2025 vs 2026: The Big Team Check After the First Four Races | Part 3 of 6

Four races are done, the spring break has arrived – and that makes it the perfect time for the next round of assessment. In Part 3 of our big team check, we turn our attention to three established names on the grid: SVL Racing, Arrow Racing and Simspark Racing. Three teams, three very different situations – and yet for all of them, the coming weeks are likely to define the direction of their season.

SVL Racing: Still solid – but the big step forward never came

SVL Racing are one of those teams where the direct comparison with 2025 looks almost unspectacular at first glance – and that is exactly where the real story lies. They are sitting on 19 points once again, exactly the same total as last year. No wins, no podiums, no top-five finishes. On paper, SVL are almost exactly where they were in 2025.

And yet this start to the season does not feel completely identical. In 2026, SVL have managed one more top-10 finish while also reducing the number of retirements. That shows that the team look more stable overall, cleaner in execution and a little more resilient over race distance. They have repeatedly found ways to extract something from the package they have. It is no surprise that Sander van Leeuwen has played a major role in that. The Dutchman has long built a reputation as a tyre whisperer, and that feel for tyre management is once again helping SVL turn difficult weekends into respectable results.

But that is also where the limit of this start lies. While the race pace and tyre management continue to keep SVL competitive on Sundays, the step forward over one lap has not come. Their highest grid position, 12th, is clearly weaker than last year, and that makes many races harder than they need to be. Too often, SVL are having to work forward from the back rather than laying the foundation for strong results on Saturday.

The fact that the team are heading to Canada without an update package makes the situation even more interesting. While other rivals are trying to find a step forward with new parts, SVL are continuing to rely on the strength of their existing overall package – and on drivers capable of extracting the maximum from it. On the one hand, that shows confidence in their baseline. On the other, it also carries risk. If several rivals around them take the next step, that very consistency may suddenly be worth less than it has been so far.

So SVL Racing currently find themselves stuck somewhere in between. They have not collapsed, but they have not visibly grown either. They remain in the fight through stability, tyre management and clean execution – but without a technical impulse, that solid level may soon no longer be enough to protect their place in the midfield.

Arrow Racing: The free fall – and now the hope of a complete reset

The verdict on Arrow Racing after the first four races of 2026 is a harsh one. Zero points, no top-10 finish and 13th in the championship – the comparison with 2025 is painful. Even last year, Arrow were not among the early winners of the season, but at least they had three points on the board and looked a little closer to the rest of the field. In 2026, they are much further away.

What makes it particularly painful is not just the lack of return, but the overall picture. Their best individual results – 14th in a race and 17th on the grid – are clearly below what the team would expect from themselves. On top of that comes an alarming number of retirements, underlining just how little has come together so far. Arrow Racing are not just slow right now – they look genuinely out of rhythm in this early phase of the season.

And that is exactly why almost everything now points towards Canada. Arrow are bringing the biggest package in the entire field and have overhauled the car completely. This is not a normal update anymore – it is an open attempt to change the direction of the season in one major move. A stronger technical signal is hard to imagine. Arrow clearly know themselves that this project desperately needs a turning point after the opening races.

But that is where the purely technical perspective ends – and where the real question begins. Because even the biggest update package cannot solve everything automatically. Not when visible doubts may already have crept in mentally as well. Whether this new overall package will be enough to overcome Stefan Cerne’s loss of motivation remains an open question. And that is exactly what makes Arrow one of the most fascinating, but also one of the most fragile cases in the field right now. When not only the car, but belief in the project itself appears shaken, more performance alone is not always enough.

Arrow Racing therefore head to Canada under maximum pressure. The team do not just need a better car – they need a sign of life. A weekend that finally brings back hope, energy and perhaps a little of their old conviction. Because if even this enormous package does not trigger a clear improvement, a difficult start to the season could very quickly turn into a genuine crisis. Simspark Racing: Far below their own expectations – and the pressure is growing fast

Simspark Racing are clearly one of the disappointments of the 2026 season so far. Two points, no top-10 finish and 11th in the championship – that is far too little for a team with these ambitions. And the direct comparison with 2025 makes the decline look even sharper. At that stage last year, Simspark already had 18 points, a top-five finish, two top-10 results and were much closer to securing a real position in the midfield.

Very little of that remains in 2026. Their best race finish is only 11th, and in qualifying they have not managed anything better than 16th. That means Simspark are not only lacking the pace for good results – they are also missing the basic platform needed to even get into striking distance of the points on a regular basis. Too often, they are starting weekends from a position of weakness and quickly slipping into survival mode rather than attack mode.

What makes it especially bitter is that this season does not just look unlucky – it looks like a clear failure to meet their own standards. For Simspark, this is not about a small dip or a temporary wobble. This is a team falling dramatically short of its own expectations. That is exactly why the pressure is starting to tighten. Because the longer this situation continues, the greater the weight becomes – not just on the results, but on the entire project.

The situation is made even more uncomfortable by the fact that other teams in and around the midfield are either already showing more or are arriving in Canada with fresh momentum. While movement is starting to appear all around them, Simspark themselves are in danger of slowly losing contact. And that is often the most dangerous phase of a season: not the big collapse, but the quiet slide backwards while everyone around you begins to find new hope.

Simspark therefore badly need a weekend that changes the direction of their season. Not a minor respectable showing, not simply a half-decent run to the flag – but a genuine step forward. Because after the way these opening races have gone, one thing is already clear: the gap to their own expectations is significant. And if an answer does not arrive soon, a disappointing start could very quickly become a real problem case.

Three teams, three very different concerns

SVL Racing are staying afloat through consistency, tyre management and the class of Sander van Leeuwen, but without really growing. Arrow Racing, after a disastrous start, are heading into an almost existential Canada weekend, where the biggest update package in the field is supposed to change everything. And Simspark Racing are sinking deeper and deeper into a phase where the results are not just weak, but dangerously far removed from their own ambitions.

That is exactly why Canada could become a key weekend for all three teams – even if for entirely different reasons. For SVL, it is about holding their ground without technical help. For Arrow, it is about turning a complete overhaul into genuine hope. And for Simspark, it is about proving that this season has not already tipped irreversibly in the wrong direction.