Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain in action during a Formula One preseason test on Feb 28. AP
The 2025 Formula One season has all the makings of a white-knuckle 24-race celebration to mark 75 years since the inaugural seven-race championship back in 1950.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen appears to have his work cut out to seal a fifth straight title, with Lando Norris poised to knock the Dutchman off his perch. Hamilton's move from Mercedes to Ferrari is just one of numerous intriguing subplots in a season that gets underway in Australia on Sunday, with six rookies gracing the grid.
Here's a look at five talking points before lights go out in Melbourne.
Can Max make it five?
Seventy-five years after Giuseppe Farina claimed the first F1 world championship at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo, Verstappen embarks on the 2025 season in pursuit of a fifth successive title, a feat only achieved once before, by Michael Schumacher. If he succeeds, it will cement the Dutchman's place as a titan of the sport. He hoovered up seven of the first 10 races in his rampaging Red Bull last year, before a 10-race winless run, as McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari ran riot. But, Verstappen had the last word, fighting back to win in Brazil and clinch title No 4 in Las Vegas with two races to spare.
McLaren prised the constructors' championship away from Red Bull to seal its long road back to the F1 summit. The tough task facing Verstappen is underlined by the betting, which has him as only second favorite behind Norris (who ended 2024 63 points adrift of the Dutchman) for the 2025 crown, with Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Hamilton leading the rest of the pack.
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton waves to fans after testing the new Ferrari SF-25 on Feb 19. AP
Rookie class of 2025
An Italian teenager who only passed his driving test in January is among the six-strong cohort of rookies for the 2025 season. Kimi Antonelli, an exciting 18-year-old who uses a nickname derived from his uncle's love for Ferrari's last world champion, Finn Kimi Raikkonen, takes Hamilton's seat alongside George Russell at Mercedes.
"I really want to make my own story "insists last year's multiple Formula 2 winner, brushing off suggestions he is the seven-time world champion's "replacement" at the Silver Arrows. Kiwi Liam Lawson, a 'veteran' of 11 Grands Prix already, makes his fully fledged debut as Verstappen's new wingman at Red Bull. Ferrari's British academy driver Ollie Bearman was thrown into the F1 deep end when he was called up as a last minute replacement for appendicitis victim Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Grand Prix last year, becoming the youngest ever driver to compete for the Scuderia. He seized his chance, holding off Hamilton and Norris to finish seventh. He joins Ferrari-powered Haas.
Brazil has a presence on the grid for the first time in five years in F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber. Aussie Jack Doohan will be hoping to enjoy even a small slice of his MotoGP star dad Mick's success on two-wheels, as he graduates from reserve driver to become Pierre Gasly's teammate at Alpine. Last, but not least, is Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar, the 20-year-old Algerian-French who narrowly missed out to Bortoleto for the F2 title.
FIA vs the drivers
In the volatile, high-octane bubble that is F1, one thing seems assured in 2025: renewed tension between the governing body and the drivers. Notably over the FIA's crack down on swearing. Verstappen and Leclerc fell foul of the rules in 2024 for turning the air blue at news conferences. The guidelines were strengthened in January, triggering an indignant response from drivers, who took a swipe at FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
"We urge the FIA president to also consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them, whether in a public forum or otherwise," they wrote, adding: "As adults, they do not need to be given instructions, via the media, about matters as trivial as the wearing of jewelry or underpants."
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands in action during a Formula One preseason test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on Feb 28. AP
From Australia to Abu Dhabi
Australia hosts the first of the 24 races this weekend, with Bahrain moved to April as Ramadan runs throughout March. The six sprints of the 2025 season are in Shanghai, Miami, Spa-Francorchamps, Austin, Sao Paulo and Doha. The FIA, in a bid to liven up the jewel in the calendar — Monaco — where overtaking is nigh-on impossible, is imposing a mandatory two-pit stop strategy for the teams. With the traditional three-week summer break in August, the F1 circus pitches up in Abu Dhabi for its final show on Dec 7. "This will be a special year as we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and it's that legacy and experience that allows us to deliver such a strong calendar," said F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
Testing times
Even celebrated codebreaker Alan Turing would have a hard job deciphering the times from three days of preseason testing in Bahrain last month. With fuel loads unknown, and team setups kept under wraps, it was hard, if not impossible, to pinpoint the winners and losers.
Russell's Mercedes was top of the pile on the last day, with Sainz's Williams topping the times on the middle day and Norris' McLaren taking the first day honors.
Ferrari was bang in the thick of it, and Verstappen will have been pleased with his final-day showing.
One thing seems certain — the bulk of the teams look closely matched, prompting McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown to predict: "I can see it being super competitive. Last year four teams won multiple races, this year, I could see that being even more. I'm more excited than nervous."
AFP
