2026 F1 Prediction Bracket: Pre-season

Dinescu Racing
Feb 19
2 min read

F1 2026 Pre-Season Bracket Challenge - Round 1. All teams are represented by their logos. Alpine vs. Aston Martin, Audi vs. McLaren and Williams vs. Haas.

Formula 1 testing always brings strong opinions. Lap times can't tell the whole story because every team is running their own testing program and collecting their own data.

Fans all over the world start making predictions long before we hear “Lights go out, and away we go!” for the first race.

Instead of making serious predictions, because there's no fun in that, we posted polls on Instagram stories and asked racing fans to place their bets.

No prizes, no pressure, and definitely no claims of being scientific. Just fans picking their hopes for the winners based on driver lineups or sentimentality or testing performance or just straight-up vibes.

Round by round, fans made their picks and made a path to the final. Some matchups were really close, while others were really not 🤣 but every vote added to the excitement.

Round 1 Results

Poll results: Alpine 45%, Aston Martin 55% (Caption: "Testing season overreactions 100% allowed")

Poll results: Audi 55%, Cadillac 45% (Caption: "This one could be who has the less boring livery")

Poll results: Williams 76%, Haas 24% (Caption: "Storied history vs American upstart?")

In Round 1, Aston Martin knocked out Alpine, Audi got past Cadillac and Williams moved on to the next round.

It's hard to say what logic, if any, these votes were based on. It will certainly be interesting to see how the 2026 F1 season unfolds!

Round 2 Results

Poll results: Racing Bulls 35%, Ferrari 65% (Caption: "The B team or the Career Ender")

Poll results: McLaren 67%, Aston Martin 33% (Caption: "Last year's champs or Newey's new project?")

Screenshot of poll results. The caption reads "Two brands known for precision and attention to detail" - Mercedes 96%, Audi 4%

Poll results: Red Bull 79%, Williams 21% (Caption: "Will the old guard make a comeback or are their best days behind them?")

Because there are 11 teams and we need an even number in the end for the math to math, the second round put Ferrari against Racing Bulls and then the Round 1 winners raced again with new opponents.

Ferrari won their round, McLaren triumphed over Aston Martin, Mercedes annihilated Audi, and Red Bull beat Williams easily. That last one made my mom really sad. Thanks, fans 😡

Round 3 Results

Poll results: Ferrari 56%, McLaren 44% (Caption: "Will McLaren have a 3-peat or will Ferrari's horses prance to victory?")

Poll results: Mercedes 53%, Red Bull 47% (Caption: "Is this the match you've all been waiting for?")

This is where things started to get interesting and the decisions were harder like you can see by how much closer the votes were.

Ferrari beat out last year's constructor's champion McLaren and, in a "not-nearly-as-dramatic-as-Abu-Dhabi-2021" re-match, Mercedes avoided elimination with a win over Red Bull.

Final Showdown Results

F1 2026 Pre-Season Bracket Challenge - The Final Showdown. Teams are represented by their logos - Ferarri vs. Mercedes.

Poll results: Ferrari 35%, Mercedes 65% (Caption: "This is it, the final bracket. Which team is taking it all in 2026?")

When all the rounds were done and the final two were selected, the final showdown was as many might have predicted: the sentimental favourite Ferrari up against Mercedes, who many fans believe could be strong under the new regulations in 2026.

What do these predictions mean for F1 2026?

Honestly? Probably nothing 🤣 But if our fan prediction votes are correct, here's what it looks like for the 2026 F1 season.

Mercedes 🏆
Ferrari
Red Bull
McLaren
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin

Williams
Audi
Alpine
Cadillac
Haas

Pre-season predictions probably don't predict an entire championship, but they show what fans are watching and which teams are early fan favourites. Now all that's left is to wait for lights out and see how right, or hilariously wrong, we all were.

We’ll be revisiting these fan picks throughout the 2026 season. Let's see what everyone got right and what aged… less well 😄

Do you agree with our fan poll results? Leave a comment with a yay or nay, and even some predictions of your own!