Hello, welcome to the Ringer F1 show, part of the Ringer podcast Network.

I am your host, Megan Schuster, and we are here to celebrate the start of the

26 F1 season. The cars are in Bahrain for testing all 11 of them, which feels a bit like a

miracle after the last few months. But the controversies are just beginning. And joining me to dig

into all of the off-season antics and everything we've learned about cars and teams

is Spanors. Spanors, we're back. Yes, and it's more than just back. This is a gift for F1 fans.

This is a regulation change, and it's a really special time. It's like, I don't know if you know

my daughter was born on February 29th. So she only gets a birthday once every four years.

Now, some parents might say, no, we'll do March first, but not me.

No.

I say, F1 fans have got away every four years.

So have you.

And this is an extra special regulation change because we've got double jeopardy in the same way that we did with 2014,

where we've got a lot of new engine manufacturers alongside existing engine manufacturers.

So one thing to really keep an eye out on is some teams might come out here with a great package and look really good or look behind.

Then you get another sweep of updates as people panic and bring stuff for Spain. So the good teams will still develop well over the season, like you had Red Bull catching up Braun in 2009,

when Braun got the jump on the whole field.

So don't like set your feet expectations on what happens in the first few races, even more than normal seasons.

The wrinkle is if a power unit messes up, then there's going to be drama because they're sitting there on their dynos now, and there's one of the teams is going to mess it up. One of the teams have been listening to going to, listen to Kitty Purr, we are going to smash it out there, and then it's just going to keep blowing up, it's going to go into a hole, they'll get engine penalties. At least one of the teams is going to do that. There is definitely going to be chaos and drama this season. As a lover of chaos and carnage, I feel like that's what you're here for. You're just here for the zip line. That is truly like I get no greater joy in life than when there is some sort of, not in my personal life, but like in the sporting event that I enjoy, that is my top tier thing. It just mixes up because the good teams are still going to be good. Yes. But there's just no guarantees. Like there's no guarantee that from McLaren, say in 21 to 22, maybe a little bit more of a crossover. This is much more of a leap than the ground effect era.

We literally don't know which team's going to come out of this swinging.

A little bit of admin before we fully dive in to our storylines. If you're watching us on video,

Spanners and I are in the beautiful London Spotify studios at the moment. We'll be here for the next couple of weeks recording recording some season preview stuff, some Drive to Survive stuff, some testing reviews. And as of February 18th,

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