F1 Canadian Grand Prix Is Streaming Live on Netflix: What You Need to Know Before Lights Out

If you last checked in on Formula 1 via your Drive to Survive binge, the 2026 season is not the show you remember. The sport basically hit shuffle: new team, new rules, familiar names back in the mix, and a calendar hiccup that sent everyone into Montreal with cabin fever.

So what actually changed?

• There are 11 teams now. Cadillac joined the grid, bumping the field to 22 drivers for the first time in years. They also brought back two names you know: Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas are back in full-time seats after time away.
• Audi is officially in. Their takeover of Sauber is complete, so that rebrand you heard about is now real on the timing screens.
• The rulebook got a hard reset. New technical regulations mean cars and power units are a very different breed from 2025. Early winners: Mercedes, with George Russell and 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli settling in fast and building an early edge. Early strugglers (relatively speaking): McLaren and Red Bull, who have had bumpier starts than anyone predicted.
• Two early races vanished. The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were canceled due to regional conflict, which left teams with a rare three-week gap before Montreal.
• A major off-track exit: longtime Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is out, closing the book on one of the most dominant leadership runs the sport has seen.
• Montreal is a Sprint weekend. Translation: two qualifying sessions and two races crammed into one Grand Prix weekend. More track action, less time to hide problems.

The driver reshuffle that changed the vibe

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari is the headline move and the one that instantly rewired how we all talk about the title fight. It did more than put a legend in red; it reset expectations around what Ferrari can be in this rule set. Other garages turned over their lineups too, so the paddock you watched at the end of 2025 does not look the same in 2026.

On the younger side, last year’s rookies aren’t rookies anymore. Kimi Antonelli is already one of the season’s biggest stories: winning races for Mercedes and muscling into the early title conversation. A handful of other up-and-comers are finally settled into new teams, and that mix of seasoned returnees with rising talent is why the grid feels unpredictable in the best way.

Why it all feels like a soft reboot

Add it up: an expanded grid, a manufacturer swap, a radical rules shift, leadership turnover at a powerhouse, and a schedule interruption that let everyone tear into their spreadsheets for three straight weeks. No wonder 2026 feels unfamiliar. The championship fight is taking shape, sure, but the season reads less like a sequel and more like a new chapter.

Netflix is trying to catch you up

To help folks who haven’t been living in the timing app, Netflix dropped a season catch-up guide ahead of the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix du Canada 2026). And if you want even more context around the pipeline of talent, there’s Netflix’s new doc 'F1: The Academy' spotlighting the series feeding tomorrow’s stars.

Heading into Montreal

With the Sprint format on deck and teams rolling in after that rare pause, Montreal is basically the season’s first real pressure cooker. Between the fresh regulations, the new team, the driver musical chairs, and that Mercedes early momentum, F1 arrives in Canada looking almost reinvented.

What change has surprised you most so far in 2026? Drop it in the comments — I have a feeling this season is just getting weird in all the right ways.