With the 2025 F1 season kicking into gear this month in Melbourne, we take a sneak peek into all the major changes to the grid. Let’s go!…
Hold onto your gear sticks, people: Formula One’s 75th anniversary season this year could be the greatest of all time. That’s no hollow hype, either, as 2025 will effectively be an intensified continuation of last year’s thrill-ride, due to very few changes required to the cars for the final season under the current regulations that came in from 2022.
Last year alone was one for the ages, despite it initially looking like Red Bull would dominate again after reigning World Champion Max Verstappen won four of the first five races at a canter. But, from Miami, his rivals had caught up, and a frenzied fight ensued that saw six other race winners over F1’s longest-ever campaign, including maiden victories for McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Australia’s own Oscar Piastri.
And it’s expected that hyper-competitive fight at the front will race on with at least four teams (McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes) and their eight drivers set to be in contention for the podium’s top step. It’s a mouth-watering prospect, especially with the opening round in Melbourne for the first time since 2020 (though that event was, of course, cancelled due to the onset of the pandemic).
NEW PAIRINGS, NEW FACES
There’s no shortage of driver movements for the 2025 season, with eight of the 10 teams featuring a new line-up. Undoubtedly, the biggest box office is Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari – mirroring Michael Schumacher’s own monumental move to the Scuderia in 1996. The Brit will be hoping it’s that move, and not Schumi’s Mercedes era, he emulates, given his desire for a record-eighth crown. Hamilton, though, is already in seventh heaven dressed in red.
“There are some days that you know you’ll remember forever and today, my first as a Scuderia Ferrari driver, is one of those days,” he said at the end of his first day spent in Maranello. “I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red.” Hamilton lines up alongside rapid qualifier Charles Leclerc, and there’s a lot on the line – especially the Monégasque’s reputation, given his place as the Prancing Horse’s sweetheart. Can he measure up to Hamilton, the way he did to now-retired four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, following two seasons together in 2019 and 2020? It’ll be all smiles for the cameras, at least, with this pairing one of the most exciting on the 2025 grid.
Over at Red Bull, Sergio Pérez has been replaced by New Zealand’s Liam Lawson, who will settle in alongside Verstappen for his first full-time F1 campaign, following 11 starts as fill-in at sister squad Racing Bulls. Checo was jettisoned following two disappointing seasons (of his four with the team), despite a contract in place to the end of 2026, due to a dismal performance last year that saw him beaten 23-1 in qualifying, 6-0 in sprint qualifying, and the same in the races, with 11 of 24 started from 10th place or lower.
At Mercedes, George Russell will lead highly rated rookie Antonio Kimi Antonelli, who will be the sport’s first Italian driver since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021, with the move completing his junior series fast-track. The 18-year-old, who has long been touted as the next Verstappen, won titles in Italian and German F4, along with both the Formula Regional series: Middle East, and European. However, he skipped F3 to jump straight into F2 last year, where he finished sixth with two wins. “Yeah, I feel ready [for F1],” said Antonelli at his announcement. “Of course, I’m still learning a lot. And I’ll try to learn as much as possible in this period in order to arrive as ready as possible for 2025.”
Mercedes, though, will be hoping for a more polished performance, after the youngster put Russell’s car into the gravel at Parabolica just five minutes into his debut FP1 last year. Silver Arrows chief Toto Wolff, though, says that’s all part of the learning curve. “He’s gotta learn, he’s gonna make the odd mistakes,” he said. “We will see some highlights, we will see some more difficult moments, but it’s all part of the development of a young driver. And it feels right to do this in 2025, considering the big rule change in ’26. So we just gotta keep it cool with Kimi, he’s just 18, and just see how that comes in.”
McLaren and Aston Martin retain their line-ups from last season, but Williams is set for a boost – with ex-Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz joining Alex Albon as another of the grid’s most formidable pairings. Sainz certainly won’t be immediately fighting for wins at Williams like he did for the Scuderia in 2024, with Australia – just two weeks after an appendectomy – and Mexico both top shelf performances. But, he’s keen to help rebuild the once-dominant British privateer squad to its former glory, at least – we think – until F1’s new pecking order is established under 2026’s huge regulation change.
Over at Alpine, which has been significantly restructured following news it will take on Mercedes power units from 2026, Pierre Gasly remains and is paired with Aussie Jack Doohan, son of five-time 500cc MotoGP World Champion Mick Doohan. The Queenslander got a taste of the pinnacle of motorsport last year, when he replaced Esteban Ocon in the Abu Dhabi finale, but he’ll have to deliver from the outset with reserve driver Argentine Franco Colapinto waiting in the wings following a stellar nine-race fill-in at Williams last year.
Racing Bulls, née RB/VCARB, sees Yuki Tsunoda returned after his Red Bull snub, and is paired with F2 vice champion Isack Hadjar. While Haas and Sauber both have all-new line-ups, with Ocon and super-sub Oliver Bearman at the American team – and veteran Nico Hülkenberg and Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto in at Hinwil ahead of its transition to Audi’s works squad in 2026. Bortoleto, who won the F3 and F2 titles back to back like Leclerc, Russell and Piastri, and who will become the first full-time Brazilian driver since Felipe Massa in 2017, is definitely not short of ambition. “I will definitely bring a lot of, let’s say, young energy, a lot of dedication, I will obviously give my entire life to this project as I want to be one day a World Champion for this team,” said the São Paulo native.
BRING ON ALBERT PARK
Interest in F1 has well and truly exploded locally, with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) expecting another record 400,000-strong crowd for 2025’s season opener, 46,000 of which will be seated in grandstands, and 20,000 in hospitality. The organisers have big plans for 2025, including some new precincts at the track that will help movement around Melbourne’s Albert Park.
“We have got some really strong entertainment planned across the weekend,” said AGPC CEO Travis Auld. “There are some plans around taking the event into the city. We’re the first race, and so where we launch the season on behalf of F1.” But, with the season expected to be a belter, the organisers are urging fans to book the remaining ticket allocation. “We went on sale a couple of months ago, and we are sold out for Saturday, Sunday, which is incredible, we’d love to have more tickets available,” Auld added. “Thursday, Friday, there are still tickets available, Friday is obviously F1 practice, so expecting a really big crowd again. We were sold out on Friday for 2024’s event.”
2025’s on-track action, though, begins in Bahrain with pre-season testing, held from February 26 to 28, with each driver getting just one and a half days to prepare for the season. It’s then onwards to Albert Park where all the talk stops, and the racing starts.
McLAREN: ONE BETTER IN ’25?
McLaren finally got the monkey off its back last year. For the first time since 1998, the papaya squad lifted the constructors’ championship – and did it at the final round in Abu Dhabi. The historic team touched down in the UAE-capital 21 points ahead of its legendary title rival Ferrari, but nerves were high throughout Lando Norris’ run to the all-important win. “That was the worst two hours of my life,” said McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. “I think I was the only one who was ready to have a heart attack for two hours.”
While McLaren celebrated long and loud over its success, the drivers’ title set sail two rounds earlier (in Las Vegas) to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the fourth-straight time. Picking up the double (both drivers’ and constructors’ titles) in 2025 won’t be easy, though, even if it produces another standout car, with two number one drivers in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both fighting to be top dog.
We saw the fallout last year in Hungary, where Piastri beat polesitter Norris off the line to take the lead into turn one, but McLaren’s dilemma kicked-off at the second stops, when the team pitted the Brit first to cover off Hamilton. The move handed Norris the net lead, after he undercut Piastri. However, the team didn’t expect the Brit’s reluctance to give the lead up, requiring more and more radio calls to engage his conscience. Piastri showed the killer instinct as well at the Italian Grand Prix, where he aggressively passed Norris (one of the moves of the season) for the lead into the second chicane.
errari’s Charles Leclerc then beat Piastri to the win by stretching his tyres to make one fewer pit stop, but the Australian’s early, brutal move said it all. He’s not afraid of anyone, especially his teammate.
For Piastri, upping his game in qualifying in 2025 will be crucial to claiming top spot as McLaren’s number one driver. Across 2024, Norris outqualified Piastri 21-3, and that’s worse than Lance Stroll’s record against Fernando Alonso (19-5) at Aston Martin. That doesn’t mean he’s a terrible driver, just that he’s got a focal point to get ahead of Norris for a shot at a maiden title that would be Australia’s first since Alan Jones in 1980.
SECRET WEAPONS AT ASTON MARTIN
Aston Martin isn’t short of ambition, with the iconic green Formula One team’s efforts led by its owner and executive chairman Lawrence Stroll, who says there’s “absolutely nothing” stopping it from becoming the sport’s next dominant force. The squad’s most recent acquisition will be a game changer, too, with F1 design icon Adrian Newey, whose cars have won 25 world titles and over 200 Grands Prix, arriving at the team next month as Aston Martin’s managing technical partner and shareholder.
And Stroll couldn’t be more excited for the road ahead. “When you accomplish something like that, and when you have my track record, quite frankly, and you say – look, we’re here to win, we built this, we put the greatest team [together], [with] the greatest facilities. We have the greatest partners in Honda exclusively for us [from 2026], in Aramco. I mean, what stops us from being the next best? The answer is absolutely nothing,” he said.
But, while Newey’s signing grabbed all the headlines, its partnership with Saudi Arabian energy firm Aramco is also groundbreaking – with the two giants having launched in 2024 the next phase of their partnership, an integrated program dubbed Generation 3, which seeks to build on their achievements to-date, leverage cutting-edge technologies to deliver real-world impact, and inspire the next generation. On-track, Aramco will be put to the test with the Saudi Arabian company tasked with delivering advanced, fully sustainable fuels to the team under the new technical regulations in 2026, one where all its competitors will be seeking to make similar breakthroughs in a bid to move further up the grid. It’s no mean feat with the sport’s new power units set to feature a near 50/50 split between output from the internet combustion engine, and electrical power from the uprated MGU-K (with MGU-H to be dropped).
“We have one of the strongest technology partners with Aramco, working on a range of different technologies for meeting those challenges in 2026, in particular the work that Aramco are doing on developing advanced fuels for our future car. It’s absolutely critical, and we couldn’t be in better hands for that,” explains Claudio Santoni, Aston Martin’s engineering director.
By STEWART BELL
For the full article grab the February 2025 issue of MAXIM Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.
