Mercedes have clearly emerged as the fastest car in the new Formula 1 2026 season, completing a 1-2 at the inaugural Australian Grand Prix and George Russell winning at Albert Park. The compression of car dimensions and the 50/50 power split between the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and electrical energy have seemingly catapulted Mercedes back to being the best.

So can they win their first Formula One Constructors’ Championship since 2021?

Former Williams and Renault driver Jacques Villeneuve believes the competitive picture in Formula One could change as the 2026 season progresses, even if Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team appears to have a big advantage.

“Well, the team will get closer during the season as we progress. That’s a given. Then we’ll see how much Mercedes has an advantage or not. Mercedes really have a good chassis. Ferrari is there close enough to get good points, which could allow them later in the season to get some victories once everything balances,” Jacques Villeneuve told Firstpost during an online interaction organised by online broadcaster FanCode.

‘A little bit tougher for McLaren and Red Bull’

Villeneuve, who was speaking from Shanghai ahead of the upcoming weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, added that four-time world champion Max Verstappen and Red Bull should also be able to do well as we complete more races despite leadership changes at the team.

“A little bit tougher for McLaren and Red Bull, although we’ve seen Red Bull always recover. So, Max (Verstappen), if he’s not too far, always count on him and his teammate (Isack Hadjar) seems to be good this year. He has a teammate who seems to be able to be competitive, which should help the team move forward. But the team has changed so much at Red Bull that we still have to figure out and understand how they all work together now, because even the head of the team has changed. Helmut Marko is not there either.”

2025 winner McLaren had a tough time in Melbourne as
world champion Norris finished fifth, and Oscar Piastri crashed out in the warm-up lap. Villeneuve feels early indications only suggest that McLaren are far from ready to put up a title challenge in 2026.

“What is difficult to understand is how much slower the McLaren is than the Mercedes because it’s supposed to be the same engine. And it’s hard to understand how they could be so far behind, other than maybe they spent all the energy last year on winning the championship and not really designing the new car.”

A job well done for Mercedes and George Russell 👏🫡#F1Sprint #ChineseGP pic.twitter.com/2QrxfE6DcY

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 13, 2026

Villeneuve also pointed out that 23-year-old Piastri of McLaren, who missed out on the driver championship by 13 points last year, is under the most pressure among all the drivers on the grid.

“Piastri was leading the whole championship last year. He had his shot, but his teammate is now a world champion…Mostly when, as a driver, you know that you had your shot at winning a championship and now the car doesn’t seem to be able to give you that anymore, that puts the expectations so high on him,” the 54-year-old Villeneuve said.

“When he was signed with McLaren, everyone was saying he was the real deal. He’s the world champion. But he hasn’t shown it. Now people start thinking, was it true? The ball changes camps so fast. It’s a very fragile position. It’s a very human nature that people are almost happy when someone fails and falters and it’s tough. So I would say he’s the one under the most pressure right now.”

Villeneuve praises India-origin driver Arvid Lindblad

One of the standout performers from the opening race weekend was young Indian-origin driver Arvid Lindblad, who impressed in the opening race with P8 finish in Racing Bulls. But Villeneuve urged caution before drawing big conclusions.

“Arvid did amazing in Melbourne. He was ahead of his teammate in the race. He raced well and he’s quite young. But you have to be careful because the number of heroes we’ve had in their first race in Melbourne every year and people say, oh great, that’s the next future champion. But within two races they disappear completely,” Villeneuve, who won five races in his F1 career, said.

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“So there’s always this excitement of the first race, the adrenaline of that first race, that often makes them overperform. And then suddenly they think, wow, I’m great and collapse after that. So we have to wait and see. But he seems to be the real deal. So let’s give him two or three races to see what happens. But that was an impressive first race under pressure.”

All in all, Villeneuve’s message is clear — the early shape of the season might suggest a Mercedes advantage, but Formula One seasons don’t always stay predictable for long. As teams adapt, the real competitive order could still shift in the months ahead.

The F1 2026 season in India is being streamed live on FanCode.

As talks of Formula 1’s potential return to India build up after recent developments involving the Adani Group and the Sports Ministry, former F1 driver Karun Chandhok outlined a game plan for what it would really take to get the sport back and keep it here.

For Chandhok, it starts with vision. Not just a race weekend, but an experience built as a festival that draws crowds well before the cars even hit the track, much like global events where tens of thousands turn up days in advance for concerts and build-up activities.

“What can you do to create this event to pull in a crowd to make it a big event. They want it to be a festival. They don’t want to race around an empty stand. Silverstone, for example, we have 60,000 people coming on Thursday when there’s no car just to watch a concert before the Grand Prix,” said Chandhok, only the second Indian ever to race in the F1.

How will India return to F1 calendar?

In India for the Red Bull India Moto Jam, Chandhok stressed that the real pitch is not merely about hosting cars on track, but about alignment off it – particularly between the private sector and the government, something that proved problematic during India’s previous stint on the calendar at the Buddh International Circuit (BIC) between 2011 and 2013.

“The big pitch, to be honest, is making sure that the private and government sectors are aligned. Because historically, they had issues here. Showing that there’s good collaboration with the government and whatever the issues were, they won’t be a problem. My father ran the operations at Jaypee. I was coming to BIC when it was an empty site,” said Chandhok, who drove Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull R8 at the Buddh International Circuit on Thursday.

“I remember when the freight arrived, custom clearance was an issue, the spare parts didn’t get cleared, all these hurdles need to be cleared. F1 is a circus. People come, seven jets arrive, freight comes, they hold their event, and then they leave. There’s no messing around; we can’t do this and that. You have to call this undersecretary or someone, it doesn’t work”

Drawing from international examples, Chandhok highlighted the importance of ease of access – particularly visa processes – if India wants to position itself as a seamless global sporting destination.

“Why not create visa on arrival exemption? When we used to do the Russian Grand Prix. It’s not easy to get a Russian visa. The Russian embassy people would come to Silverstone during the British Grand Prix and they would set up a camp there to provide visas even before the race. There has to be e-visa, there has to be ease.”

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As for Formula 1’s stance, Chandhok revealed that the door is not shut, but the path is layered and complex.

“F1 is open to coming back to India. They are open to a dialogue. But that is step No 1. There are various layers in terms of funding, regulations, regulatory support and government support. The infrastructure on track needs to be upgraded and there has to be a spot on the calendar. There are four blocks. Until there’s a clarity on how these four blocks can be built and then put together, I can’t give you an answer. This is the process of getting the race together.”

Encouragingly, he believes the new possible custodians of the Greater Noida circuit understand both the appetite and the financial realities involved.

“The good news is that people who own the track are making the right noises. You need the appetite to do something. They understand what it is going to cost. So many people have called F1 and said they want to host a race, but they don’t understand the financial model. But these guys do understand. By acquiring Jaypee, they (Adani) will have that historical data.”

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Why doesn’t India produce F1 drivers?

While the possible return of F1 to India dominates the headlines, how the country can have more drivers in the sport remains a major concern. Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok, after all, are the only Indians to have ever raced in Formula 1, with no one from India competing in an F1 race since 2012.

When asked how India can break its drought, Chandhok had a blunt and uncomfortable truth to share.

“There’s a reason we have 1.4 billion people and only two F1 drivers,” he said. “The primary reason is money. We are in a country where one sport is so dominant, and like a big vacuum cleaner, it just sucks up so much of the sponsorship money.

“One telecom company said to me, ‘Why should we sponsor you for Rs 50 lakhs when I can buy VVS Laxman’s bat for that money?’ It’s quite hard to answer that.”

Ultimately, as he said, talent alone is not enough. In India, producing a Formula 1 driver requires a rare convergence of timing, funding, opportunity and institutional support. The stars must align within a narrow window, and without a robust ecosystem to sustain that alignment, raw speed and potential often fade before they reach the global stage.

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