The 1926 Grand Prix season was the second AIACR World Manufacturers' Championship season and the first running to new 1.5-litre regulations. The championship was won by Bugatti and its Type 35 was the dominant car of the year.
The schedule was increased from four to five championship races. The Belgian round was dropped but the British Grand Prix and San Sebastián Grand Prix were added. Many races had promising entry lists, but when a number of cars did not arrive, it led to farcical races with just a handful of starters and only a couple of finishers.
The leading French teams of Bugatti, Delage and Peugeot arrived for the Targa Florio as, once again, the major Italian teams did not enter. The race was marred by the death of two-time winner Giulio Masetti, crashing his privateer Delage on the first lap. Once again it was the small, nimble Bugatti of Bartolomeo Costantini that held off the rest of the pack. When the works Delage team was withdrawn following Masetti's death, it left Costantini led his team to a 1-2-3 victory.
The opening race of the championship was the Indianapolis 500. Frank Lockhart was a young rookie who substituted in to race for an ill Pete Kreis. Starting from back in the pack he soon joined the leaders and took the front on lap 60. On lap 71, rain forced a stop to the race for over an hour. Upon the restart, Lockhart built up his lead again, so at the 400-mile mark he had a 2-lap lead over the field. At that point rain returned, and he became the first rookie winner since 1914, in the rain-shortened race.
The European rounds of the championship were plagued by entry withdrawals of the works teams, leaving just a handful of starters to contest the races. The most embarrassing was the premier French Grand Prix where only the three Bugatti works cars started, and Jules Goux won, being the only classified finisher. The Delages were fast but poorly designed with the exhaust system placed right beside the drivers’ legs causing burns and exhaustion so that the team lost race-winning opportunities from numerable pit-stops to rest and recover. They did win the inaugural British Grand Prix as Bugatti did not enter and the new Talbots were still too under-developed. In the end, by virtue of being the only team to run the mandatory three races, Bugatti won the second Constructor's Championship.
Outside the championship, Formula Libre races (literally, open formula) were very popular across France and Italy and a number were staged with large fields of local drivers. Germany held its first Grand Prix, won by the young Rudolf Caracciola in difficult wet conditions that caused several serious accidents.
Manufacturers' World Championship
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Note: *Race stopped because of weather
The Indianapolis 500 also counted towards the 1926 AAA Championship Car season held in the United States
Other Races
Major non-championship races are in bold
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Teams and drivers
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Significant Privateer drivers
Note: * was raced as a relief driver. Those in brackets show, although entered, the driver did not race
Regulations and Technical
The racing death of star Antonio Ascari in 1925, along with a number of serious and fatal accidents drove the AIACR (forerunner of the FIA) to consider changes to its racing regulations. In October of that year, they resolved to combat the dramatic increase in power and speed from supercharging by dropping the engine capacity from 2-litres to 1.5-litres (albeit still open to be fitted with or without a supercharger). The minimum weight was also reduced from 650 to 600 kg. The AAA Contest Board (AAA), in the United States, followed the change adopting similar rules, to an equivalent drop from 122 to 91 cubic inches. Minimum width remained 80 cm with two seats, though only one driver was on board.
For the second year of the Championship, the Belgian Grand Prix was not held this year but two new races were added to the schedule in its stead. Brooklands had resolved its noise-control issues with neighbouring estates and would host the first British Grand Prix. The European Grand Prix was awarded to the Spanish Automobile Club. However, the promoters were concerned the 1.5-litre formula would be poorly supported and therefore also arranged a second race (held a week later) to Formula Libre regulations that would be their official Spanish Grand Prix. This year, along with the mandatory attendance of the Italian GP, teams had to also participate in any two of the other four races to be eligible for the championship.