide has been allowed throughout the entire globe? No, the fourth one was, I didn't want to be boring and go for George Russell because I actually think it's going to be Richard Russell.

but I would I just think it's almost like too obvious to go for and I went to go for someone different even though if I'd gone for George Russell it still would have been boring even though I've never predicted George Russell to win the championship it just feels like such an obvious pick

that vibes why not also we're talking about this we've spoken about it a lot in this podcast of the rumours and the engines and this that and the other not one word about your man your boy you didn't even

didn't even cross your mind to put MV as well as I'm trying to this year. I know MV3 as he's referred to now. DR3, you know, these days. Yeah, it didn't go for Max the first year in P1 history that you've still gone for Charlotte Clare. Some things just don't need to be changed. Exactly. Yeah, I've not gone for for Max this year.

I do hope it's not the case that Mercedes is going to run away with it, but I think all the signs are pointed. that they are going to be very strong and I'm just going to go different and go for Antonelli because I do think he's going to have a really good season. It's so funny because we've spoken about Mercedes being the fastest, absolutely done and dusted.

But I have had some weird trains of thought over the last few weeks of what if Audi just just have the fastest car in the Halkenberg's world champion? And I was, because I'm obviously thinking about what I'm going to do for this predictions because it's a big one.

This is a big, massive, regulation shift. And I've thought of almost every possibility and almost everything has some kind of viable reasoning as to why you would go for that. We haven't even said about Aston Martin. They've got Adrian Newey. Yeah, this is crazy. And Fernando Alonso. But then the negative side of that is that how much can Newey do in an engine formula we saw in 2014? Couldn't really do much against the mighty Merck. So it's so up in the air, that's the beauty. And this is something I love about Formula One.

Of course, we complain, don't we, at the end of every regulation set? Why are they changing the rules? Oh, they're just getting closer. But then you come to this point, and it's the unknown that just keeps you gripped. And I'm looking forward to it immensely until qualifying when Georgia is on pole by a second.

You never know. never know. You never know. The fans, what do they know? The top three in third place, 12.9% of the vote, Oscar Piastri. Oh, little Oscar sliding in. We absolutely love to see that. And a very fair one. I think Oscar, he's going to have learned a lot from last year. And I am fascinated to see how that McLaren dynamic works from this year and beyond. Of course, Landau is well champion. He doesn't have number one his contract, far as we're aware, but how does the world champion status change the game in those McLaren garages? Oscar kind of has a bit of a point to prove with how he ended the season last year.

It was a horrible tale off. That's what cost him the championship. But I just feel as though there is still steps to go in Oscar Piastri's potential that could well see him as world champion but you have to also believe in the McLaren project and whether they'll be able to continue on creating the fastest car like they did last year. Yeah definitely. I think Oscar's a good pick because I think it's such a shame that the season ended as it did because I think people just like wrote, it's that recently bias of like they wrote off Piastri and he was kind of he didn't get over the line. It obviously looks way worse than what it was that he finished third in the championship. It's crazy to think a first and second between him and Lando flip the

other way Oscar wins a world championship. That shows how close it was in the season, but yeah, he's ultimately finished third, but it's only his third season in Formula One, he's going to improve. So I think this is a good pick. I think Oscar's a great shout for it. In second place with 28% of the vote, Tommy fails to speak about him, but Max Vastappen gets a whopping amount of the votes considering Red Bull. I know Tommy you've said in the live shows

they're going to be terrible not looking forward to this season then some murm has come out how we found a loophole what percent Tommy what percent right now we'll find out later no we'll find out later oh will we okay I didn't see that coming

gosh everybody is on the edge of their seats let's go to first place for the fans then 34.8% of the vote George Russell the fans think George will do it but only by six people percent over Max for Stappen, but unsurprising to see GR up there. But no, Kimmy Antonelli, not even making the top three.

Do you want to, do you want to guess who, so yeah, on George Russell, obviously, there's no surprise, he's the favourite. I think Max is the book he's favourite, but I think last year showed you can never write him off right, even though, yeah, there's logic there that there's a new engine, so it's going to be difficult an engine formula. have a guess who was fourth. So top three are George Max and Oscar. Fourth?

No, it's not. It's Lando. I was joking. I was going to say Lando. Yeah. So interestingly that Oscar, so yeah, Oscar had nearly 13% of the vote.

Lando 8% of the vote. So more people thinking Oscar this year. Fifth was Charlotte LeCler. Hello. Come on, my believer's out there. With a whopping 6.5%. Yes. And then next,

was not Kimi Antonelli which is crazy it's Fernando Alonso so people were on this Adrian Nui hype train that was where you're voting I've read some stuff that they don't think

that the engine is going to cut it which is a worry and this is what we said but again it's all just hearsay isn't it and rumours maybe they're sandbagging then it's Lewis Hamilton

which is now that would be a turn around can I see what the vote is of Kimi Antonelli does he even appear on the chart no is even in the top

he's not even there oh yes he is 0.8% of the vote as Kimi Antelli which is crazy when his teammate is literally favourite so

that's incredible so everybody almost everybody listening thinks you're wrong which is something whereas 6%

believe in the dream we now move to our crazy prediction for the season Tommy hits with yours okay

pessimistic Tommy's back depressive pessimistic Tommy my one crazy prediction for 2026 is that Max Ostappen does not win a race not one race never happened in his whole Red Bull career I don't see it I don't see it

I reckon he wins the first race of the season like this coming year that happened where he just so nearly did it didn't he and we say it's going to be terrible not one race no you think Red Bull are going to be that slow that he can't miraculously with a little cheeky rain or whatever. I mean, I've got to go crazy and I just can't see.

Yeah, it's insane. That's insane prediction. Even after, I had a little bit more hope after I heard that they potentially maybe found this loophole as well. But I just think they're going to be so on the back foot having their own engine at the start. Maybe they'll catch up. But yeah, I've got to go for something bold and that was the boldest thing. and I've never wanted to be wrong more. Yeah, fair enough.

Okay, all right. So yours is pessimistic. So is mine, but not for Ferrari. Ferrari, retire, for Formula One. My crazy prediction is Aston Martin are one of the slowest teams and Fernando is not on the grid in 2027. That's weird though, isn't it? Because he was quoted as saying,

if the car's really good, I'll do well, then retire, which is, I don't see that personally. He's going to... No, just load of rubbish. He's only going to retire if... If he sees there in no future, yeah, we're way off. His engine's rubbish. I'm not doing another GP2 engineer.

Oh, it's Honda as well. Yeah, it's Honda, like, it's crazy, isn't it? And Honda could do amazing things, or they could have some teething issues. And I know for a fact, Fernando will not have the patience to stick around for a handful of years as he enters his 50s to try and... That's mad. So that's my crazy prediction. Yeah, that Fernando is not on the world.

The Grid next year and the Aston are one of the slowest teams. Let's go to our Patreon prediction. So as we saw last year, if you're part of the P1 Patreon, then you get lots of benefits, add free listening. You get to be part of the Discord. And one of those things, as well as lots of other things, early access to live tickets, is that on the Discord, you can submit a prediction every single race weekend. And we've got some in for the season predictions.

So I have selected mine, which comes in from Steelhead. Williams will have a double podium. That is my patron prediction, which of course has to be slightly crazy. Sometimes, and you know who you are, P1-Patians, you'll be like,

there will be a Grand Prix. Yeah, all right, that's the easiest, that's the easiest point ever. Someone's was something like, one of last year's rookies will win a race. It's like,

Antone probably is heavily rumored to win a race if Mercedes are good, so it's not that bold. If it was a negative, it was literally the opposite of that, that would maybe be a, a little bit more of a bold one. Maybe we have to be the R.P1 bold Patreon.

Anyway, you get the drift. Okay, interesting. I'm going to change mine because I'll just tell you what it was, but I've enjoyed the fact that we've always gone different to each other. Because Tony Sopranos was Adrian Nui results in no notable on-track improvement from Master Martin. And it's too similar to your crazy one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I will go for Formula Thomas, who has gone for this one.

Is this just you? No. Actually, as I read this out, you'll think it's even more me. Charlotte Claire leaves Ferrari, announced that he's leaving Ferrari during the season. During the season. As in like, it's announced that he's leaving during the season. Not that he goes, it's not a mid-season swap. It's not going to happen, is it?

He goes to Hasse to see if the Ferrari engine is better there. Yeah. I've just picked that one on a flyer read it straight away and I didn't even love for it Ah, Charlotte Claire slander about his season I will sign up to that one I've gone all in on the Ferrari

Again Again boring Boring Bellingham back at it once again Is it boring? No Well it's boring to me It's really dull It's really dull for me Why don't you just

One year Why don't you predict Charlotte Clair world champion See how it feels When it comes out your mouth That's it Right Tommy Tommy

Let's move on Let's go to our family top three, shall we do that? Let's do it. Okay. Go on then. So I am fielding my father. Okay. Do I have told should be on the line ready, but that was about three hours. Drop my phone, good. Three hours ago. Hello. Hi dad. Welcome to the P1 podcast, 26 season predictions. Happy their year first to all. Thank you. You sound like Lewis Hamilton. It says first and foremost, just want to thank the fans. I think the best fan is. That's, uh, that's okay. Dad, so you know...

Well, I've just been talking to your sister and she's giving me her top three. I don't want them. I don't want that. I didn't ring my sister. That's how bad it is. Tell me Alonzo. Alonzo's first.

Ask if Alonzo was first. And then scrunch him up and pull them out. Did Georgina mention Fernando Alonzo at any point? No, she didn't. Okay. All right, that's all we need to know. Right, Dad, please, let's get into your top three. Starting with third position in the driver's world championship.

Top three, Max Verstappen. Third place for Max Verstappen. Okay, all right. In second place. Lando Norris. Lando Norris. And in first position. George Russell.

Okay. George. Yes, we've been speaking a lot about Mercedes in this podcast, and you would think that maybe that would be a surprising lot of sort of left field shot, but everybody's voting for George Russell and Mercedes to win it all, which is crazy. And guess who I went for for World Champion? Oh, Chelsea Kirk, I reckon. Yeah, it was.

It was shot. There you go. All right. Before he goes, before he goes. Oh no, hold on. Tommy wants a question. I want to hear Georgina's top three.

You want Georgina's top three. And we can compare them and see who wins between the two of them. I love how Tommy's just said, I've got graces. Georgina is 26 years old. Is she 26? 25. Wait, was it? 20, 25.

She's 26. Geez, she's old. Yeah, she's 26 years old. And then Tommy's just compared her to Grace, who is three. So can we have the top three for Georgina, please? Do you have them? Chilina, in third place? Third.

It was Max for Stephan. Okay, second. Second was Oscar, I believe. Same as you then? No, he went for Lando. I went for Lando. I'm sorry. And then first?

And she went for Lando to win. Did she? Well. Lando again. Wow. Okay, McLaren. Cool. She was talking about.

She just read the results from last year and went, yeah. Anybody, you know what I mean? We're talking about She's got about four drivers in her roster So right, thank you so much, Dad appreciate it. Love you, bye. Okay, there we go.

I'm going to give my dad a call. I just remembered that it was these predictions last year where you called your mum and then I called my mum to find out who's world champion. That's how the family top three was born where everyone loved it. And we're like, let's carry it on.

So it's got to be Dad versus Dad this year. The Brawl. Yes, here we go. I'm going to give my dad a call. What name will he call? What name will he call? I can't wait for Alex Albin world champion. Let's see how boring he's feeling in 2026.

Hi, Dad. You are live on the P1 podcast. Bonjour. I'm live on the... Oh, bonjour, bonjour. How are you? I'm good. We've just had Matt's dad's predictions.

So before I tell him what he went for, I need yours from third, then second, then first. Do you want my wish list or my reality list? No, we don't need a... Alex Albon. We know Alex Albin would be good champion. Tommy, stop influencing the vote. Don't let, go on, go on.

Go on, just what you think. Anyway, third. It's going to be Charles Third. That's not a win so who cares. I take it back. Go for your delusional one. No, go on. Yeah, no, that's Charles third.

Max second. Yep. George Russell to win. Wow. George Russell is just like the overwhelming favorite. He's not even going to win a race this year now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But no, that's good.

Matt's dad went for Max third, Lando second, George Russell first. So, all right. He did, yeah. And me and Matt were also going to go for George Russell, but didn't because we wanted to be different. Ask him with my thoughts. Thoughts on what, sorry? On who I went for. Oh, guess who Matt went for World Champion?

Charles Lerickland? Yeah, yeah. Shock. All right. All right. That laugh was a little bit too loud. Speak to soon, bye. Yeah, that was more of a cackle laugh, I'll be honest with you.

That was like a, he is fully deranged. Thank you, Dean Bellingham, for that one. Okay. So the George Russell hype train is crazy. Yeah, he's not winning here. that won't have read any news is my three-year-old grace. She's not? She's not into the news yet?

No, no, not really. She's not Twitter Rummosphere. No, we don't need her on that. So I, well, initially before we're doing the top three, I spoke to her and said who's going to be a world champion. She said Max Verstappen. I just need to say that for the context of, but then I asked her again for a top three,

and this is who she went for. Who's finishing third? in the F1 World Championship. No, third. Third place. Not first, third. Who's finishing third in the F1 championship? Colipinto.

Colapinto? She loves Colopinto. Who's finishing second? In the world championship? Hamilton. And who's winning the world championship? Chris? I was so caught out by that.

I didn't even know she knew Landon Ors' name. Yeah. Because she's just got her, like, six or seven drivers that she knows. And I don't think she's ever mentioned Lando Norris. So she's obviously heard the name and she's gone Lando champion. Lost belief within 15 seconds of Max Verstappen. Yeah, yeah.

And then even saying, I said Max Verstappen. I mean, I did tell her about, you know, the pistons and the engine compression ratio. And she was just like, oh, dad. First she said, Dad, your chat, rubbish is actually. Even I know this. Well, there we go. Lots of families. and everything else getting involved at the end there

and look forward to much more of that over the course of the year as we bring back our prediction series of course for every race weekend where the family top three will exist and that is it. Predictions locked in. I'm looking at what I've said I want to take almost a little bit back

so that's kind of where we're at. Tommy your first final thoughts of the season and of the year just thank you to everyone joining us for another year of P1 and this has got me very excited for the season. I can't believe we're going secret testing at the end of the year,

but we've got a lot of car launches, which of course we're going to cover. And yeah, I can't believe how earlier it is that we're kind of doing all these things, but I'm absolutely hyped for it. And just going through and talking about Formula One again, it's got me jeered up and excited. So, yeah, looking forward to it. Hell yeah, me too. I am fully excited for this one.

Cannot wait to see what this season brings. Formula One is my only. personality trait. And that is it. Thank you everybody for tuning in to the first proper P1 podcast EPP of 2026. Probably about 300 to go as we head through the year. Can't wait for it. It's going to be awesome. We'll see you for the car launches very soon. Lots of love. Bye. Goodbye.