With a new year comes a new F1 season. Here are ten storylines we are excited for as a new year begins
Happy New Year Formula 1 fans!
And with the calendar turning to 2025 we can officially say this: A new F1 season is almost upon us.
2024 delivered one of the more fascinating F1 seasons in recent memory, with multiple Grand Prix winners, a Drivers’ Championship race that went deep into the season, and a Constructors’ clash that lasted until the final laps of the year. When all was said and done Max Verstappen had locked up his fourth Drivers’ title, and McLaren emerged as the Constructors’ Champions.
Can 2025 match the theatrics of 2024? In a few short weeks, we will start answering that question. Until then, here are ten storylines we are looking forward to in the year ahead.
Rookies galore!
The start of the 2024 F1 season marked a first in the sport’s history. The 20 drivers who began the 2024 season were the same 20 drivers who ended the prior year.
That is certainly not the case for 2025.
Six rookies are joining the grid on a full-time basis in 2025: Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes, Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber, Jack Doohan at Alpine, Oliver Bearman at Haas, Isack Hadjar at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team, and Liam Lawson, who earned a promotion to Red Bull after two super-sub stints at VCARB.
Young drivers getting full-time seats is great for the sport, but it might make for some chaotic moments as they all acclimate to life on the F1 grid.
Can Red Bull rebound?
2024 was a season of disappointment, and turmoil, for Red Bull.
The year began with allegations of misconduct levied at Team Principal Christian Horner, and rumors of a power struggle at Milton Keynes.
The year ended with Red Bull mired in third place, behind McLaren and Ferrari. While Max Verstappen managed to secure his fourth straight Drivers’ Championship — more on him in a moment — a difficult season for Sergio Pérez brought his Red Bull tenure to an end, as Liam Lawson will take over alongside Verstappen in 2025.
Pérez is not the only key departure from the team, as other key figures such as Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley have left for other opportunities within the sport. Certainly Red Bull has several talented individuals within the team who may thrive with greater responsibilities, including Principal Strategy Engineer Hannah Schmitz, but can they rebound from a difficult 2024 and work their way back up the standings in 2025, or has the rest of the grid — as well as the cost cap — perhaps caught up with them?
New faces, new places
The incoming rookies are not the only new faces in new places this season. The 2024 driver transfer market was one for the ages.
Some veteran drivers have found a new home for 2025. Esteban Ocon is headed to Haas after driving for Alpine, Nico Hülkenberg is leaving Haas to join Sauber ahead of that team becoming the Audi works operation in 2026, and Carlos Sainz Jr. joins Williams after spending the past few seasons at Ferrari.
Of course, who is taking his seat at Ferrari is another face in a new place, but one worthy of a category all his own.
But seeing these drivers acclimate to their new teams is another big storyline to follow in 2025.
Has McLaren learned everything they need?
2024 was a season of learning for McLaren.
What they learned was enough to crown them Constructors’ Champions.
Along the way, however, McLaren also learned how tough it can be to balance what CEO Zak Brown himself calls the best driver pairing on the grid. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are two supremely talented drivers, both of whom are young, hungry, and fast.
That led to some tense moments throughout the season, perhaps exemplified by Piastri’s first Grand Prix win, coming at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The duo locked out the front row in qualifying, with Norris starting in pole position. But he lost the lead after the start to his teammate, and only regained the lead late in the race thanks to an early pit stop that allowed him to undercut Piastri.
As Norris led the race in the closing stages, the team through race engineer Will Joseph instructed him to swap positions with Piastri, who was in second. As this was playing out, fans all over the world, as well as the commentators on F1TV, wondered if McLaren was handling this the right way.
And thousands of “Papaya Rules” memes were born.
Ultimately, McLaren secured the Constructors’ title, which the team stated throughout the year was their main goal. But as Norris came across the line with his win at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to end the year — and secure the title — he made it clear that his eyes are on a Drivers’ Championship in 2025.
Is McLaren ready for what lies ahead?
Has Lando Norris?
In my years of speaking with professional athletes I have come across many I would qualify as introspective.
Lando Norris might be at the top of that list.
One of my lasting memories of the 2024 F1 season was hearing from Norris after the United States Grand Prix, when he was hit with a five-second penalty in the closing laps in Austin for overtaking Max Verstappen off the track. The penalty came after another hard battle between the two drivers, and it dropped Norris into fourth place behind Verstappen, as the McLaren driver tried to inch closer to his Red Bull rival in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
Meeting with the media, including SB Nation, following the race Norris spoke at length about what it takes to race — and win — against Verstappen. “The thing is with Max you’ve got to commit, but people don’t understand that kind of thing. With Max, you can’t just go half-hearted,” said Norris in Austin.“I think Max drove very well. It’s very hard to do what we’re doing.
“I respect the battle that we had. It was a good one, it was enjoyable, I think it was respectful.”
You could see in his eyes, and in his face, the realization of just what it takes to best Verstappen.
It takes near perfection.
Ultimately, Norris could not catch Verstappen, and the McLaren driver settled for second in the Drivers’ Championship behind him.
Has he learned enough from 2024 to overtake Verstappen in 2025?
Alpine ascendant?
When the 2024 F1 season began, things were tough over at Alpine.
The A524, their challenger for the 2024 campaign, had come in overweight and as a result, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were at the back of the field at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Problems lingered as the season wore on. Alpine did not score their first points until the Miami Grand Prix, when Ocon finished tenth. But at the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks later, an opening-lap collision between the pair knocked Ocon out of the race, on a day when Gasly started tenth and Ocon 11th, giving the team another good chance at points.
That incident sparked rumors that Ocon would be replaced for what many considered an unnecessary attempt on the opening lap, and while that did not materialize, Ocon would later announce he was leaving the team for Haas in 2025.
More changes would come, as Bruno Famin stepped away from duties as Team Principal for another position with the organization, and Oliver Oakes joined during the summer shutdown to take over in that role.
Alpine arrived in Austin for the United States Grand Prix mired in ninth in the Constructors’ Championship standings, but with an upgrade package for the A524.
Suddenly, things began to turn around. Gasly advanced to Q3 at the United States Grand Prix, showing signs of improved pace. He then scored a point in Mexico at the Mexico City Grand Prix as that improved pace continued.
Then came the stunning weekend for Alpine in Brazil, at the São Paulo Grand Prix. Gasly finished seventh in the F1 Sprint Race in São Paulo, adding two more points to the team’s tally. Then in the rain in the Grand Prix Alpine delivered a magical double podium, with Ocon finishing second and Gasly third. They left Brazil with 35 more points in their account, now sitting sixth in the Constructors’ Championship standings.
They would stay there, thanks to a fifth-place finish from Gasly in Qatar, and a seventh-place finish in Abu Dhabi to close out the year.
Even with their dramatic rise, there were still tensions to end the campaign. Ocon was released from his contract ahead of the season finale, which while allowing him to drive for Haas in the post-season testing session was not the end many expected, including Ocon who had a special crash helmet designed for his final race with the team. Jack Doohan drove in his place, gaining valuable experience ahead of his first full-time season with the team in 2025.
Despite that, the arrow is pointing up for Alpine as 2025 begins. Can they maintain this trendline in the season ahead?
Whither Aston Martin?
Aston Martin was the story of the early 2023 season, as they roared out of the starting grid and put Red Bull under pressure to start the year.
However, that incredible start soon faded, as they slowly tumbled down the standings, ultimately finishing fifth behind McLaren.
They finished fifth again in 2024, but while they recorded a whopping 280 points in the 2023 campaign, they were truly stuck in the middle of the pack in 2024. Aston Martin banked just 94 points on the year, 29 points ahead of sixth-place Alpine, but 374 points adrift of third-place Mercedes.
But help is on the way, in the form of the greatest engineer in the sport’s history.
Adrian Newey shocked the F1 world in May, announcing that he was leaving Red Bull completely following 2024, and stepping away from his F1 duties with immediate effect.
After weeks of speculation, Aston Martin announced that Newey was joining the team in early 2025 as a shareholder and Managing Technical Partner.
That will mean that Newey will not be able to provide input on the AMR25 ahead of the season, but will be able to help the team with some mid-season development, an issue that has plagued Aston Martin the past two seasons.
And, this also means that Newey will have his fingerprints all over the AMR26, Aston Martin’s challenger for the 2026 season when new F1 regulations go into effect.
Can Max Verstappen top his 2024 campaign?
Max Verstappen has delivered some incredible seasons before.
But there is a strong case to be made that his 2024 campaign was his best yet.
While Verstappen was nowhere near as dominant as he was in 2023 — when he alone outscored every other team on the grid — his drive to a fourth Drivers’ Championship pushed him nearly to the brink.
Yet he did everything he needed to do to secure a title, as only champions can.
Unlike the RB19, Red Bull’s 2023 challenger, the RB20 was not the dominant package on the grid. On some race weekends, Verstappen was driving the third- or fourth-fastest car on the grid. But he maximized every race weekend, and by the time the checkered flag flew in Abu Dhabi to bring the curtain down on the year Verstappen had won nine grands prix, and finished in the points in all but one of them: The Australian Grand Prix when a brake duct failure forced an early retirement.
F1, like many sports, can be fickle when it comes to sustained success. Underdogs and up-and-comers are praised at first, but when they turn into dynasties or repeat winners fans begin to look for the next underdog to root for. NFL fans might think of the New England Patriots, who quickly transformed from plucky upstarts into football’s version of the Empire, led by a head coach who reminded many of Darth Vader himself, down to the hoodie he would wear on the sidelines.
Verstappen’s own transformation from an upstart young driver into a four-time champion has led some to grow weary of his success. But 2024 showed that when pushed to the limit, he can still find a way to deliver.
It might have been his best season yet.
Can he top it in 2025?
The final year of the current regulations
As a reminder, 2025 is the final season under F1’s current set of technical regulations. One of the most fascinating aspects of the sport is that F1 constantly changes the regulations, pushing teams, engineers, and drivers to adapt.
The last time that F1 changed their technical regulations? That came back in 2022. However, while the final regulations have yet to be finalized, the working regulations proposed by the FIA include some massive changes, including active aerodynamics, lighter cars, an even split between an internal combustion engine and electric power, and the use of 100% sustainable fuels. This is going to be a wide-ranging shift from the current regulations.
Many teams will have their eyes set on 2026 when it comes to development, hoping to begin the year on the front foot. Development of their 2025 challengers, and in particular mid-season development, may pay a price. It is a difficult act for the teams to balance, as Alpine Team Principal Oliver Oakes explained to me in Austin.
“It’s really tough because you’re compromising all the time and you can’t make everyone happy with what they want,” said Oakes when asked by SB Nation about balancing improving the car for the rest of the 2024 season, getting ready for 2025, and looking ahead to 2026. “I think everybody wants everything today, but that’s not reality in F1
“I think actually, for us as a team, we had a pretty tricky start to the season and we’re sort of playing a little bit of catch-up. But nobody ever stops in F1.
“So unfortunately, I dare say we brought an upgrade this weekend, it’s helped us to sort of move forward a little bit, but everybody’s brought upgrades, and then you kind of go, ‘[o]h, how big was our step?’ So you’re always kind of playing that sort of battle, I guess, to keep improving,” said Oakes.
“And then you go into the winter, you know, we’ve got it at the moment, where how much effort do you put into the beginning of 2025? Because the new rules come out in January and you kind of go, well, we want to make a really good car to start 2025,” added Oakes. “But actually, we know 2026 is the most important thing for the team.
“It is a real good challenge because, actually, you’ve got to be really smart, strategic, and some of it is a little bit of, I wouldn’t say luck, but if you make the right steps and they pay off, you’ve kind of got more breathing room to go and focus on the longer-term stuff.”
How the teams balance those dual needs — or fail to balance them — could make for another thrilling campaign.
Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari
We have already addressed some of the faces we will see in new environments next season, but one move rocked the sport at the start of 2024 and will take some serious getting used to.
Seeing Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari red.
But those images will soon be headed our way, as Hamilton begins his first year driving for the legendary Italian outfit. Those images will harken to the great quote from former champion Sebastian Vettel:
“Everyone is a Ferrari fan. Even if they say they’re not, they are Ferrari fans.”
In his final season at Mercedes, Hamilton delivered a pair of victories, including an emotional win at Silverstone in his final British Grand Prix with a three-pointed star on the side of his race car. The pace and the racecraft are still there, and the hunger is still there for one more championship.
But seeing him in Ferrari red will take some getting used to.
