F1 2026 takeaways: Kimi Antonelli's dominance, Lewis Hamilton’s resurgence and more from the first seven races
Seven races have been run since the 2026 Formula 1 season got underway in Melbourne in March, the most recent being the Spanish Grand Prix.
In these seven races, we’ve witnessed the pinnacle of motorsport adjusting to brand new regulations, with many fans outraged with the ‘anti-racing’ rules.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Jack George takes a look at the key takeaways from this all-new Formula 1 2026 season.
Mercedes dominate proceedings with Antonelli
The 19-year-old superstar Kimi Antonelli came into the 2026 season with his rookie season complete.
Antonelli struggled in 2025, as most rookies do, finishing seventh in the world championship.
Expectations for the 2026 season were certainly not as high as he’s performed.
The Italian youngster arrived in Australia with the fastest car courtesy of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team alongside his team-mate George Russell, who was the favourite to win the world championship.
This seemed to be likely, as George Russell won the opening Grand Prix, albeit by only two seconds.
However, Antonelli completely shocked everyone, especially his experienced team-mate Russell, when he won the next five races!
Antonelli dominated from Shanghai in March to Monaco in June.
His streak was broken by none other than Lewis Hamilton himself after a rapid victory in Barcelona last week, in which Antonelli suffered an engine failure.
Therefore, as of now, Antonelli is leading the 2026 Drivers’ Championship by 41 points, and has won five out of the seven races so far.
Lewis Hamilton returns to top form
It’s no secret that the most decorated F1 driver in history struggled in the past four years. However, it can surely be ruled out that he ever lost his ability.
In the 2022-2025 period, Hamilton struggled to get to grips with the new ground-effect cars, evidenced in his results, achieving only two wins in comparison to the 50 wins he achieved in the turbo-hybrid era.
Hopes for his historic eighth title were running low following his poor 2025 debut with Ferrari.
However, the new regulations offered a lifeline, due to the chance that Ferrari and Hamilton could create a car that's capable of success.
The new Ferrari is just that, combined with Hamilton's clear harmony with the new type of F1 car.
It took until only the sixth race of the season for Lewis Hamilton to achieve his first podium for Ferrari.
This run of form blossomed for Hamilton as he finished on the podium in Canada, Monaco and achieved victory in Spain on Sunday, June 14.
These performances place Hamilton second in the Drivers’ championship, with Russell closely following and a large gap to his Ferrari team-mate Leclerc.
Motivation for the all-important eighth world title now at an all-time high, Hamilton will be looking to continue to showcase his ability and close the gap to Antonelli.
READ MORE: F1 news: Lewis Hamilton refuses to rule out title challenge after emotional first Ferrari victory
Verstappen’s struggles with the new generation of cars
It’s been evident from the start of the season that Max Verstappen, the four-time world champion who’s been involved in every title battle for the last five seasons, has not gelled with the new high-downforce, smaller, lighter cars.
Verstappen's slow start to 2026 is his worst start to an F1 season in over a decade.
A shocking stat, as he’s no doubt been the best driver over the last five years, having won four championships in that period.
The Dutch superstar currently sits in seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, with his team Redbull sitting in fourth in the Constructors’ championship.
Verstappen's best finish is third, which he achieved in Canada following Russell’s engine failure.
Verstappen didn’t shy away from making his views on the new 2026 F1 cars clear, labelling them “more like Formula-E on steroids’ and ‘anti-racing.”
The Red Bull driver also raised the possibility of leaving F1 at the end of the season if he remained unhappy.
A bluff to see if improvements are made, perhaps.
Verstappen has been constantly rumoured with a move to the current team to beat Mercedes, with Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff supposedly eager to sign him.
Not the season Verstappen has wanted so far, but there are still 15 races for him and his team to improve.
McLaren’s drop from the top
The new regulations, in comparison to McLaren's last season, have not gone to plan.
McLaren have dropped to the third-best team, below Mercedes and Ferrari, after arguably being the best team in 2024 and 2025.
This was evidenced by McLaren’s driver Norris claiming the 2025 World Championship.
In 2026, however, it was a different story.
McLaren had a tough start to the season when Australian driver Piastri crashed at his home race before the race began, leaving them with only one car in the race.
Their woes continued when both drivers failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix.
However, recently McLaren seem to have made improvements to the car pace-wise.
Still, durability has been costing them, with Norris failing to finish two of the last three races and Piastri managing at best fifth place in the last three races.
Hope lingers, though, as McLaren are third in the Constructors’ championship and their car definitely has the potential to win races.
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Pierre Gasly’s brilliant performances
It’s no secret that Pierre Gasly is a solid driver. However, his 2026 season so far has massively boosted this claim.
The Frenchman has carried his Alpine to a points finish in all six of his race finishes, with one DNF.
Most importantly the ex-Redbull driver achieved a historic podium in Monaco, in a car that had no business being at the sharp end of the grid.
The podium did not come without drama, however, Gasly finished third on track but due to a penalty dropped down the order.
However, the penalty was given due to an error in measuring the pit lane speed of cars. As a result, Alpine appealed the result, and Gasly’s third place was reinstated.
It was a much-deserved result for a driver who never truly got to showcase his potential.
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