F1 in 2025 – what are we looking forward to?

Ahead of the 2025 Formula One season, there is a lot to look forward to – with new driver pairings and a switch up in the calendar making up the top talking points for a hotly anticipated year of racing and rivalry.

24 races, 24 different countries, 24 chances to step onto the podium...

...so, what should we expect from the upcoming season of F1?

Lewis Hamilton kicks off his first season at Ferrari...

In February 2024, the world of F1 was shocked when it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would be joining Ferrari on a multi-year contract, ending his 12-year stretch with Mercedes.

The British driver joined the Bracknell-based team in 2013, where he won six of his seven World Championship titles – the first being achieved at McLaren where he began his career.

He will be joining Charles Leclerc at the Italian team, in a change which could prove to be a huge shake-up for the 2025 season.

Mercedes finished 2024 in their lowest Constructors position since Hamilton joined the team, placed in fourth.

The driver standings were also unusual for the former seven-time World Champion, who completed the season seventh, 214 points behind Max Verstappen who took the lead.

His move to Ferrari is coming at a time when the Italian team is back on the rise, finishing second in the Constructors’ and rekindling their title rivalry with McLaren, who ended up top of the table.

2025 looks set to be a continuation of that battle, making for an interesting environment for a team debut.

However, the British drivers’ decision to swap teams simultaneously left Spanish driver Carlos Sainz out of a seat, and he now had important decisions to make.

The starting grid at the 2024 British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver at his home Grand Prix, taking nine wins at Silverstone, the most of any driver at that track (Photo Credit: Isobel Liddard)

Carlos Sainz’ makes his debut at Williams

The FW19 Williams F1 car, pictured here at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Williams are a team with a rich history in Formula One, joining the sport in 1977 - here is their Championship winning FW19 from 1997 (Photo Credit: Rebecca Coulson)

Linking back to the news of Hamilton joining Ferrari, Sainz was put out of a seat, spending most of the back end of the 2024 season considering where to continue in his F1 career – he deliberated his options and discussed with other teams, before choosing to sign with Williams on a multi-year deal.

The Spaniard will be leaving Ferrari after four years, originally joining in 2021 from team rivals McLaren.

Throughout his time at the Italian team, he drove them to three victories at Silverstone (Great Britain), Marina Bay (Singapore), and Albert Park (Australia) in three successive years – 2022, 2023, and 2024.

However, last year the decision was made not to extend his contract for 2025, meaning it was time for him to leave Maranello and move onto other ventures – these took him across the grid to Williams.

Here he will partner up with Alex Albon as the pair take on what will be one of the longest F1 seasons, with 24 Grand Prix races and 6 sprints.

Williams will be hoping for an improvement on their previous season, where they finished ninth in the Constructors’ Championship – a vast difference from the second place Sainz’ former team achieved in 2024.

But 2025 is a chance for a refresh, and the British team will be positive their newest pairing could be the answer to their points troubles.

The Australian GP returning as the season opener!

In more track-based news, last year it was announced that the Australian Grand Prix would be returning to its traditional spot as the F1 season opener.

The race in Albert Park, Melbourne, will be kickstarting the action in 2025 after four years of being absent from the top spot of the calendar.

Since the track entered the sport in 1996, it has held the position of being the opening race virtually every year – with the exception of when it was postponed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter.

When COVID hit in 2020, sporting activity was either cancelled or postponed due to lockdown measures, with many restrictions following through into 2021 – the Australian GP was one of many sporting fixtures that could not go ahead.

Once the restrictions eased, Melbourne returned to hosting racing action, however was replaced at its usual position by Bahrain – the same track hosting the pre-season testing.

However, the situation for Melbourne has now changed as due to the holy month of Ramadan coinciding with the start of the 2025 F1 season, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have shifted their races to April.

This has left room for the iconic track to return to its former state as the opening race of the season once again, throwing 2025 right back into tradition.

2025 will be the final year of the V6 hybrid engines...

F1 is set to introduce another round of regulation changes for 2026, meaning that this upcoming season will be the final year of the current engines, sparking excitement over what is to come in the future of the sport.

As of right now, the cars are running on V6 hybrid turbo power units, with 1.6 litre engines, however the sport is looking to move towards more sustainable and lighter options.

Once this season has concluded, F1 teams will shift to having cars with a 50/50 split between an internal combustion engine and electrical power, with the most significant change coming with the dropping of an MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit - Heat).

The MGU-H works by converting wasted heat to electrical energy – but the problems arose as it was labelled too complex for manufacturers, as it lacked road-relevance.

The overall hope is that the engines will become more cost efficient and eco-friendlier, with the loss of the complex MGU-H component meaning that more manufacturers will be willing to work within the sport, and maintaining the cars will become cheaper.

F1 will be anticipating the addition of more engine manufacturers such as Audi, and looking ahead to the following seasons and what changes they could bring.

But as far as 2025 is concerned, the current V6 engines have one last journey to complete, and the sport will be bidding a fond farewell to 11 years of their involvement.

Liam Lawson racing alongside Max Verstappen

Four-time World Champion Max Verstappen is going to have a brand-new teammate for the upcoming season, with Red Bull having signed academy racer Liam Lawson.

Lawson was brought in to replace an under-performing Sergio Perez, after a turbulent year saw the Mexican driver achieve only 152 points compared to his teammates 437 – a respectable position but not what the team was looking towards in their quest to win the Constructors’ standings.

Red Bull ended up third in the Constructors’, missing out to McLaren and Ferrari whose drivers followed behind Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship – bringing Perez’ tenure at the team to a premature end, terminating his contract two years before its conclusion.

The decision came about in December, but the exact technicalities were unknown, just that the Austrian team reached a termination agreement with Perez in December 2024, leading to the driver losing his seat.

It came amid a string of poor results where he collected just nine points over eight race weekends, combined with an overall poor season where he failed to win a race – only reaching the podium four times.

Along with teammate Verstappen winning his fourth World Title, the team decided to replace the driver, ending his four-year stint at the team and bringing in junior Lawson.

The Kiwi had some experience in an F1 car prior, filling in for an injured Daniel Ricciardo at Visa CashApp Racing Bulls in 2023.

He made his debut at a turbulent Dutch GP, battling the elements and finishing 13^th, beating his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

The rookie received paddock recognition after holding his nerve and completing the race despite the event being red flagged due to a heavy downpour and restarted seven laps from the end.

Singapore brought along his maiden points finish, completing the race in ninth and claiming two points, stating his place in the championship despite not yet being a full-time driver.

However, this part-time status was soon set to change as the following season some breaking news emerged from Visa CashApp RB – Ricciardo was out and the Red Bull sister team was looking for a replacement.

In September 2024 Lawson was announced as the recipient of this free seat, with the change coming into effect mid-season, and although the rookie already had two F1 races under his belt he still had minimal time to fully prepare.

For the remainder of the 2024 season, which was six races, he beat his new teammate Tsunoda in two rounds, but the image was set and all he needed was a complete season to prove his capabilities.

So, this coming season will act as a chance for the driver to truly show his potential, and continue on in the team’s battle for Constructors’ places.

A series of Red Bull racing Formula One cars pictured in their garage at Goodwood Festival of Speed

Red Bull will be hoping to rectify their loss of the Constructors' title, having several Championship winning cars - seen here at Goodwood Festival of Speed (Photo Credit: Rebecca Coulson)

Racing action begins at Albert Park, Melbourne, with the Australian GP on the weekend of March 14-16.

It is here where new driver lineups will be put to the test and teams pushed to the limit, as the sport begins one of the longest seasons in its history, with 24 races ahead of them.