The 2025 Formula 1 Season Is Shaping Up To Be Another Drama-filled Spectacle

It’s almost “Lights out, and away we go!” for the 2025 Formula 1 season, as this weekend it all kicks off Down Under. The 20 best drivers in the world will be chasing glory once more over the course of 24 races. Will Max Verstappen make it five in a row? Will Lando Norris clinch his first? Will Lewis Hamilton get Ferrari back on top and claim his eighth? Will any of the rookies win a race? No one knows for now, but it will be another very interesting year, and I can’t wait to see what unexpected and perhaps shocking twists and turns will come! But before we get ahead of ourselves in excitement, here’s a rundown of this year’s competing teams and drivers!

Five Rookies & Lewis in Red

Of course, all eyes will be on seven-time World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, now dressed in Rosso Corsa and driving for the Scuderia Ferrari. This much-debated transfer is said to have ignited a new hunger in the British driver, but time will tell if the team and Lewis can find a winning rhythm and have a shot at this year’s title! I, for one, know that I will be on the edge of my seat to see how things unravel from this weekend all the way to the season finale in December!

But that’s not all, as we also get five new drivers on the grid, including two returning names now with a full-season contract. The most storied debut is undoubtedly that of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, replacing Hamilton over at Mercedes-AMG. The Italian youngster is said to be the next super-talent, has won multiple titles in junior classes, and competed in F2 last year. He’s joined on the grid by 2024 F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, who will drive for the Stake F1 team. Last year’s F2 runner-up, Isack Hadjar, has found a seat in the Visa Cash App RB team. BWT Alpine junior driver Jack Doohan was promoted from a reserve driver role last year to a full-time seat this year. The final two names you should know from previous years, as Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson both raced multiple races in F1 already, replacing sick or injured divers. Bearman will make his season debut at Haas F1, while Liam Lawson replaces Sergio Perez at Red Bull.

But that’s not all, as we also encounter some changes in the rules that might shake things up. The point for the fastest lap in the race is gone, the restraint on the number of gearboxes allowed over a season has been lifted, the drivers will be fitted with cooling vests for some of the hot races (Singapore, Qatar), and there are new DRS parameters. The controversial flex wings will also be under tighter FIA scrutiny, and there are several updates to the guidelines for irregular starting procedures, such as pit lane starts or interrupted starts. And on top of all that, we have a new title sponsor in LVMH’s TAG Heuer!

Oracle Red Bull Racing – Max Verstappen & Liam Lawson – TAG Heuer

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had a challenging season last year but managed to win his fourth consecutive title. The strong charge from the Ferraris and McLarens meant he had to push to the limit, and sometimes a bit beyond that, to come out on top. In the end, the strong start of the season gave him enough of a lead to stay ahead of Norris, Piastri, Leclerc, Sainz and the Mercedes boys. Plus, a monumental drive during the rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix pretty much sealed the deal. He’s joined by New Zealander Liam Lawsom, who made his F1 debut in 2023 when he replaced Alpha Tauri’s Daniel Ricciardo for five races, scoring points in the Singapore Grand Prix.

He was granted a seat on the Visa Cash App RB team midway through the 2024 season, and now he’s been promoted to the Red Bull Racing team. It will be very interesting to see if the young New Zealander can bring the fight to the rest of the competitors and give Red Bull two competitive point-scoring cars again! As expected, especially given the total revamp of the Formula 1 collection, including an RBR special edition, the team from Enstone relies on TAG Heuer as its timing partner.

Scuderia Ferrari – Charles Leclerc & Lewis Hamilton – Richard Mille

The biggest news last year was Lewis Hamilton switching teams, but it has to be said that Ferrari’s on-track efforts in the 2024 season also made an impression! The scarlet cars were in the fight for wins throughout the entire season, with Leclerc winning three and the departing Carlos Sainz Jr winning two more. This year, the team from Maranello is looking to do even better and end the 17-year drought (Kimi Räikkönen was the last to win the Driver’s Championship in 2007.

Ahead of the 2024 season, news broke that seven-time F1 World Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton would leave Mercedes-AMG F1 in favour of Ferrari. It sent shockwaves through the entire F1 paddock, and a lot of people had a hard time imagining Hamilton dressed in red. But here we are, as he replaces Carlos Sainz to join Charles Leclerc in the hunt for victories and, potentially, the titles. He’ll be hell-bent to make the most of his debut season for Ferrari, and it will be a very interesting dynamic between Lewis and Charles, for sure! On the wrist of both drivers will be watches from Richard Mille, as the brand has been a partner of Ferrari for years already.

McLaren formula 1 Team – Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri – Richard Mille

After a couple of very troublesome years and a rather poor start to the 2024 season, the McLaren team massively turned things around in the second half. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both put in very strong performances, winning multiple races, with Lando coming within inches of winning the driver’s title! The duo has been retained for this year, and it seems the team is looking to do even better in the 2025 season!

Quite surprisingly, McLaren is one of only two teams on the grid with the same driver lineup as the previous season! Zak Brown is once again chomping at the bits to see his team not only win the Constructor’s Championship again, the first since 1996, but the Driver’s Championship too. Both drivers can be spotted wearing Richard Mille’s as this team, too, has partnered with the expressive Swiss watchmaker for years already.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 – George Russel & Andrea Kimi Antonelli – IWC Schaffhausen

Mercedes-AMG F1 has left an indelible mark on the hybrid era of Formula 1 by winning 8 consecutive titles between 2014 and 2021. Since then, the team has struggled to put in a consistent enough level of performance to fight for the championship. The failed zero-pod concept, as well as issues with porposing, has allowed other teams to catch up. Now the team is also facing the departure of Lewis Hamilton, who will be replaced by the rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli will be joining George Russel on the grid, who will take on the role of lead driver for the team. Russel has shown good pace and performance in the Mercedes, often finishing ahead of Hamilton in the last season or two. Now it’s just a matter of finding rhythm and speed again in order to compete for race wins and titles! Timing partner for the Mercedes-AMG F1 team will be no surprise, as it has been working with IWC for more than 10 years (and even longer with the road-car side of the Mercedes brand).

Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team – Ferando Alonso & Lance Stroll – Girard-Perregaux

Next to McLaren, the fellow Brits of Aston Martin have also stuck with their pairing of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Widely discussed leading up to the 2025 season is the arrival of engineering mastermind Adrien Newey, who left Red Bull in pursuit of a new challenge. It remains to be seen whether that pays off immediately or if the much-desired speed and performance will come in later seasons, but it will have an impact on performance for sure!

Fernando Alonso is the oldest and most experienced driver on the grid, making his debut in F1 before some of the current drivers were even born! Lance Stroll has also matured in F1 quite well and is often found scoring points for the green-clad team. Similar to last year, the partnership with Girard-Perregaux continues, and we’re expecting some more special editions coming from the two.

BWT Alpine F1 Team – Pierre Gasley & Jack Doohan – H. Moser & Cie

Another driver making his full-time debut on the grid is Australian talent Jack Doohan. Already a reserve driver for the BWT Alpine team for the past two years, he raced in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, replacing the outgoing Esteban Ocon. He joins experienced BWT Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, who will be starting his 9th season in Formula 1. He’ll be looking to improve on his 10th finish in the 2024 Driver’s Championship.

The BWT Alpine F1 team is the continuation of Renault, which has been involved in the sport for decades and is, of course, part of the Renault Group. But, and this came as a big surprise to everyone, Renault announced that it will cease its engine-building activities after this season. So, despite the Alpine name likely to be on the grid from 2026 onwards, it will not be powered by a Renault engine. For 2025, though, it will be Renault all around. Except on the wrist of the drivers, as H. Moser & Cie is the team’s official timing partner.

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 team – Yuki Tsunoda & Isack Hadjar – Tudor

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s sister team, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (or V-CARB), will once again field Yuki Tsunoda for the upcoming season, alongside newcomer Isack Hadjar. He makes the jump from F2 to F1, as several other youngsters are doing too. Hadjar finished in second place in F2 last year and now gets a shot in the big league. The team will be hell bent to improve from last year’s quite disappointing performance, where it finished 8th in the Constructors’ Championship (out of 10 teams).

To do so, Visa Cash App RB will have a works Honda engine in the back, which will be replaced by a Ford-badged engine built by Red Bull Power Trains for next year. In the past, the team formerly known as Torro Rosso and Alpha Tauri has always managed to deliver surprisingly impressive results throughout a season (Vettel winning the 2006 Italian Grand Prix against all odds!), so let’s hope they can spring back this year. Tudor joined the team as timing partner last year, with a striking black-and-blue Black Bay as the first commercial result, likely to be followed with another special edition this year.

Moneygram Haas F1 – Esteban Ocon & Oliver Bearman – Bianchet

The Haas F1 team has opted to change their driver line-up completely, as Nico Hulkenberg has moved to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and Kevin Magnussen has left F1 entirely. Replacing them will be Esteban Ocon, who was told by BWT Alpine that there would be no place for him moving into the new season, and Oliver Bearmen, who showed his skills when he replaced Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in 2024 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and impressively finished 7th.

It’s always a gamble to change both drivers at once, as usually, teams will look to stick with one experienced driver instead of two new ones. Esteban Ocon is, of course, not new in the sport and has won a race for Alpine, so he will likely be eager to push the team forward as lead driver, with Oliver Bearman hopefully getting in the groove quickly, too. As the team is closely tied to Ferrari for the engine and several other key components, they might prove quite quick, considering last year’s tech will have trickled down to Haas by now. In terms of watches, Ocon is a brand ambassador for Bianchet, but it has not extended into a team partnership at this time.

Atlassian Williams Racing – Alexander Albon & Carlos Sainz – Unknown

As a result of being forced out of a seat at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz has joined the Atlassian Williams Racing team. He will be pushing for points, and potentially more, with his teammate Alexander Albon, who has put in some impressive results in recent years despite not having the fastest car on the grid. As one of the longest-running teams in the sport, there’s always a special sentiment surrounding Williams, and it would be amazing to see them return to race-winning form!

During testing, Sainz clocked in some impressively fast lap times in the Mercedes-powered FW47, so expectations are high! At the time of writing this, there’s not a word on an official timing partner for Williams, although they have worked with Oris and Bremont in the past. Carlos Sainz. So it’s another team and driver duo we will be keeping close tabs on to see what they might wear!

Stake F1 Team kick sauber – Nico Hulkenberg & Gabriel Bortoleto – Unknown

The Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber can claim two things: the most confusing name on the grid due to international gambling and sponsorships regulations and coming in stone dead last in the 2024 F1 season. I find it sad that the once-solid-performing Sauber team has slipped down to this level, so I hope they will be able to find a way forward again soon. Next year, Audi is taking over the reigns of the team, so at least there’s plenty of funding coming!

The team has parted ways with Valtteri Bottas and Gyuanyu Zhou and has hired Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as drivers. The former brings in a ton of experience, while the latter is last year’s Formula 2 Champion. So, despite the fact that both are new to Stake, they do possess a ton of talent and, hopefully, speed! At this time, there’s no word on an official timing partner, so we’ll keep an eye out on what the two might be wearing during the season!

For more information on the upcoming Formula 1 season, please visit Formula1.com or any of the team websites:

• RedBullRacing.com
• Ferrari.com
• MercedesAMGF1.com
• McLaren.com
• Alpine-Cars.co.uk
• VisaCashAppRB.com
• Stake.com
• AstonMartinF1.com
• WilliamsF1.com
• HaasF1Team.com

Editorial Note: The images portrayed are sourced from Formula1.com, a selection of the teams (see above for links) and F1-Fansite.com.