A new home for Lewis Hamilton and can anyone stop Max Verstappen: everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 season
After one of the most intriguing offseasons in recent memory, Formula One racing is back.
The season begins on Sunday in Australia with changes aplenty, but the dominance of defending champion Max Verstappen still looms large over the grid.
Here's everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 season.
The new season begins in Australia for the first time since 2019 and will conclude in Abu Dhabi in December.
The schedule remains at 24 races – the most ever in a single F1 season – with the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix pushed back in the calendar during Ramadan.
Fans in the US can watch all the action on ESPN, while Sky Sports broadcasts races for viewers in the UK.
To see a full list of the F1's broadcasters, click here.
As is commonplace between F1 seasons, there have been plenty of driver changes. The most headline-grabbing move has been seven-time world drivers' champion Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes and joining Ferrari.
Hamilton shocked the sport last year when it was announced he would be joining the Italian outfit this season, replacing Carlos Sainz and ending his 12 successful years at Mercedes.
The 40-year-old will now join Charles Leclerc in wearing the famous red of Ferrari as the team looks for its first drivers' world title since 2007.
Hamilton has become one of F1's biggest names since making his debut in 2007 and his arrival at Maranello was met with the appropriate fanfare.
The Brit's photo on his first official day at Ferrari has become the most liked F1 Instagram post of all-time. He posed for a series of photos dressed in a black suit next to a Ferrari F40 supercar with the iconic converted farmhouse of the team's founder, Enzo Ferrari, in the background.
Hamilton told CNN Sports ahead of the new season that the switch of teams was the 'challenge that I really needed' to reinvigorate his driving career.
'When I was making the decision, I knew it would be big. Did I know just how big? 'How long is a piece of string?'' he said. 'It's been the most exciting couple of months that I can remember having.
'It's been a big, big step and exciting … Every day's been something completely new and the challenge that I'm having is something that I really needed. I know I'm exactly where I'm meant to be right this moment.'
Fans in Australia will have the first opportunity to see Hamilton competitively race in the Ferrari red as he and Leclerc look to restore the team back to the top of the F1 perch.
And on the eve of the opening race in Australia, Hamilton expressed his excitement to get going, saying his emotions mirror those he felt ahead of his rookie season almost 20 years ago.
'I think just, always through the years, the pressure that I've put on myself has always been 10 times higher than any other pressure that can be put upon me,' he told reporters on Thursday at the driver's press conference ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. 'I've not joined this team and been made to feel any pressure.
'I have an expectation for myself, I know what I can bring, I know what I can deliver, and I know what it's going to take to do that. It's just getting your head down and working away. I come with a very open mind coming into this weekend.
'It's (also) a different way of working… the whole team works completely differently. You're looking at things from a different perspective, which makes it exciting and challenging. This is definitely the most exciting period of my life, so I'm really just enjoying it.'
If Hamilton and Leclerc are to challenge for the world title, they will have to supplant Verstappen from the top.
The Dutch driver is the four-time reigning drivers' world champion and is aiming for his fifth successive title in 2025.
Although Verstappen and Red Bull are the team to beat at the moment, their start to 2025 hasn't been smooth sailing.
The Dutchman finished second fastest during preseason testing in Bahrain, but admitted Red Bull has 'still a bit of work to do' to reach the heights the team has set recently.
Verstappen's teammate last year, Sergio Pérez, has been replaced by Liam Lawson this season, with the New Zealand driver set to make his full-time F1 debut in 2025.
In the drizzly conditions in Bahrain, Lawson said he was fighting 'a few teething gremlins' with his car as he sought to adjust to life alongside Verstappen.
Despite eventually coming away with the drivers' championship, the whole Red Bull team endured a controversial 2024 season in large part due to accusations of inappropriate behavior leveled against team principal Christian Horner.
Horner was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and repeatedly denied the allegations. But at F1's London car launch in March, Horner and Verstappen were booed by the fans in attendance.
The topic has featured on the latest 'Drive to Survive' Netflix documentary, which released earlier this month, though Red Bull will be hoping they can let the driving do the talking once the season gets underway.
One team which is looking to improve on an impressive 2024 is McLaren.
The Woking-based team won the constructors' championship last year and have two of the most promising drivers donning the famous orange outfits in Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Both were two of the fastest in preseason testing in Bahrain and the general positive feeling around the team has led to many predicting an improvement this year from McLaren.
Mercedes driver George Russell said the McLaren car looked 'by far the strongest' in Bahrain, while Norris himself admitted that the team has 'no excuses' in its chase for both championships in 2025.
'I think this year we've got nothing left to hide behind,' Norris – who finished second behind Verstappen in the drivers' championship standings – said in February. 'We proved last year that we've got everything we need and everything it takes to fight at the top and be the best.
'If we're not at the beginning of the season then we're just not good enough, but that's certainly not how we're thinking of things. I think we both, as drivers, proved a lot last year in ourselves and in each other of what we're capable of doing. When we do have a car that's capable of fighting for wins and championships, we're able to maximize it.
'We'd both say we're ready, and excited for the challenge. We've got the whole team behind us. … We're quietly confident.'
Outside of Hamilton's blockbuster move and Lawson slotting in at Red Bull, there will be lots of other drivers wearing different colors in 2025.
Sainz, after being replaced by Hamilton at Ferrari, moved to Williams, and the spot at Mercedes vacated by Hamilton was filled by 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Elsewhere, both Haas and Sauber have two new drivers: Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman now take the wheel at Haas, while Sauber's cars will be driven by Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg.
Jack Doohan and Isack Hadjar are two of the five full-time debutants in 2025, joining Alpine and Racing Bulls respectively.
Before the 2024 season, there was a dramatic overhaul in the F1 regulations. And while there haven't been as many significant changes this time around, there have been some slight tweaks to try to make it a more engaging proposition.
One of the main changes is the removal of the point earned for the driver who sets the fastest lap time.
Previously, a driver who finished in the top 10 could earn an additional point by setting the fastest lap of the race. Although it could lead to late drama with drivers often pushing near the end of a race to decrease their lap time, it also resulted in drivers outside the top 10 getting the accolade despite being not being able to get any points for it.
As a result, organizers have decided to scrap the fastest lap time point while the rest of the scoring system remains unchanged.
F1 is also increasing its commitment to bringing through the next generation of drivers by doubling the amount of time on the track allowed for rookies.
Since 2022, drivers who have participated in no more than two F1 races in their careers have been able to drive each of a team's two cars during the first practice of a race weekend – once in each of their cars, so twice in a full season.
But from this season, those drivers can now drive each car twice, meaning the available time on track for rookies doubles to four and provides them invaluable time at the top level.
For a full list of the major changes implemented in 2025, click here.
Australian Grand Prix – March 16
Chinese Grand Prix – March 23
Japanese Grand Prix – April 6
Bahrain Grand Prix – April 13
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – April 20
Miami Grand Prix – May 4
Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – May 18
Monaco Grand Prix – May 25
Spanish Grand Prix – June 1
Canadian Grand Prix – June 15
Austrian Grand Prix – June 29
British Grand Prix – July 6
Belgian Grand Prix – July 27
Hungarian Grand Prix – August 3
Dutch Grand Prix – August 31
Italian Grand Prix – September 7
Azerbaijan Grand Prix – September 21
Singapore Grand Prix – October 5
United States Grand Prix – October 19
Mexico Grand Prix – October 26
Brazil Grand Prix – November 9
Las Vegas Grand Prix – November 22
Qatar Grand Prix – November 30
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – December 7
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Denny Hamlin wins Michigan, taunts crowd while awaiting third child
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Denny Hamlin could feel nerves during the race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. His fiancée, Jordan Fish, was six days past due with their third child and Hamlin and his team had decided if they got past Lap 50 of the 200-lap race, he wouldn't be told if she went into labor. Things worked out for Hamlin. He won at Michigan and 90 minutes after the race, was still at the track doing media. He talked about why he needs to be at the birth, baby names … and fierce taunts of the crowd in Michigan. That's Hamlin, living amid chaos and then creating even more for himself. "I don't want to be so ho-hum with winning that it's boring because then I lose my drive," Hamlin said. Hamlin, who has a group of friends who are Ohio State fans, gave the "O" sign to the Michigan crowd and resurrected his line that he told his father he wouldn't use anymore as he crowed to the crowd: "I beat your favorite driver." The boos reigned and Hamlin chuckled. "I do thrive on it just simply because you feel like you've got 60,000 people that are rooting against you," Hamlin said. "When you have that, it just feels really, really good and gratifying to prove them wrong. "I love that feeling." Hamlin had spent Saturday night in Michigan as Fish had not had any labor symptoms. Fish posted an Instagram story late in the race that she was at home. "I felt decent enough about it," Hamlin said. "We had to set some sort of cutoff of whether I was going to finish or not. "So I was very nervous last night and then this morning to getting the call because I knew I had a race-winning car after yesterday." Hamlin is known to run well, even with outside distractions. And he has the additional drama of the race team he owns (but doesn't drive for) 23XI Racing embroiled in a lawsuit against NASCAR. Earlier in the week, the team was dealt a blow in the U.S Court of Appeals and faces the prospect of the 23XI Racing cars not being chartered in a few weeks. It seems that he has been able to focus when he's at the track since that lawsuit was filed last October. The worries about missing the birth of his child, though, seemed to weigh on him more. With JGR simulator driver Ryan Truex at the track, in case he needed to leave, Hamlin knew the team was prepared for him to leave if Fish went into labor. He knew he had a strong car and had a good feeling about the race. Granted, Hamlin didn't have the fastest car. Chris Buescher probably did, but his car wiggled as he tried to run down the leaders late in the race. This cost him valuable momentum and he ended up coming across the line a second after Hamlin. \ William Byron had a strong car, but like many others, he had to save gas near the end, relinquishing the lead with less than four laps to go and then running out with a little over a lap remaining. Hamlin's team made sure he had enough fuel on the final stop to be on the attack at the end. And he executed flawlessly to the finish. And his wife was still at home, posting on Instagram near the end of the race. "I was a little nervous just because we put the Lap 50 cutoff," Hamlin said. "If it happens before Lap 50, I just go ahead and get out, just because of the time. "If it was after, I thought that by the time she gets her s--- together and gets to the hospital, all that stuff? You just never how it all turns out. But I think I can make it, as long as I had a three-hour window." It marked the third win of the year for Hamlin and his 57th career victory in his 701st start. Now it's on to Mexico City, and Hamlin indicated he would be willing to stay home if Fish has not given birth by the weekend. Obviously, it is a much longer flight from there than it would have been from Michigan to his North Carolina home. NASCAR would grant Hamlin a waiver to miss a race and consider it for medical reasons, meaning he would still make the playoffs and get to keep playoff points earned during the season. "It's the bigger picture. You never know when you'll ever have another one," Hamlin said about wanting to be home for the birth of the child. "You may not. I've been really supportive of her, the way that she wants to have this play out, which is as natural as possible. "Everyone asks, 'Why don't you just schedule, schedule, schedule?' I don't know. You've just got to let her decide in these situations. If it causes me to miss a race, it's one of 701 races that I missed and it's just not that big of a deal." His team owner, Heather Gibbs, when asked earlier about whether she was nervous for Hamlin, quipped: "It's funny, because I have four [children]. They [husbands] don't really do anything. When he gets home, he'll be home. It was good." Hamlin's response: "Well, that is true. I've been in the room before, and she needs something really hard to grab onto, and my hand is perfect for it. I'm definitely going to be there this week — hopefully — to hold her hand." The same could have been said for the way Hamlin grabbed the lead just when he needed to and held on for the victory. "He kind of thrives in chaos, right?" Heather Gibbs said. "It was true, we wanted to get him in the car. ... He's as cool as they come, that's for sure." Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
After a flawless fortnight in Paris, Sinner's eye-catching run at French Open ends in heartbreak
PARIS (AP) — After a flawless fortnight in Paris, Jannik Sinner was on the brink of capturing his first French Open title on Sunday after a dominant run on the clay courts of Roland-Garros. Facing defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, the top-ranked Italian was firmly in control. Sinner's deep groundstrokes, excellent service, heavy top spin, and subtle variations had worn down Alcaraz, who found himself 5-3 down and trailing 0-40 in the fourth set, and facing three match points. At that moment, it felt like the best of all possible worlds for the 23-year-old Sinner. But then the momentum swung. Alcaraz fought back, saved the first match point when Sinner sent a forehand long. On the second, Sinner missed a return. The third ended with Alcaraz winning a short baseline exchange. Sinner had just let his chance slip away. From there, Alcaraz produced one of the greatest comeback in Roland-Garros history to win the longest final ever played on the Parisian dirt — 5 hours and 29 minutes — 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2). 'It's an amazing trophy, so I won't sleep tonight very well, but it's okay,' Sinner said during the trophy ceremony. Exciting rivalry There is hardly anything between the two best players in tennis at the moment, who have now combined to win the last six Grand Slam titles and appear poised to build one of the sport's most compelling rivalries in the years ahead. Sunday's duel delivered a match of rare intensity, filled with punishing baseline rallies, exquisite drop shots, and brilliant passing shots — thrilling a packed Court Philippe-Chatrier. 'This one hurts' 'Obviously, this one hurts,' he said. 'There's not so much to say right now. But again, I'm happy with how we're trying to improve every day and put myself in these kinds of positions. It was a very high-level match, that's for sure. I'm happy to be part of it. But yeah, the final result hurts.' It was a particularly tough ending for Sinner, who had not dropped a set on his way to the final, including a dominant semifinal win over three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic. Before facing Alcaraz, Sinner had never lost a Grand Slam final, winning his first three. A victory would have made him just the fifth man in the Open Era to win three consecutive major titles. 'I'm pretty sure you are going to be a champion, not once but many, many times,' Alcaraz told him during the trophy ceremony. 'It is a privilege to share the court with you in every tournament, making history with you.' 'Now it's my time to take something from the close people I have,' he said. 'As I've always said, before my career started, I never would've imagined finding myself in this position. It wasn't even a dream because it felt so far away — I wasn't even thinking about it. Now I find myself here, playing the longest final in the history of Roland-Garros. It hurts, yes, but on the other hand, you can't go on crying.' ___
Fox Sports
3 hours ago
- Fox Sports
After a flawless fortnight in Paris, Sinner's eye-catching run at French Open ends in heartbreak
Associated Press PARIS (AP) — After a flawless fortnight in Paris, Jannik Sinner was on the brink of capturing his first French Open title on Sunday after a dominant run on the clay courts of Roland-Garros. Facing defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, the top-ranked Italian was firmly in control. Sinner's deep groundstrokes, excellent service, heavy top spin, and subtle variations had worn down Alcaraz, who found himself 5-3 down and trailing 0-40 in the fourth set, and facing three match points. At that moment, it felt like the best of all possible worlds for the 23-year-old Sinner. But then the momentum swung. Alcaraz fought back, saved the first match point when Sinner sent a forehand long. On the second, Sinner missed a return. The third ended with Alcaraz winning a short baseline exchange. Sinner had just let his chance slip away. From there, Alcaraz produced one of the greatest comeback in Roland-Garros history to win the longest final ever played on the Parisian dirt — 5 hours and 29 minutes — 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (10-2). 'It's an amazing trophy, so I won't sleep tonight very well, but it's okay,' Sinner said during the trophy ceremony. Exciting rivalry There is hardly anything between the two best players in tennis at the moment, who have now combined to win the last six Grand Slam titles and appear poised to build one of the sport's most compelling rivalries in the years ahead. Sunday's duel delivered a match of rare intensity, filled with punishing baseline rallies, exquisite drop shots, and brilliant passing shots — thrilling a packed Court Philippe-Chatrier. 'This one hurts' Reflecting on the match in his post-final press conference, Sinner tried to draw positives from a devastating loss. 'Obviously, this one hurts,' he said. 'There's not so much to say right now. But again, I'm happy with how we're trying to improve every day and put myself in these kinds of positions. It was a very high-level match, that's for sure. I'm happy to be part of it. But yeah, the final result hurts.' It was a particularly tough ending for Sinner, who had not dropped a set on his way to the final, including a dominant semifinal win over three-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic. Before facing Alcaraz, Sinner had never lost a Grand Slam final, winning his first three. A victory would have made him just the fifth man in the Open Era to win three consecutive major titles. 'I'm pretty sure you are going to be a champion, not once but many, many times,' Alcaraz told him during the trophy ceremony. 'It is a privilege to share the court with you in every tournament, making history with you.' Sinner, who will remain world No. 1, said he'll lean on his family and loved ones to recover from the loss. 'Now it's my time to take something from the close people I have,' he said. 'As I've always said, before my career started, I never would've imagined finding myself in this position. It wasn't even a dream because it felt so far away — I wasn't even thinking about it. Now I find myself here, playing the longest final in the history of Roland-Garros. It hurts, yes, but on the other hand, you can't go on crying.' ___ AP tennis: in this topic
