The 2025 F1 season gets underway this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix. Here is what to look for
When the lights go out Sunday in Melbourne to start the Australian Grand Prix, the Formula 1 season will begin in earnest. The grid will look vastly different from a year ago, with several new faces in new places.
However, none of those changes are bigger than Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari.
Hamilton’s stunning decision to leave Mercedes at the end of the 2024 campaign to drive for Ferrari sent shockwaves through the sporting world. However, a subplot to that decision was the question: Could Hamilton win again? After all when the living legend made the announcement, he had not won a race since the 2021 season, and his epic battle with Max Verstappen that went down to the final corners of the campaign.
Now, Hamilton moves to Ferrari having won a pair of races a season ago — his emotional win at the British Grand Prix and a victory at Spa after then-teammate George Russell was disqualified after failing a post-race inspection. He’s shown he can win again and joins a team that lost out on the Constructors’ Championship by just 14 points a season ago.
There are several storylines as the F1 season opens, but perhaps none bigger than Hamilton in red.
New faces in new places
Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images
Hamilton’s decision kicked the 2024 driver transfer market into high gear and immediately made Carlos Sainz Jr., who would be losing his seat at Ferrari to Hamilton, the most intriguing free agent available. When the music stopped on this wild game of driver musical chairs, Sainz had landed at Williams.
But he was not the only veteran driver to find a new team last season. Esteban Ocon’s time at Alpine drew to a close, and he landed at Haas for the 2025 campaign. That spot became available when veteran driver Nico Hülkenberg decided to leave the team and join Sauber for the 2025 season, ahead of the team becoming the Audi works outfit in 2026.
Then there is Liam Lawson, who after two seasons as a super-sub at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls has earned a full-time seat and a promotion.
To one of the hardest jobs in F1: The Red Bull second seat. He’ll be compared to Max Verstappen all season long, which is never a comfortable place.
The rookie class of 2025
Beyond the veterans in new places, several rookies are joining the grid, in addition to Lawson earning a full-time spot.
Lawson’s move to Red Bull opened up a spot at VCARB alongside Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar, who finished second in the F2 Drivers’ Championship in 2024 and earned that spot. The driver who finished ahead of Hadjar in the standings, Gabriel Bortoleto, also earned a promotion and will be Hülkenberg’s teammate at Sauber.
Similar to Lawson another super-sub, Oliver Bearman, earned a spot on the grid. He made his F1 debut on an emergency basis, stepping in for Sainz in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when the veteran driver needed an appendectomy. Bearman finished a stunning seventh in that race, drawing praise from around the paddock. He also filled in for Kevin Magnussen twice last season — once due to illness and the other time due to a penalty ban — and scored points for Haas at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Over at Alpine Jack Doohan earned a promotion as well, moving into a spot alongside Pierre Gasly after serving as a reserve driver for the team. Doohan’s status with the team remains a flashpoint, given Alpine’s decision to add Franco Colapinto as a reserve driver in recent weeks. But Team Principal Oliver Oakes has brushed aside continued questions over Doohan’s status, and the young driver is set to kick off his first full season in F1 at his home race.
Then there is the young phenom tasked with filling Hamilton’s shoes at Mercedes. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who turned 18 last August and recently passed his road driving test to secure a driving license in Italy, joins the grid alongside George Hamilton with the Silver Arrows.
In recent days fans have wondered how these rookies will adapt to life in F1, and we’ll get our first look this weekend in Melbourne.
An eye on the weather in Melbourne
Could the weather spoil the season opener?
Currently, forecasts are calling for rain and “breezy” conditions on Sunday, just in time for the Australian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, who begins the year seeking his fifth consecutive Drivers’ Championship, spoke about the possibility of weather already in Melbourne. “The weather seems like it’s a bit all over the place every single day,” said the Red Bull driver in Melbourne. “We’re going to experience quite a bit of heat and then a bit of rain, probably.”
Rain would certainly add a layer of chaos to the proceedings in Melbourne.
McLaren begins their title defense
Midway through the 2024 F1 season, one thing was clear.
The MCL39, McLaren’s challenger, was fast.
McLaren rode that — and the driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri — to their first Constructors’ Championship since the 1998 season.
Norris and Piastri are back and will be in papaya for years to come thanks to the contract extension the team, announced for Piastri on Tuesday.
Can McLaren defend their title, or will a competitor emerge in Australia?
Verstappen versus Norris versus Leclerc versus ???
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Coming out of pre-season testing word from Red Bull was that they still have some work to do with the RB21, and Max Verstappen himself admitted that he and Red Bull will not be the favorites in Melbourne.
But the Australian Grand Prix is the first race of a 24-stop marathon, and Verstappen is the defending Drivers’ Champion for a reason. Even with last year’s RB20, which frustrated him and Red Bull to no end, Verstappen found a way to fend off Lando Norris and the rest of the grid en route to his fourth title.
Norris may be the favorite heading into the year, and other challengers such as Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and more may emerge. But Verstappen showed last year what he can do — and what he is willing to do — to win.
One can never count him out.
The midfield battle
The teams expected to be at the sharp end of the pecking order — McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull — will draw the bulk of attention this season. But a fascinating fight is shaping up in the midfield with a few different contenders in the mix. Alpine’s tremendous finish to the 2024 season saw them rise to sixth in the standings, and there is genuine excitement about their trajectory. Haas took a big step forward in 2024, having solved their tire degradation woes from 2023, but how will their new driver lineup fare? While Williams was the surprise team in 2023, they took a step back a year ago, but the addition of Carlos Sainz Jr. could offer immediate benefits.
Then there is Aston Martin, who were the surprise package to begin 2023 before fading down the stretch. They were truly stuck in the middle a year ago, finishing a distant fifth behind Mercedes. Can they bounce back, and how quickly will Adrian Newey’s addition pay dividends?
