Back on Track: Right Formula in Action Down Under

The new F1 season kicks off this weekend in Melbourne, Australia. It’s the first of 24 scheduled rounds taking place across five continents. There is great excitement across fans and stakeholders as this is the first race to be held under F1’s new rules.

As one of F1’s leading sponsorship and sports marketing agencies, Right Formula will be at the heart of things in Melbourne, helping many of our client brands to activate at the opening race of the season and leading up to it, through digital content with global reach.

What we’re up to Down Under

In total, seven of our clients have major programmes around the season opener: Hilton, Revolut, Allwyn, Ecolab, Pirelli, Audi AG and ElevenLabs.

It is a significant moment for our client Revolut. The digital bank has joined forces with the Audi F1 team as its title partner, with a shared mission to shake up the status quo in F1. Melbourne marks the debut for Revolut on the global stage as an F1 team sponsor. Right Formula has been engaged in developing the sponsorship strategy for this exciting new brand’s entry to the sport and is trusted to deliver on the ground at this marquee moment for them, with many C-Suite guests in attendance.

Likewise, it is a big moment for Audi AG. The team is entering its first race under the Audi brand, after switching from the Sauber team name and the CEO will be attending with several other board members and guests. Right Formula will also be working closely with another new Audi F1 team partner, ElevenLabs on their first activation of the season.

Hilton, a long-time partner of World Champion team McLaren, has one of their largest APAC activations of the season in Melbourne, while Right Formula colleagues will also animate programmes for two other McLaren partners; Allwyn and Ecolab.

Our digital, communications and production teams have also been flat out in the run up to the new season, producing videos and social content for many of our clients, including SAP and IFS, a partner of the new Cadillac F1 team. For Mobil 1, we have rolled out the first of a comprehensive new content series called “Anatomy of a racing mile”.

“In F1, we call the period between the last race in Abu Dhabi in December and the season opener in Australia the ‘off season’. But in reality, it has been an incredibly busy time for all departments at Right Formula,” says founder and CEO Robin Fenwick, who is in Melbourne.

“Whether it be our Strategy team, Commercial, Digital, Communications or Client Leadership teams, they have all been working around the clock to meet our clients’ needs. As the season kicks off, we are delighted to welcome a number of brands this year who are new to the sport and new to Right Formula and we are leveraging our subject matter expertise and key relationships to help them get their F1 experience off to the best possible start.”

New Regulations – More efficient power units, dynamic looking cars

There is much talk on the eve of the season about F1’s new rules.

F1 has undergone a significant facelift for 2026 with new rules that prioritise more efficient engines running on sustainable fuels and more dynamic-looking cars. This new engine formula has attracted new manufacturers to the sport like Audi and Ford, as well as Cadillac, who will debut with a Ferrari power unit but plan to introduce their own in a few years’ time. Honda has recommitted, switching over to Aston Martin.

F1 has retained the 1.6 litre V6 internal combustion engine, but increased the hybrid function. So, whereas last season the energy recovery system would add a maximum of 160hp to the output, this year it is up to 470hp. So the key to competitiveness is in the efficiency of harvesting and then deploying the energy. The F1 drivers will have an exciting challenge to master the deployment controls, including an “overtake” function for maximum performance.

The cars also look different from last year because they are smaller, lighter and behave in a more nimble and dynamic way out on track. To accommodate the different performance characteristics of the new power units, the aerodynamics have been modified. To encourage overtaking, the drivers have adjustable aerodynamics which have a cornering mode and a straight mode.

“F1 is all about challenging the drivers and the drivers challenging each other” says James Allen, President, F1 at Right Formula. “There is no doubt that the 2026 F1 regulations provide the drivers with one of the greatest challenges in the sport’s 76 year history. It will be fascinating to see how quickly the teams and drivers adapt, with the learnings from each track session and across the early races. We will see a lot of performance development and shifts in competitiveness across the year.”

It should be a fascinating season.