[Other Sport] F1 2025

2024 Recap

The 2024 Formula 1 season is done, and it was a far more interesting season than 2023 despite another Max Verstappen masterclass. Max took his 4th title early again, but not without being put under pressure by McLaren and Lando Norris as the season progressed. Verstappen's title success was the result of a strong start to the season, with the early races threatening a repeat of 2023 with Red Bull utterly dominant. But McLaren brought the first of a raft of car upgrades that would transform their car into the fastest on the grid from Miami, where Norris took his maiden win. Despite this, a few small but key slip ups by both McLaren and Norris through the mid season meant that Verstappen was able to maintain his advantage, before locking in his 4th title with an imperious drive in the wet at Brazil.

With Perez completely off the boil (easily the worst driver from the top 4 teams, and even beaten on points by Gasly in the second half of the season), McLaren were able to sweep ahead in the WCC and then defend that lead from a surging Ferrari at the end of the season to claim their first WCC title since 1998.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes would also make strides with the cars through the season, although both ultimately suffered from dips in form. Ferrari with failed upgrades during the early European races (from Imola onwards), while Mercedes' car appeared to excel in colder weather conditions but was otherwise 3rd or 4th quickest at best. In the end, 4 teams scored multiple wins (with Perez the only driver from the top 4 to not win a race) and 1-2 finishes during a season that stands out for having become very competitive and unpredictable after the initial run of Verstappen dominance in the early season.

The big talking points through the season, though, remained Red Bull related. Would they or would they not fire Perez? And if they did, who would replace him? Perez was given an early 2 year contract renewal/extension that confused many, as his form had already dipped before then. Despite this, Red Bull continued to talk up Ricciardo as a potential replacement should he rediscover his own peaks. But Ricciardo would struggle for consistency, hitting peaks (eg Miami sprint) that made Tsunoda look slow but generally averaging worse results than Tsunoda, in particular in qually. Come the end of the Spa weekend, it looked highly likely that Red Bull would pull the trigger anyway ... before deciding not to. They then ditched Ricciardo after Singapore, giving Lawson a run of races to stake his own claim. Perez would survive the season, but not the off season.


2025 Season Launch

The O2 will host the "F1 75 Season Launch" event on the 18th February. A new event, with all teams and drivers for 2025 present to kick start the season. Will this new event be a smash hit or a damp squib?

As we move into 2025, a few changes to mention. Firstly, Red Bull have once again changed the naming of their second team. "Visa Cash App RB", the team where they insisted the "RB" did not stand for "Racing Bulls", will now be known as "Racing Bulls". Makes sense. Secondly, Audi (who completed the 100% purchase of Sauber early in 2024) have sold a stake in the team that was known as Stake F1 in 2024 to a Saudi wealth fund. While much talk abounds in the press that this is a sign that Audi interest in F1 is waning before they've even properly started, this ownership structure is not unusual in F1; Mercedes is only part-owned by Mercedes, for example.


2025 Car launches

2025 will be the last season with the current specification cars, before we dive into 2026 with new rules on both the power units and chassis / aero. Will the teams elect to make significant changes to their cars for 2025 in the hope of grabbing a strong result, or will they elect to carry over much of their 2025 cars and focus their efforts on 2026? 2026 car development has been blocked by the rules until the end of 2024, so next season will see a balancing act for teams between updating their 2025 cars and dedicating time to getting their all-new 2026 cars right.

Launch dates will be added below as they get announced:

Williams:
Sauber/Audi:
Alpine:
Racing Bulls:
Haas:
Aston Martin:
Ferrari: February 19
McLaren:
Mercedes:
Red Bull:


Pre-Season Testing 2025 – Bahrain – 26-28 February 2025

3 days of testing, each day consisting of 8 hours split into 4 hour morning and afternoon sessions. This will be the first time the 2025 cars are run in anger. Lots of potential interest across these 3 days, as we get to see drivers trying out their new cars and teams for the first time. Just two teams (McLaren and Aston Martin) are carrying over the same drivers from 2024 into 2025, so there will be plenty to watch out for as everyone gets settled in.

Schedule of driving duties for the 3 day test (spoilered until we get details):



Season 2025 Drivers

After the most boring "silly season" ever between 2023 and 2024, this time we see a lot of movement. This was all triggered by the shock announcement early in 2024 that Hamilton would depart Mercedes (despite having a contract for 2025) to go to Ferrari. This displaced Sainz, who took his jolly time before deciding on going to Williams. Red Bull, meanwhile, tied themselves in knots renewing Tsunoda (after Haas showed interest) and Perez early in the season despite having no interest in promoting the former, and eventually jettisoning the latter (at some cost) on the 18th December ... exactly 4 years after they announced his signing. At the time of posting, it's expected that Lawson will take that seat, with Hadjar expected to be promoted from F2 into the team now known officially as "Racing Bulls".

Plenty more movement took place as drivers tried to ensure they had a seat once the music stopped. In the end, we get 6 drivers who will be starting what they hope will be their first full seasons in F1:
- Lawson (has 11 races spread across 2 seasons)
- Bearman (made stunning stand-ins for both Ferrari and Haas)
- Antonelli (the next mega talent?)
- Doohan (rumoured to only have a 6 race contract to start the season ... with Alpine rumoured to be interested in Colapinto as well)
- Bortoleto (released from McLaren's junior program to join Audi)
- Hadjar (expected to replace Lawson at Racing Bulls)

Full line ups below. Drivers who moved teams are in bolded blue while drivers starting their first full season are in bolded red:



Season 2025 Race Calendar

It's all shaken up a little for 2025, with Melbourne returning to start the season and the initial middle-east races slipping into April. Belgium will be a sprint weekend this season, instead of Austria. Here's the schedule:

March 16 - Australia
March 23 - China (Sprint)
April 6 - Japan
April 13 - Bahrain
April 20 - Saudi Arabia
May 4 - Miami (Sprint)
May 18 - Imola
May 25 - Monaco
June 1 - Spain
June 15 - Canada
June 29 - Austria
July 6 - Britain
July 27 - Belgium (Sprint)
August 3 - Hungary
August 31 - Netherlands
September 7 - Italy
September 21 - Azerbaijan
October 5 - Singapore
October 19 - Austin (Sprint)
October 26 - Mexico
November 9 - Brazil (Sprint)
November 23 - Las Vegas
November 30 - Qatar (Sprint)
December 7 - Abu Dhabi


My Pre-Season Predictions

I'll add this after pre-season testing is done. For 2023 I managed 40% success, 2024 a slightly better 50%...

And while I was putting that together ... Liam Lawson confirmed at Red Bull. First edit coming up...

Max really really doesn’t want a competitive team mate does he

Flounce said:

Max really really doesn’t want a competitive team mate does he

Click to expand...

Red Bull took so long faffing about with what to do with Perez, and persisting with hoping Ricciardo would make the choice clear, etc that there's no one left available to be a competitive driver into that second seat. There's experienced drivers available (eg Bottas, Magnussen), but I'm not seeing any of them as being a clear-cut better choice than sticking with Lawson given he's one of their own juniors.

I suspect Lawson will be an improvement on Perez. But it's likely I think he'll ultimately end up in the same position as Albon, Gasly, etc - he's not Verstappen level, it's likely his confidence will take a hit, and we'll have to wait and see how he handles that. If Hadjar does get the Racing Bulls seat and beats Tsunoda, we could be in line for a mid-season swap out.

Audax said:

Red Bull took so long faffing about with what to do with Perez, and persisting with hoping Ricciardo would make the choice clear, etc that there's no one left available to be a competitive driver into that second seat. There's experienced drivers available (eg Bottas, Magnussen), but I'm not seeing any of them as being a clear-cut better choice than sticking with Lawson given he's one of their own juniors.

I suspect Lawson will be an improvement on Perez. But it's likely I think he'll ultimately end up in the same position as Albon, Gasly, etc - he's not Verstappen level, it's likely his confidence will take a hit, and we'll have to wait and see how he handles that. If Hadjar does get the Racing Bulls seat and beats Tsunoda, we could be in line for a mid-season swap out.

Click to expand...

I was hoping Red Bull would make Williams an offer, including one of their drivers, that they couldn’t refuse and give Sainz a decent length contract. I doubt Max would be behind that, he’d have genuine competition.

Flounce said:

I was hoping Red Bull would make Williams an offer, including one of their drivers, that they couldn’t refuse and give Sainz a decent length contract. I doubt Max would be behind that, he’d have genuine competition.

Click to expand...

There's been a rumour suggesting that Red Bull could have triggered an exit clause to get Albon, but they ultimately chose not to.

I think they don't want Sainz as long as they have Verstappen. There was significant friction when they were paired at STR, mostly driven by their respective entourages. But it means they're highly unlikely to ever pair them again, they don't want to risk the angst resuming.

Bottas returns to Mercedes as their reserve for 2025. Guessing he'll be hoping that Antonelli flops...

Hadjar confirmed to race at Racing Bulls alongside Tsunoda next season. That completes the grid (barring any further surprises) and will see 6 drivers on the grid who were born *after* Alonso's rookie season.

Yawn, the toxic shower of **** that is Red Bull carries on ruining sports....I'm going to do the same thing I do each year which is ignore them and their results...(have never had a Red Bull never will either - just the smell makes me heave)...and pretend they don't exist...Childish I know.

Looking forward to seeing what Lewis does at Ferrari, and whether they've finally put to bed their historial strategy blunders...

Loving Bottas at AMG, hoping Lando grows a pair and just hoping that Fernando gets a few more top threes!

Vettell in Le Mans 24hours will be interesting too if that happens with Porsche....WEC has held my attention more in the last few years...

Does anyone think Stroll Senior would ever run out of patience with Lance if there was a chance to recruit a better driver and increase the chance of team success?

Audax said:

Hadjar confirmed to race at Racing Bulls alongside Tsunoda next season. That completes the grid (barring any further surprises) and will see 6 drivers on the grid who were born *after* Alonso's rookie season.

Click to expand...

Remember it well,in a Minardi
His talent was evident straightaway

Paulie Gualtieri said:

Does anyone think Stroll Senior would ever run out of patience with Lance if there was a chance to recruit a better driver and increase the chance of team success?

Click to expand...

Pushy parent syndrome in the extreme.

Daddy, I'm a shit F1 driver, why do you keep making me do it?

Well son, blood is thicker than water and daddy loves you ....