Tom Kristensen: “The highlights of the 2026 season, the next world champion”

Tom, apart from championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who or what has surprised you this Grand Prix season? Aston Martin. Who would have thought before the season that this team would struggle so much? Especially when you consider that they have all the ingredients for a strong team. Carlos Sainz must be very disappointed that Williams isn’t performing better. And Haas got off to a very good start, but then didn’t achieve much more.

But generally speaking, I prefer to focus on the bright spots. We’ve already talked about Kimi Antonelli, and we’ve discussed Audi’s impressive performance in their first year with their own power unit.

Another of my bright spots is Isack Hadjar, who is doing very well as Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull Racing. And we’ve talked about Lewis Hamilton, who has rediscovered his old form.

What do you make of Formula 1 newcomer Cadillac? It’s a decent showingfor a first season. It remains to be seen where they’ll stand once General Motors supplies its own power unit. They seem to be having recurring problems with overheating brakes. That wasn’t so good.

Who will be World Champion in 2026? I was askedthat before the season, as part of my work for ViaPlay. Back then, most people were naturally backing George Russell and Mercedes, so I was told: ‘Please don’t go and pick that one too.’ My answer was therefore – Charles Leclerc. I also predicted beforehand that Monaco would be the best race of the year and that Audi would pull off a sensational victory.

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Monaco did indeed turn out to be a spectacular race, not least because of that pit lane penalty bingo – pure chaos! So the prediction wasn’t too bad.

As for the world champion, however, I should have backed Kimi, who I’m now convinced really is on top form. But not by as big a margin as today.

Traditional races like Spa or Barcelona are being rotated in and out of the calendar, Zandvoort has been scrapped, we have no Grand Prix in France and none in Germany either. Do we have the right mix of tradition and new markets in the Formula 1 World Championship? New markets are important, and interest in Formula 1 is currently huge. At the same time, we can’t put together a calendar of 30 races. We can’t avoid the rotation principle any longer. However, with this rotation, I’d make sure to include traditional countries again – you mentioned France and Germany. Here, too, the balance has to be right.

That said, when it comes to race circuits, we must generally give preference to tracks with character. I don’t like circuits where all the corners and kerbs look the same. A track must have its own character; perhaps I’m a bit old-fashioned in that respect.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali wants to see even more sprints, perhaps even at every other Grand Prix weekend. Is that the right way forward? For the fans at the track, sprints are fantastic – Silverstone was a magnificent weekend – but for the teams and the drivers, it means even harder work. But here too, the balance has to be right. I always put it like this – you’re sitting at a table with the best food in the world in front of you. But you can’t enjoy it endlessly; otherwise, one day it’ll no longer be anything special. And we also have to think about the strain on the professionals.

Right at the end, let’s look a bit further into the future. FIA President Mohammed Bin Sulayem wants to return to naturally aspirated engines by 2031 at the latest. What do you make of that? Tricky question. I think there was a bit of an overreaction at the start of the Formula 1 season, when teams and drivers were struggling with the new generation of engines. Formula 1 must remain relevant, and it will do so as long as car manufacturers remain committed to Grand Prix racing.

I think the hybrid solution in Formula 1 is ideal, but the first races of 2026 have made it clear that the regulations need to be tweaked. I’d like to see the race cars become lighter again and, as a result, more agile. For me, that’s more important than a sound as shrill as that of the high-revving naturally aspirated engines of yesteryear.