F1's Newest Teams Are Stealing The Spotlight This Week: Audi's Slick Look, Cadillac In A Ferrari?!

Even though there's still a World Drivers Championship to decide, a lot of the focus in Formula 1 has been on next season.

And why shouldn't there be? It's going to be exciting. There will be new cars, new engines, new engine suppliers, and two new teams, including one that's completely new, Cadillac.

But let's start by checking in on the other new team, which isn't exactly a new team. In fact, they still have three Grand Prix and a Sprint Race to run.

READ: FERRARI BOSS BLASTS HAMILTON, LECLERC AFTER BRAZIL MELTDOWN DROPS TEAM BEHIND RED BULL

Still, there's a ton of excitement for Sauber to fully debut as Audi next season, and that's because this will be a full-works operation, which means an Audi power unit will be in the back of the car.

But, before the full rebrand happens at the end of the season, Audi showed off its color scheme and livery for next year on a car dubbed the R26 Concept.

First of all, the livery is *chef's kiss.* The silver (or "titanium") is a nice nod to German racing history, whether it was intended or not, and that Audi Red on the back part of the sidepods is spectacular. That'll pop nicely on the grid.

Of course, this R26 Concept will likely look very different from the R26 that will hit the track for testing in a few months. Still, it's certainly going to get the team some buzz after a really solid final season as Sauber.

Sergio Perez was back in F1 machinery for the first time a year, but it wasn't a Cadillac, it was a Ferrari. (Photo by Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Cadillac Hits The Track… In A Ferrari?

One thing that will be tough for Cadillac is that their 2026 car will be the first Formula 1 car they've ever built. 

So, they've done something interesting and cut a deal with Ferrari to test an SF-23, which was Ferrari's 2023 car and adheres to F1's Testing of a Previous Car regulations.

So, they painted that bad boy jet black and dropped Sergio Perez in the cockpit at Imola to turn his first laps in an F1 car in about a year.

It makes sense that Cadillac cut this deal with Ferrari, as they will use Ferrari engines until GM starts producing its own power units in a few years. 

Still, it might seem odd for one team to test another's car.

"Actually, current team testing is kind of what we're interested in. We want to use a car, because in all of the simulations that we mentioned, we try and make it as real to life as possible," Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon said, per Autosport. "I think everyone gets a little bit wrongly concerned, that in some way we can get an advantage by testing someone else's car or something. But we're not testing the car, we're testing the people."

It's an interesting approach, and we don't have to wait too much longer to see how it works out for Cadillac. There will be a private test in Barcelona in late January, then two 3-day blocks of testing in Bahrain in February.

After that, all focus turns to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 8 in Melbourne.