With the start of the new Formula 1 season almost upon us the teams are gearing up for a whole new battle for the championship and I can’t wait for Melbourne’s March 15th Grand Prix. After a dramatic 2024 season, this year’s grid is filled with driver shake-ups and fresh faces that even the most seasoned fans might struggle to keep straight. Whether you’re a new fan looking to get into F1 or a long time supporter, here are some of the things to keep in mind and to look out for in 2025.
Meet the Teams
The basics: In 2025 there will be 24 races across the world featuring 10 teams with two drivers each all competing to score the most points, both individually and for their team. At the end of the season the team with the most points will win the Constructors’ Championship while the most successful driver will win the Drivers’ Championship.
10 teams, 20 drivers, six rookies; here is the lineup for 2025.
Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson*
Mercedes: George Russell and Kimi Antonelli*
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan*
Atlassian Williams: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (VCARB/RB): Yuki Tsunoda and Izack Hadjar*
Kick Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto*
Haas: Oliver Bearman* and Esteban Ocon
*rookie in his first full F1 season
Exits — who are we leaving behind in 2024
Daniel Ricciardo - VCARB
Arguably the biggest loss of 2024, Daniel Ricciardo was unceremoniously dropped from the Racing Bulls with six races left. A fan-favourite, Ricciardo had a tumultuous career rising to fame with Red Bull in 2014 before departing the team in 2019. This was seen as the beginning of the end for Ricciardo who hopped from Renault to McLaren and finally to VCARB.
Sergio Perez - Red Bull
Even though Sergio Perez had a contract with Red Bull past 2024, after a disappointing season from Perez the team announced he was being replaced for the new year. Perez had been a mainstay in F1, with experience on five different teams since 2011.
Kevin Magnussen - Haas
Magnussen left Haas after the 2024 season, announcing his retirement from F1. Known for his aggressive driving style and his knack for causing race drama, he was the first driver since 2012 to receive a race ban. He is now a factory driver with BMW.
Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas - Kick Sauber
While both Bottas and Zhou left Kick Sauber and the main F1 grid after 2025, neither are out of F1 completely. Bottas has joined Mercedes as their reserve driver, a team he spent many successful years at with Lewis Hamilton. Similarly, Zhou has become a reserve driver for Ferrari.
Shaking up the Grid — what’s ahead this year
Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton
Maybe the biggest news of the 2024 season was superstar Lewis Hamilton’s announcement he was leaving Mercedes for Ferrari. After spending much of his career with Mercedes, Hamilton decided it was time for a change and what’s better than that brilliant Ferrari red? Hamilton joins golden boy Charles Leclerc for a dangerous lineup that hopes to carry over Ferrari’s success from the second half of last season into 2025.
Williams and Carlos Sainz
Of course, with Hamilton joining Ferrari that meant Carlos Sainz had to leave. While rumours were flying around the grid, Sainz announced he had signed with Williams in a move that surprised many. Going from a top contender to a more middle of the pack team is never easy — just ask Bottas or Ricciardo — but Sainz and Williams aim to turn that around. Sainz joins fan-favourite Alex Albon at Williams in a driver pairing that hopes to inject new hope in the historic English team.
Papaya Rules?
McLaren are still celebrating their Constructors’ Championship win last year that saw them come out on top in a tight title race against Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. With Lando Norris falling short of Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship and Oscar Piastri not content to play second fiddle, McLaren promises to provide some drama as they aim to repeat their success this year.
The French Divide
The 2025 season sees the separation of last year’s Alpine lineup Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon as Ocon joins Haas. The two French drivers share a long and complicated history starting as childhood friends turned rivals turned teammates. After a shocking double podium win last year for Gasly and Ocon at the Brazil Grand Prix, fans hoped that maybe the so-called “French Civil War” was over. Now with both drivers once again on different teams we will have to wait and see.
FIA vs the Drivers
We can’t talk about the 2025 season without talking about the frosty relations between the drivers and the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), the governing body of F1. The relationship between the two parties soured over 2024 with the FIA imposing penalties for what they deemed “bad behaviour.” This was not received well — see Verstappen refusing to give more than one-word answers in his FIA press conferences in protest of the community service penalty he received for swearing. This season the FIA has imposed rule amendments that include fines, loss of points and even race bans for things including inappropriate use of language, political symbolism and “moral injury.” The reported lack of dialogue between the drivers and the FIA has resulted in a tense relationship that could have on-track ramifications.
F1 has exploded in popularity in the last few years and only time will tell how the 2025 season will play out. In the meantime I have lots of questions. Last year’s Constructors’ upset saw McLaren break into a title fight that had been dominated by Mercedes and Red Bull but will 2025 be the year Verstappen is toppled? Will Lewis Hamilton rise back to his former glory now he’s at a new team or will Charles Leclerc steal the show? Lando Norris was close to the World Championship last year but can he pull off an even better performance or will Piastri demand some attention? Just how long will Liam Lawson last at Red Bull before suffering a fate like Albon and Gasly did years prior? And will we see Franco Colapinto on the grid this year or will Jack Doohan hold on to his hotly contested seat at Alpine?
Most importantly, which driver will be the first casualty of the FIA’s new behavioural misconduct penalties, and which driver will be the first to protest them? All this and more to be found out starting in two weeks when the lights go out in Albert Park.
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