Formula 1: the championship, the 2026 season and Monaco.

How the championship is scored

Each Grand Prix pays points to the top 10 finishers on a scale of 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1. Sprint races, held at some rounds, pay 8 points down to 1 for the top eight. PlanetF1 notes that the bonus point for fastest lap, used from 2019 to 2024, was dropped for 2025. There are two titles: one for drivers and one for constructors (teams). For how a race weekend runs, see the race weekend and open-wheel racing.

The 2026 rule change

The FIA unveiled the 2026 regulations on 6 June 2024. Formula 1's own summaries give these headline changes:

• Smaller, lighter cars. Maximum wheelbase down 200 mm to 3,400 mm, width down 100 mm to 1,900 mm, and a minimum weight of 768 kg, 30 kg less than the 2022-generation cars. Wheels stay at 18 inches, with front tyres 25 mm narrower and rears 30 mm narrower.
• Less downforce and drag. The FIA targeted 30% less downforce and 55% less drag than the previous cars.
• More electrical power. Battery power rises from 120 kW to 350 kW, and energy recovered under braking roughly doubles to 8.5 MJ per lap. Power is split about half and half between electrical and combustion, and the engines run on Advanced Sustainable Fuels.
• Active aerodynamics. A "Straight Mode" opens the wing flaps to cut drag on straights, and a "Corner Mode" closes them for downforce.
• Overtake Mode instead of DRS. A car within one second of the car ahead at a detection point gets extra electrical deployment on the next lap. Drivers also have a manually triggered Boost and an automatic Recharge mode.

A bigger grid

Formula 1 says the 2026 grid has 11 teams and 22 cars, the most since 2016. The engine makers are Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull Powertrains (with Ford), Audi and the returning Honda, with General Motors due to supply engines from 2029.

• Cadillac, backed by General Motors, joined as the 11th team with Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, using Ferrari power units until GM's own engine is ready, according to Al Jazeera. At its first race, the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, Perez finished 16th, three laps down, and Bottas retired.
• Audi took over the former Kick Sauber team as both constructor and engine maker, with Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto driving and Jonathan Wheatley as team principal. Formula 1 reports that the engine is built in Neuburg, Germany, and the chassis in Hinwil, Switzerland, and that project head Mattia Binotto has said the aim is to win a championship by 2030.
• Honda returned as works engine partner to Aston Martin, whose AMR26 uses the Honda Racing Corporation RA626H power unit.

The 2025 season

Lando Norris of McLaren won the 2025 drivers' title by finishing third in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 7 December 2025, a race won by Max Verstappen. Al Jazeera notes he was the first British champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2020. McLaren had already clinched the constructors' title at Singapore. Final 2025 points, per Sports Illustrated:

The 2026 season (in progress)

The 2026 calendar was announced with 24 races, with a new Madrid round replacing Imola. On 14 March 2026, Formula 1 cancelled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix because of the conflict in the Middle East, leaving 22 races, with no replacements, according to Sky Sports.

The season opened in Melbourne, where George Russell led a Mercedes one-two ahead of Kimi Antonelli, with Charles Leclerc third. Honda gives the race date as 8 March 2026; the Silverstone circuit's report is dated 9 March. Antonelli later won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole (see below), and Max Verstappen won in Singapore from pole, his first win there, ahead of Leclerc and Antonelli.

As of 20 October 2026, no race had been run since Singapore. Formula 1's official standings and Crash.net give these totals:

Six races remained after Singapore. La Voce di New York reported that the 20-year-old Antonelli would have his first chance to clinch the title at the United States Grand Prix in Austin on 25 October 2026. The 2026 champion had not been decided as of 20 October 2026.

The Monaco Grand Prix

The Automobile Club de Monaco says the first Monaco Grand Prix was held on 14 April 1929, organised by Antony Noghes and won by William Grover-Williams in a Bugatti 35B. Formula 1 credits Ayrton Senna with the record of six Monaco wins, five of them in a row from 1989 to 1993. The race runs 78 laps of a street circuit that Formula 1's 2025 preview measures at 3.337 km; an older Formula 1 fact sheet from 2014 gives 3.340 km.

In September 2025 the club and Formula 1 announced that the race will stay on the calendar through 2035. The club says F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and club president Michel Boeri signed the extension on 5 September 2025 at Monza, building on an earlier deal to 2031.

Recent Monaco races

• 2025. Lando Norris won from pole on 25 May 2025, ahead of Leclerc and Piastri. That year's race had a one-off rule requiring two pit stops and three sets of tyres, including two different dry compounds. PlanetF1 judged that the rule did not improve the racing.
• 2026. Wikipedia (secondary) says the race moved to the first weekend of June and the two-stop rule was dropped; the club lists the event as 4 to 7 June 2026. The Race reports that Antonelli won from pole, with Lewis Hamilton second and Isack Hadjar third, after Leclerc crashed out of a podium place and Verstappen's car failed at the start.

The feeder series

Below Formula 1 sit Formula 2, which Wikipedia (secondary) calls the last step before F1, Formula 3 and the all-female F1 Academy. Their recent champions and 2026 positions:

• Formula 2. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing) won the 2025 title with a round to spare in Qatar on 30 November 2025, making him back-to-back F3 and F2 champion, per Formula 1. In 2026 the season was still running: after the Baku round on 26 September 2026, Rafael Camara led by seven points from Nikola Tsolov, with Alexander Dunne a further 11 points back.
• Formula 3. Camara (Trident) won the 2025 title with a round to spare before moving up to F2. The 2026 title went to Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos Racing) at the Madrid finale on 13 September 2026, on 159 points to Freddie Slater's 145.
• F1 Academy. Doriane Pin (Prema) won the 2025 title at the Las Vegas finale by 15 points from Maya Weug, per Pit Debrief. The 2026 season was still running: after the Dutch round in August 2026, Alisha Palmowski led on 136 points from Emma Felbermayr (88) and Nina Gademan (71), with the Austin round set for 22 to 25 October 2026.