Formula One is firing up for season 2026 with massive on-track changes and a surprising early success.

The emphasis is on speed and reliability for the new generation of Grand Prix cars at Barcelona in Spain, but it’s all about the Oscars in Hollywood, California.

F1, the movie, has received four nominations for Academy Awards including a nod for the big one, Best Picture.

The showbiz news comes as the countdown to the eighth season of the streaming hit Drive to Survive begins, ahead of its release date through Netflix on February 27 in the run-up to the Australian Grand Prix.

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Brad Pitt failed to get a nomination for his acting and driving as Sonny Hayes in F1, with the Oscar nominations focussed on the technical side of the movie.

It is nominated in the Visual Effects, Sound and Film Editing categories.

If it wins the Oscar for Sound, it will be partly thanks to seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, who was a producer on the movie and also got deeply involved in ensuring the sound track was accurate – matching recorded F1 engine sounds to the artificial action.

There is nothing artificial in Barcelona this week, although few details have emerged from the first official pre-season running for 2026.

Formula One has erected a giant security screen around the circuit and banned any official timing, although teams have provided on-track pictures, quotes from drivers and the total distances covered by their all-new cars.

It’s the start of a massive re-set for F1 – with cars that are smaller, lighter and now have a bigger hybrid battery pack – and a potential shake-up of the grid.

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Audi is also coming into F1 as a full manufacturer after a buy-out of the former Sauber team, Cadillac becomes the 11th team – but using a Ferrari powertrain, Honda becomes the official powertrain supplier to Aston Martin, and Ford has a new technical tie-up with Red Bull Racing and Racing Bulls.

“It was good to be back in the car and to start learning a completely new package,” said Ferrari team leader, Charles Leclerc, after his first laps in the latest SF-26 on a day with rain and wet track conditions.

“Today was about system checks and understanding how everything works, rather than performance, especially with the mixed conditions.”

But the early action has included the first significant crash of the year, as Isack Hadjar escaped unhurt from a prang in the new Red Bull racer in his first hit-out as Max Verstappen’s new team mate for 2026.

And there were some significant absences, as a number of grand prix teams – including McLaren – stayed in the garage waiting for better weather after Williams had decided to delay its track lap after delays in completing its 2026 contender.