Seliö Returns: Two-Time World Champion to Race 2026 Season with Alberto Comparato

Sami Seliö is returning to the UIM F1H2O World Championship for the 2026 season, partnering with Italian Alberto Comparato under the Comparato F1 banner. The announcement ends speculation about the two-time world champion’s future that had been building since he posted what appeared to be a retirement message in late December.

Powerboat News reported in January that Seliö had shared an image on social media showing him in his overalls, accompanied by the words: “SUCCESS IS NOT ONLY MEDALS, BUT WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND!” The reflective tone prompted widespread conjecture that he was stepping away from the sport after 27 seasons at its highest level.

He is not.

The business behind the pairing

Seliö joins the Comparato operation as team manager as well as driver, bringing his experience of running a competitive F1H2O programme to the merged setup.

Ferdinand Zandbergen, who partnered Seliö for the past four seasons at Red Devil-SMC F1 Team, has left F1H2O to focus on his family’s business. His departure, combined with Damon Cohen’s unavailability following his serious spinal injury at the Grand Prix of Sharjah in December, created the conditions for the deal.

How the Comparato seat opened

Damon Cohen partnered Alberto Comparato throughout the 2025 season. The Australian double barrel-rolled at turn one with 12 seconds remaining in Q1 qualifying at Sharjah. Multiple vertebrae fractures were confirmed, with one vertebra completely shattered and fragments moving into the spinal canal. Cohen underwent surgery in the UAE and a fundraising campaign was launched to support him and his family. He is not available for the 2026 season.

Two families, one team

The Comparato name has been present in F1H2O since 2001. Fabio Comparato – Alberto’s father, now owner of the team operation – was himself a race winner in the championship, taking victory from pole in Malaysia in 2004 during a season that ended with a third-place championship finish. He and Seliö were rivals on circuit during overlapping careers in the championship.

The return in context

The significance of Cagliari is not lost on anyone who knows Seliö’s history. His debut season was 1998, the same year Cagliari hosted the very first Grand Prix of the F1H2O calendar – the Grand Prix del Mediterraneo, on the harbour at Su Siccu. Seliö won the Rookie of the Year award that season. He arrives at the same venue 28 years later as a two-time world champion.

Career record

His 26 career poles rank third in F1H2O history, behind only Guido Cappellini and Scott Gillman. He passed 1,000 career championship points during the 2022 season. Both titles were won at the final race of the season – 2007 at Sharjah, when Cappellini’s boat failed ten laps from the finish and Seliö took the race and the title by four points; 2010 at the final round, overcoming American Jay Price.

Comparato: the other half of the pairing

Alberto Comparato is 28 years old and follows his father Fabio into the team his family runs. The Italian from Chioggia won the UIM F2 World Championship in 2018 at the age of 20, the youngest ever to do so, and made his F1H2O debut in 2019. He holds the record as the youngest driver to take pole position in the premier class, set at San Nazzaro in 2021, and claimed his sole Grand Prix podium at Sharjah in 2022.

In the Comparato F1 pit lane, he will again be guided by the voice of Mathilda Wiberg. The Swedish driver will be on his radio again this year. Wiberg is also his partner off the water, and in 2025 became the first woman in history to win a Formula-class world championship in any form of motorsport, taking the UIM F2 title at Vila Velha de Ródão in Portugal. She was named 2025 UIM Driver of the Year in January.

Sami Seliö and Alberto Comparato were unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

2026 confirmed grid

Cagliari is the first confirmed venue; the remainder of the calendar is still being finalised.