The first race of the 2026 Formula 1 season is in the books, and teams with American ties had mixed results.
Mercedes-AMG took the top two spots with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in a clearly dominant car, while the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished behind them.
The Cadillac Formula 1 Team claimed a successful first outing with Checo Perez finishing the race three laps down but ahead of six other cars in 16th, including both Aston Martins. Unfortunately, one of those cars was the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, which had technical issues and had to drop out on lap 18 of the 58-lap race. After the race, Bottas said that there was an issue with the controls on the steering wheel affecting the clutch and another that wasn’t clear at the time. The Cadillacs are using Ferrari power units this season.
“I’m really happy with the performance of the team. We had some issues with Valtteri’s car, which was a real shame. It was great to see the Cadillac Formula 1 Team bring its first car home,” Team Principal Graem Lowdon said.
“We’re up against incredible competition, who we have huge respect for, but I’ve got enormous belief in the team that we’re building here. This is a really good start to our journey. I want to say a special thanks to everybody in the team — in Indianapolis, in Charlotte, in Silverstone and in Germany with the wind tunnel. Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who has allowed us to build what I truly believe is going to be a very special race team.”
Ford’s new powertrain collaboration with Red Bull Racing also had a split result. Max Verstappen was voted driver of the day after starting in 20th and finishing sixth, but his teammate Isaak Hadjar pulled over on lap 11 and retired with smoke coming out of his car.
“Come on! It’s broken, everything,” Hadjar said over the team radio.
“I hardly even count the amount of the issues the car I had, so, it was not fun,” Hadjar added during his post race interview without elaborating on any specifics.
Red Bull Ford powertrains are also used by the Racing Bulls team, which saw rookie Arvid Lindblad finish eighth in his first start. Liam Lawson came home 13th in the other Racing Bull after suffering a bad start that dropped him near the back of the field on the first lap.
While the much of the focus has been on the Cadillac v Ford matchup, the U.S.-based Haas F1 Team kicked off its 11th season without any major problems. Oliver Bearman scored a seventh-place result in the Ferrari-powered car and his teammate, Estaban Ocon, was just out of the points in 11th.
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Formula 1 heads next to the Shanghai International Circuit for the Chinese Grand Prix on March 15.
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