F1 25 will get a 2026 season expansion next year, to allow for a bigger step forwards in F1 27

It’s the move we’ve been crying out for since Mark Webber was a realistic championship prospect: EA’s giving the Codemasters F1 franchise a hard-earned year off in 2026.

Instead of releasing a full game to that same annual cadence that the series has adhered to since way back in 2010, there’ll be a 2026 season expansion next year. Sorry, where are our manners? It’s actually a “premium content update” in EA’s (very) corporate nomenclature, which “will align with the sport’s major changes for the 2026 season, bringing fans new cars, sporting regulations, teams, and drivers.”

So, a season expansion. 

The exact pricing hasn’t been specified yet, but EA has clarified that this won’t be a free update. It’s inferred, if not explicitly stated, that the expansion will cost less than the full releases have been priced at. 

That gives the tyre temp obsessives at Codemasters HQ a bit more breathing room to make more substantial changes for F1 27. It’s not stated directly that EA’s changing its release strategy for this purpose though, so it’s at this point where round two of ‘translate the press release from corporate to human’ must be played. 

EA says F1 27 will be “a deeply authentic and innovative representation of the action and thrill of Formula 1, reimagined into a more expansive experience with new ways to play for fans around the world.”

So, more modes and some new multiplayer options? 

Popping our snark back in the drawer for a second, this is a really positive move from EA and Codemasters. It’s equivalent to pulling out of the current season’s development race in order to make the best car possible for the next set of regs changes, and it feels like it’s been a long time coming. 

The talent of the developers behind the F1 games has never been in doubt, but as the reception’s been getting increasingly tepid to each new release due to feature stagnation and frustratingly slow progress, it’s clear that something had to change. 

Whether F1 27 makes use of that extra dev time and turns out to be a 2009 Brawn, however, remains to be seen. We’re rooting for it.