The 2025 System 1 season is upon us.
The season formally will get underway Thursday evening in the US with the opening apply for Saturday evening’s Australian Grand Prix (11:55 p.m. ET, ESPN). F1 begins the season with 5 consecutive races in Australia and Asia earlier than heading to Miami in Might for the primary of three races in the US.
This is what it’s essential know forward of the season as Max Verstappen seems to defend his title for the fourth straight season.
Max Verstappen nonetheless has a methods to go to tie Michael Schumacher (and Lewis Hamilton) at seven F1 titles, however he can tie Schumacher’s streak with one other driver’s title in 2025.
Schumacher is the one driver — up to now — to win 5 straight championships. He received titles from 2000 by means of 2004 with Ferrari because the crew dominated F1 on the flip of the century.
Verstappen received his fourth consecutive title in 2024 although Pink Bull wasn’t head and shoulders above the sphere. He turned the fourth driver within the 2000s to win a minimum of 4 straight titles, however his factors whole of 437 was his second-lowest of that stretch.
Verstappen was clearly the most effective driver of 2024, however there have been some critical cracks within the Pink Bull basis. After he received seven of the primary 10 races and gapped the sphere, Verstappen went 10 races and not using a victory earlier than closing the season with two wins within the last 4 races.
He’s already began to tamp down expectations, a minimum of originally of the season. Verstappen has been publicly pessimistic in regards to the crew’s possibilities of successful the Australian Grand Prix. Melbourne was the positioning of Verstappen’s solely DNF of 2024 after he was compelled to retire due to a brake problem within the opening laps.
As Pink Bull (comparatively) struggled, McLaren took benefit. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri shaped the quickest driver duo in F1, even when the crew couldn’t precisely work out the way in which it needed to deal with crew orders all through the season when it had two quick automobiles in the identical Grand Prix.
Norris received 4 wins and Piastri scored two because the 2024 season featured seven drivers with a minimum of two victories.
McLaren continues to appear like the highest crew by means of preseason testing, as there have been no indicators of the crew shedding its grip atop the standings at Bahrain. However there’s cause to consider the constructor’s race may very well be nearer in 2025. Ferrari rivaled the crew in tempo on the finish of the season and may begin the season strongly. Mercedes confirmed flashes on the finish of the yr too. And you’ll’t depend out Pink Bull, even when it takes rookie Liam Lawson a bit to get settled as Verstappen’s new teammate.
The announcement of Hamilton’s shock transfer to Ferrari over a yr has now been realized. It’s a bit odd to see the winningest driver in F1 in Ferrari crimson after a lot dominance in silver and black for Mercedes.
However Hamilton regarded extraordinarily snug in preseason testing with the Scuderia and is seeking to bounce again after a tough final three seasons with Mercedes. After Verstappen controversially received the 2021 title in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton didn’t win in 2022 and 2023 earlier than successful twice a season in the past.
It’s not unfair to count on a victory or three in 2025, both. Hamilton needs to be in a way more persistently quick automotive than he’s had in current seasons. Is he a title favourite? The chances say so, however these could also be a bit inflated. A F1-record eighth title in 2025 can be an unbelievable story. And simply justify the swap.
Goodbye Valtteri Bottas, Franco Colapinto, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez. Hi there Lawson, Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan and Isack Hadjar.
Rookies make up greater than 1 / 4 of the sphere this season, and sure, we’re nonetheless counting Lawson as a rookie. He competed in six races a season in the past after taking on for Daniel Ricciardo on the Pink Bull junior crew.
Each Lawson and Antonelli have by far the most effective probabilities to win a race in 2025. Lawson takes over for Sergio Perez after Perez struggled mightily in 2024. His efficiency left Pink Bull no alternative however to exchange him after the season although he introduced vital sponsor cash and was a teammate favored by Verstappen.
Antonelli, 18, is Hamilton’s alternative at Mercedes. The Australian Grand Prix will likely be his first F1 begin after scoring two wins and three podium finishes in F2 a season in the past.
Bortoleto groups with Nico Hulkenberg at Sauber because the crew moved on from Bottas and Zhou on the finish of the season. Bottas is again with Mercedes as a reserve driver. Bearman subbed impressively for a sidelined Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia a season in the past and is now with Esteban Ocon at Haas.
Doohan groups with Pierre Gasly at Alpine and reportedly solely has the primary six races of the season assured in his contract. The crew has signed Colapinto as a reserve driver for the season. Colapinto confirmed pace at Williams late in 2024, however he additionally confirmed a propensity for crashing.
Hadjar, in the meantime, is paired with Yuki Tsunoda at RB after Lawson was promoted to exchange Perez.
The most important shock of preseason testing was the pace that Williams confirmed with Sainz. The crew has been a backmarker in current seasons however made a case to be within the thick of the midfield race after signing Sainz following his departure from Ferrari.
If we assume that the highest 4 groups will as soon as once more be McLaren, Ferrari, Pink Bull and Mercedes in some order, the battle for fifth needs to be amongst Alpine, Aston Martin and Williams with RB and possibly even Haas on the fringes.
If a type of groups will get off to a gradual begin, nonetheless, we may additionally simply envision a state of affairs the place it punts on the 2025 season with a view to fear extra about 2026. Like 2022, the 2026 season incorporates a host of latest guidelines relating to automotive and engine design. Groups are getting into 2025 apprehensive about their efficiency of the automotive within the quick time period whereas understanding that every one their long-term developmental plans don’t have anything to do with the automobiles they’re fielding this season.
