The Christmas slumber is over and the world of Formula 1 is wide awake once more. Teams, drivers and fans alike are counting down to 16 March when the lights go out in Melbourne. It feels like anticipation for the 2025 season is at fever pitch, similar to the 2022 season, the result of that title battle the year before.
New regulations in 2022 meant the hoped for battle never materialised (Red Bull won all but five of the 22 races), but this time around it’s the stability in the rules that’s giving four teams real reason to think this could be their year. And that’s never happened before.
It’s been a bizarre 18 months in the driver market. A year ago every team started the new season with the same drivers they’d finished the last, and there wasn’t a single rookie on the grid. That was a first. Now, eight of the 10 teams have new driver pairings with several rookies joining the fray. Formula 1 itself will be celebrating its 75th birthday with a launch event in London in February where all 10 teams will present their new cars on the same day for the first time. But let’s be honest – nine of those are going to struggle to get any coverage at all in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton’s first public appearance as a Ferrari driver.
