F1 2025: The best season in years?

Four teams in contention

In the fourth and final year of this ruleset before the F1 technical regulations change again in 2026, a natural convergence of performance is expected to carry over from what turned out to be a thrilling second half of last season. McLaren’s charge to the Constructors’ Title after a slow start, chased hard by Ferrari to the final round, combined with Red Bull’s drop-off and inconsistency from a part-rejuvenated Mercedes, created a pleasing sense of unpredictability as the 2024 season counted down. There’s no reason why that shouldn’t also be the case this time, and straight from the off.

McLaren starts as favourite

As reigning Constructors’ Champions, McLaren must live with the uncomfortable tag of pre-season favourite, especially after a promising three days of testing in Bahrain. The team was only fourth from bottom in laps completed, but what stood out was the MCL39’s impressive long-run pace. If one team does explode from the blocks faster than anyone this weekend, no one will be surprised if it is McLaren.

Lando Norris appears ready to pitch for a World Title, following his breakthrough in 2024. Yes, he made too many mistakes, but there was consistency in his speed (especially in qualifying) and he now understands what it takes to win. But there’s a potentially big problem on the other side of the garage. Team-mate Oscar Piastri is laconic out of the car but as hard-headed as Max Verstappen in the cockpit.

Also now a Grand Prix winner, the Australian has everything in his armoury to give McLaren team chief Andrea Stella a serious headache. If the duo fight between themselves, distraction from what the team will consider the greater cause is all too possible.

All eyes on Hamilton

Is Lewis Hamilton and the Prancing Horse a dead cert – or at 40, has the seven-time Champion left it too late for his ‘dream’ switch to red? It’s the biggest hanging question. But Italy expects, and by all accounts the Tifosi has already taken him to their hearts. The viral clip of one fan cutting down a tree at Fiorano to get a better view of the SF-25’s first run sums up the off-season mania.

Pre-season testing appeared decent, Hamilton ending up with the second-quickest time over the three days. We don’t read too much into outright times, of course – but it was promising to hear how much he was “enjoying” his new car. That wasn’t a word he used too often in his final years at Mercedes.

If Ferrari is a contender – and there’s no reason to think it won’t be – Hamilton’s first challenge will be to keep pace with Charles Leclerc, considered by many as the fastest of this era over one lap. Leclerc, like Norris at McLaren, will feel this might be his year.

But what will be the state of the Hamilton-Ferrari marriage once the honeymoon wears off? We asked Rob Smedley, another Brit who worked at Ferrari for ten years and was most famously the Teesside voice in Felipe Massa’s ear. “I’m not over-egging this when I say I think it’s a match made in heaven for the pair of them,” says the engineer, who’s now putting something back into the sport he loves by running the electric-powered FAT Karting League. “They just have to make sure they make it work.

“Like any relationship it will have its bumps, but if you trust each other enough you get through it. What Lewis brings is that extra one or two per cent of motivation Ferrari needs to start winning World Championships. I would love to see it happen.”

Verstappen at a turning point

A big question mark hovers too over the current World Champion. Max Verstappen still comfortably made it four on the trot last year despite Red Bull’s decline, thanks mainly to his strong start to the campaign. But the internal storms that threatened to tear the team apart still rumble. Adrian Newey has gone to Aston Martin and other key figures have departed too, including sporting director Jonathan Wheatley who now steps into the top job at Sauber/Audi.

Christian Horner must steady the ship in this final fling with Honda, all while focusing on a transition to Ford-backed independent power under the new ruleset and convincing the team’s talisman to keep his faith.

Verstappen is officially contracted to Red Bull through to 2028, but there are performance break clauses so that doesn’t mean much. If Red Bull falters, will the Dutchman look to follow Newey to Aston, or be tempted by Mercedes? Perhaps even Ferrari if the Hamilton marriage breaks down? A fifth consecutive title dangles in front of him, but still the questions linger.

Russell’s chance to shine at Mercedes

He comprehensively outperformed Hamilton in their final season together. But now the great man is out of the picture, George Russell knows this is his chance to really stamp his mark at Mercedes. The team became a race winner again in 2024, but was disconcertingly uneven in its form across the season. Mercedes completed the most laps (one ahead of Haas) in pre-season testing and the team is more than capable of getting off to a strong start around Albert Park this weekend.

Russell has the character and experience to lead the line, and as he’s made all too clear, won’t shirk a battle with the likes of Verstappen. Might this be his time? Although, where highly-rated rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli fits into the Mercedes equation remains to be seen. Does the Italian have it in him to make the kind of impact Hamilton displayed when he started in F1 way back in 2007?

Aston Martin’s Newey era begins

The green team has faced a setback already, with Ferrari enforcing a delay on the transfer of new technical director Enrico Cardile. Meanwhile, pre-season testing with the AMR25 proved lowkey. So, will Aston Martin revive in 2025 after a dreadfully disappointing campaign last term?

Newey arrived this month and while his focus is on 2026, his influence will surely count across this coming season. Fernando Alonso will be banking on it. The Spaniard turns 44 in July and he will be all too aware that time is against him to get his hands on a truly competitive car once again. The potential for Aston Martin under Lawrence Stroll appears limitless, but the trajectory needs to rise soon if such an opportunity is not to be wasted.

The midfield ruck

Alpine is a team that for too long has been stuck in a state of stasis. A consulting Flavio Briatore has already shaken things up at a team he led to great things in its previous guises as both Benetton and Renault. Can he do it for a third time?

Carlos Sainz Jr. has faced a frustrating slide down the grid, forced out of Ferrari to now pitch up at Williams. But under James Vowles the regular promise of revival for this once-great team might still become a reality. Sainz will strive to do his part.

Haas is on an upward curve under team principal Ayao Komatsu and boasts a strong driver line-up in Esteban Ocon and teenage rookie Ollie Bearman, Sauber is facing the last throes of its metamorphosis into Audi for 2026, and Racing Bulls remains a solid performer with the weight of the Red Bull parent company behind it. F1’s midfield ruck remains as intense and difficult to predict as ever.

The rumble of politics

Beyond the race tracks, a rising tide of discontentment with the governance of the FIA might well consume the news agenda. The conduct of president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been publicly called into question in the past week by Motorsport UK chairman David Richards, in what amounts to a vote of no confidence.

Richards was one of a number barred from admittance to an FIA World Council meeting recently because he refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The row follows in the wake of a string of key figures either leaving or being let go by the FIA, simmering tension with F1’s promoter and an awkward standoff with both F1 and World Rally drivers over the subject of swearing.

This is an election year for the FIA presidency and Richards’ criticism through means of a letter to MSUK members is the most open sign yet that Ben Sulayem might well face a challenge in his bid for a second term. The challenge might not come specifically from 72-year-old Richards himself – but we wouldn’t be surprised if a candidate or two present themselves during the course of the year.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.