1996 World Champion Damon Hill has backed Formula 1 debutants Audi and Cadillac to be two of a number of teams that could cause a “complete surprise” in 2026.
The German and American marques are both making their F1 debuts this year, the former taking over the Sauber outfit, the latter taking the coveted 11th team entry.
F1 sees a myriad of new technical regulations this year, making the sport perhaps the most unpredictable for several years, which bring their own challenges to teams.
With all squads finding their own interpretations of the new rulebook, there is no doubt a great deal of wonderment amongst them as to which has cracked the code successfully.
And Hill, speaking to talkSPORT, believes that the clean slate the new rules gives may give the two new teams a chance to cause a stir.
“It’s very exciting,” the former Sky Sports pundit said. “A completely new team with Cadillac.
“Audi sort of inserted themselves into what was Sauber, and so they’ve been gradually taking that over at that operation.
“So that operation is pretty much up and running, but it’s going to be very much embellished by the Audi, the influence of them, a big manufacturer coming in, so long-awaited to see Audi in, and they’ve already run their car in Barcelona for a couple of laps.
“It sounded really nice, actually. We weren’t allowed to get close – only went off of some spies who were around the track with their mobile phones.
“But, Cadillac, very exciting to a completely new team. And of course, an American manufacturer.”
Newey and Aston Martin tipped to be the Brawn-like outliers in F1 2026
One team that has a few extra pairs of eyes on it this year is Aston Martin, now led by new Team Principal Adrian Newey.
The famed British designer has pencilled the AMR26, automatically given the Silverstone-based squad a sense of added expectation heaped onto it, given his mesmeric track record.
All but one of Hill’s 22 Grand Prix victories came in cars designed by Newey, and the 65-year-old recognised many will anticipate his “magic wand” to have been waved over the team, and upset the status quo, like BrawnGP did in 2009.
“Yes, you could [have a change of the guard],” said Hill. “I mean, we could see a complete surprise.
“Something like when Jenson Button won with Brawn, they surprised everyone because they saw through the regulations.
“And the master of seeing through the regulations is Adrian Newey, who’s gone to Aston Martin.
“He left Red Bull and Max Verstappen behind, and Christian Horner has left that team anyway. But he’s gone off to Aston Martin.
“He’s been working on this project now for a good 18 months or so.
“So we’re sort of expecting him to wave his magic wand over Aston Martin. It could happen.”
Hill concluded that “all bets are off for this year,” admitted there is “no idea who is going to have the form.
“We can’t assume that people who found their feet with these the last regulations, which were sort of Venturi ground effect cars, will be able to follow through.
“I mean, some of it will follow through. The power units are completely different.
“They’ve got to share 50 per cent of their power from electric battery power, so storage on the car.
“So the way the cars will be driven, the way they’re designed, the way they work aerodynamically is completely different.”
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