F1
Max Verstappen is racing for his fifth title against fierce competition, there are six exciting rookies and a huge rule change on the horizon – the 2025 F1 season will be a guaranteed thrill ride.
In 2024, F1 world champion Max Verstappen had his closest-ever defence of his Drivers' Championship crown, but what can we expect in 2025? With 10 teams, 20 drivers and a record 24 races spread across 21 countries, here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Formula One season.
Watch how the Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers are preparing for the new season:
01
Max Verstappen racing for the F1 world record
Now in his 10th year at Oracle Red Bull Racing, a fifth consecutive Drivers’ title would take Max Verstappen level with some true legends of the sport. Only Juan-Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton have managed to win five or more titles and Schumacher was the only one to take five in a row. Verstappen would also be by far the youngest driver to achieve the feat.
However, competition was much closer last season. For much of the year, the Red Bull Racing RB20 wasn't the fastest car on track and, after a brilliant start to the season that saw Max win five of the first seven rounds, it became apparent that the field was closing in. After a run of 10 races without a win, Verstappen's friend Lando Norris became his closest title rival, but the Dutchman's brilliant performance in the wet at São Paulo underlined his status as the greatest driver of his generation and put him over the top in the title race.
Can we expect more of the same in 2025? We’ll know more after the opening rounds, but with close competition and a rejuvenated grid, 2025 could be a season for the ages.
02
Why the 2026 rule change is shaking up 2025
Next season sees a major change in the F1 rules that mean cars will be lighter, engines must be twice as fuel efficient and more reliable, and there will be more complex, active aerodynamics. DRS will be gone and instead drivers will get a boost of electric power to help them overtake: Manual Override Mode or MOM for short.
A major rule change in F1 often results in one or two teams surging ahead after building the best design. In 2022 that was Oracle Red Bull Racing, but last season saw McLaren leap forward to clinch the Constructors' Championship while Ferrari continued to challenge and Mercedes returned to winning ways. The RB20 was the best all-round car and, in the hands of Max Verstappen a world beater, but with eight winning drivers, racing was much closer across the field after his near clean sweep in 2023.
In 2025, every team faces a delicate balancing act of mounting a title challenge and producing a competitive car for 2026. Oracle Red Bull Racing is a triple threat, matching the best driving talent raised through the Red Bull Junior Team and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, with brilliant car design and powerful, reliable engines. That means they're fully equipped in the factory and test track to meet any new challenge on race day.
03
Liam Lawson as a Visa Cash App RB driver
While Max Verstappen delivered nine victories and four more podiums in 2024, his team-mate Sergio Pérez struggled to get to grips with the RB20. The shortfall of points meant the Constructors' title was collected by McLaren. Now, Oracle Red Bull Racing want it back.
In the factory, technical director Pierre Waché and his design team are building on the success of the RB20 and in the garage Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is now Head of Race Engineering.
The biggest change is on the opposite side of the garage, where Verstappen is joined by Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese man will be his sixth team-mate, following in the wheeltracks of Carlos Sainz Jr, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Pérez and Liam Lawson. Tsunoda has been chosen partly because of his steely determination and partly because of his versatility. The prior Visa Cash App RB driver has proven his driving mettle by staying within the points for the team. Entering his fifth F1 season, Tsunoda will be doing everything to help bring the Constructors' title back to Milton Keynes.
04
A new chapter for the Racing Bulls
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s sister team enter their sophomore season with Laurent Mekies leading the team trackside and Peter Bayer looking to build on success from the boardroom. Part of the challenge for any midfield team is establishing an identity and for the Faenza-based outfit that starts with a change of name: Visa Cash App Racing Bulls – or Racing Bulls for short.
For Laurent Mekies, who was chief engineer for Toro Rosso from 2005-14, before stints at the FIA and Ferrari, it's the next logical step in growing the team: "The identity is building up and we feel like a new team is born. We've been able to build on the talents we had at the factory. We have been able to attract a number of senior people that probably this team has never been able to attract in the past."
Big name recruits Chief Technical Officer Tim Goss, Racing Director Alan Permane and Chief Aerodynamicist Guillaume Cattelani joined at the start of the 2024 season, but the VCARB-02 will be the first chassis whose creation has been overseen by this team along with designer Jody Egginton.
At the wheel will be Liam Lawson, who's has become one of the most prodigious talents to make his way through the Red Bull Junior Team program. He is joined by the exciting talent of 20-year-old Frenchman Isack Hadjar, who steps up from F2 where he finished runner-up in the 2024 championship. Reserve driver duties will be carried out by Ayumu Iwasa.
05
Talented rookies rejuvenate the grid
2025 sees the biggest influx of young drivers into F1 in years. With six drivers entering their first full season of racing, more than 25 percent of the grid is made up of new drivers. Some are more rookie than others: with 11 Grand Prix starts for Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson is the most experienced, but this is still his first full season and he's doing it with a front-running team.
Lauded as the next Max Verstappen, Andrea Kimi Antonelli could be feeling the pressure as he takes over from Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, while after his spectacular, points-scoring debut standing in for Carlos Sainz for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia, Ollie Bearman gets a full-time seat at Haas. Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto moves up to F1 with Sauber and runner-up Isack Hadjar will drive for the Racing Bulls. Finally, former Red Bull Junior Team driver Jack Doohan takes over at Alpine, where Franco Colapinto takes over as reserve driver.
06
What are the new driver line-ups for 2025?
The new lineup of drivers across the grid adds massive interest to this season. The headline move is Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari. Reunited with his former boss from his GP2 days, Frédéric Vasseur, will the seven-time world champion be able to establish himself in the garage and form a winning partnership with homegrown talent Charles Leclerc, who has title ambitions himself? McLaren have continuity with two race winners Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. At Mercedes, can George Russell make the step up as lead driver and can Andrea Kimi Antonelli deliver on his promise? Here’s the full lineup for 2025:
07
How does a Grand Prix weekend work?
There are two types of race weekend: the regular race weekend and a Sprint Race weekend. In 2024, 18 Grands Prix will use the regular race weekend format in which the drivers have three 60-minute practice sessions before Qualifying.
Qualifying also lasts one hour and opens with all 20 cars taking to the track for an 18-minute session. At the end of that 18 minutes, the slowest five cars are eliminated from qualifying and form grid slots 16-20 for the race. Another 15-minute session follows at the end of which the next slowest five cars are parked and placed in grid slots 11-15 for the race. Then, it's the final 12-minute shootout for places 1-10 on the grid, with pole position the goal.
The races are held to however many laps are required to achieve 305km and World Championship points are allocated on a sliding scale from first to 10th places, the winner receiving 25 points. An extra point is given to the driver who sets the fastest lap of the race, provided they finish inside the top 10.
The Sprint Race format has been tweaked for 2024. Now, free practice and Sprint qualifying will take place on Friday, with the Sprint Race itself on Saturday morning. There will then be a regular qualifying session for the main race on Sunday.
The six Sprint Race rounds in 2025 are the Chinese, Miami, Belgian, USA, São Paulo and Qatar Grands Prix.
08
What races are taking place in 2025?
2025 F1 season is again made up of 24 races across four continents, running from March to December. The Australian Grand Prix returns as the curtain raiser, followed by the first Sprint Race weekend of the year in China and the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia move to April to accommodate Ramadan, before the action arrives stateside for Miami and then Europe at Imola in Italy. Monaco and Las Vegas will bring glamour and racing skill will be pushed to the limit at Spa and Austin. And then there's unique tests of speed at Monza, Silverstone and Jeddah, agility at Zandvoort, the Red Bull Ring and Sao Paulo and driver endurance in Singapore. Here's every round of the 2025 F1 World Championship.
09
F1 2025 World Championship calendar
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