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The 2025 Formula One season is shaping up to be a highly competitive 24-race celebration, marking 75 years since the inaugural seven-race championship in 1950.
Lewis Hamilton’s high-profile move to Ferrari has been the key off-season storyline. The British star driver says his switch from Mercedes to Ferrari has given him a new lease on life.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen appears to have his work cut out to secure a fifth consecutive drivers’ title, with McLaren’s Lando Norris poised to challenge the Dutchman’s dominance.
Here are the key talking points ahead of the 2025 F1 season, which kicks off in Australia on Sunday:
Can Max Win Title Number Five?
Seventy-five years after Giuseppe Farina claimed the first F1 world championship in an Alfa Romeo, Verstappen begins the 2025 season aiming for a fifth straight title—a feat achieved only once before, by Michael Schumacher from 2000 to 2004. If successful, it would cement the Dutchman’s legacy as a titan of the sport.
Last season, Verstappen dominated early, winning seven of the first 10 races, but then endured a 10-race winless streak as McLaren, Mercedes, and Ferrari closed the gap. However, he fought back to win in Brazil and clinched his fourth title with two races to spare.
McLaren ended Red Bull’s reign in the constructors’ championship—an award based on the total points scored by a team’s two drivers—for the first time since 1998. The challenge facing Verstappen is highlighted by the betting odds, which place him as the second favorite behind Norris (who finished 63 points behind last season) for the 2025 drivers’ title.
Four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen, left, starts the season as second favorite to Lando Norris in the race for the 2025 F1 drivers’ title [File: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images]
Can Hamilton Return Ferrari to the Glory Days?
Hamilton is confident he can help Ferrari win its first drivers’ championship since 2007 after the seven-time world champion made the move to Italy. At 40, the Briton seems full of youthful enthusiasm for the new challenge.
“The passion here is like nothing you’ve ever seen. They’ve got absolutely every ingredient they need to win a world championship, and it’s just about putting all the pieces together,” he said.
New Ferrari F1 driver Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, Italy, on January 20, 2025 [Handout/Ferrari]
The Battle of the 2025 Rookies
An Italian teenager who passed his driving test only in January is among the six rookies joining the 2025 grid. Kimi Antonelli, an exciting 18-year-old, takes Hamilton’s seat alongside George Russell at Mercedes.
“I really want to make my own story,” said last year’s multiple Formula 2 winner, dismissing suggestions he is the seven-time world champion’s “replacement” at the Silver Arrows.
New Zealand’s Liam Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull in 2024 and has already raced in 11 Grands Prix, makes his full-fledged debut as Verstappen’s new teammate. Ferrari’s British academy driver Ollie Bearman joins Haas, while Brazil returns to the grid for the first time in five years with F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber.
Australia’s Jack Doohan, son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan, graduates from reserve driver to become Pierre Gasly’s teammate at Alpine. Rounding out the rookies is Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, the 20-year-old French-Algerian who narrowly missed out to Bortoleto for the F2 title.
New Alpine F1 driver Jack Doohan, left, next to his legendary father, Mick Doohan, a five-time FIM 500cc World Motorcycle Champion and winner of 54 premier class Grands Prix races [File: James Bearne/Getty Images]
FIA in Drivers’ Crosshairs
In the volatile, unpredictable world of F1, one thing seems certain in 2025: renewed tension between the governing body and the drivers, particularly over the FIA’s crackdown on swearing.
Top drivers Verstappen and Charles Leclerc were penalized in 2024 for using profanities during news conferences. The guidelines were strengthened in January, prompting an indignant response from drivers, who criticized FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
“We urge the FIA president to also consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise,” they wrote, adding: “Our members are adults. They do not need to be given instructions via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewellery or underpants.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, right, and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari were both penalised by the FIA for swearing during news conferences during the 2024 season [File: Mark Sutton/Getty Images]
From Australia to Abu Dhabi
Australia hosts the first of the 24 races next weekend, with the Bahrain race moved to April due to Ramadan falling in March. Six sprint races will be held at Shanghai, Miami, Belgium, Austin, Sao Paulo, and Qatar.
The FIA is attempting to liven up Monaco, where overtaking is nearly impossible, by imposing a mandatory two-pit-stop strategy. The traditional three-week summer break occurs in August, and the season concludes in Abu Dhabi on December 7.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said, “2025 will be a special year as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and it’s that legacy and experience that allows us to deliver such a strong calendar.”
Testing Times
The results from three days of preseason testing in Bahrain last month revealed little about the form of the top teams. With fuel loads unknown and team setups kept secret, it was difficult to identify the winners and losers.
Russell’s Mercedes topped the times on the final day, Carlos Sainz’s Williams led the middle day, and Norris’s McLaren took the honors on the first day. Ferrari remained competitive, and Verstappen was pleased with his performance on the final day.
The main takeaway from testing is that most teams appear closely matched, prompting McLaren CEO Zak Brown to predict: “I can see it being super competitive. Last year, four teams won multiple races. This year, I could see that being even more. I’m more excited than nervous.”
George Russell, left, pictured with new Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, was fastest on the final day of F1 testing at Bahrain International Circuit in late February 2025 [Clive Rose/Getty Images]
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