Rhonan Colquhoun 23:49pm 13th March 2025
The start to the most eagerly anticipated Formula One season in recent memory will commence this weekend in Albert Park, Australia.
The teams and drivers will hit the track for the first of 24 race weekends this year after a long winter break with drivers testing out their new machinery only a couple of weeks ago in a three-day test.
Mega driver transfers, new faces and familiar teams - but all with the same goal - to clinch the Driver's and the Constructor's Championship.
How do the teams - and drivers - stack-up ahead of what could be a hugely entertaining and fascinating season.
McLaren
Where better to start than with the 2024 Reigning Constructor's Champions McLaren. The Woking team developed their car massively over the course of last season which propelled them into contention for both titles - with Lando Norris becoming Max Verstappen's closest challenger and the team overhauling Red Bull and defeating Ferrari's late challenge to claim their first title since 1998.
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In a stand-out year for Norris, in which he claimed his first Grand Prix victory at the Miami Grand Prix, he went onto claim several Pole Positions and added further victories with dominant drives at the Dutch, Singapore and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix's.
Norris's team-mate, Oscar Piastri, only in his second season in the sport, served as rear-gunner to Norris's title hopes late on in the season after it had been determined by the team that Norris had priority. The Australian also claimed his maiden victory on the streets of Azerbaijan after a stunning dive on Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Piastri claimed fourth in the Championship - crucially ahead of Carlos Sainz (the second Ferrari driver) - to help McLaren clinch their long-awaited title.
Coming into the start of this season - McLaren and Norris - are red-hot favourites for both titles after enduring a successful pre-season test. The McLaren looks to be the most well-rounded car with the team continuing on from where they left off in 2024.
By his own admission, Norris grew as a driver over the course of last season: dealing with so much media attention as the McLaren car became quicker and he was thrusted into a late charge for the title. If the McLaren is as quick as pre-season testing showed, Norris's biggest challenge may come from team-mate Piastri with the Australian knowing that one of the two drivers will get the team's backing for championship glory at some point in the season.
Announced a few days ago, Piastri will stay a McLaren driver after agreeing a new multi-year contract extension - giving the Aussie an extra boost of motivation ahead of his home race.
McLaren start the season aiming to secure their first back-to-back Constructor's Championship since their dominant run from 1989 to 1991 and will also hope that one of their drivers will clinch the Driver's Championship - their first since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
Ferrari
Is 2025 finally the year where it all comes together for the Prancing Horse? Ferrari's late title charge last season brought them to the last race of the year in Abu Dhabi where a double-podium finish for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz wasn't enough to take the title away from McLaren. A 14-point margin was the gap between two of the most historic teams to have ever competed in the sport. This year, Ferrari will want to go that step further.
Cast our minds back 12 months and it was Ferrari who had made the headlines by announcing that they had managed to sign Seven Time World Champion
Lewis Hamilton - away from Mercedes - to partner Charles Leclerc for this season.
Experts reckon this is Ferrari's best ever driver line-up in terms of raw speed, tyre management and overall race pace with both Leclerc and Hamilton wanting to prove themselves against each other.
Hamilton, who has struggled in the last couple seasons in difficult Mercedes' cars, will look to prove doubters this his extraordinary one-lap qualifying pace remains, and that the Ferrari will be able to perform in all kinds of conditions with the Mercedes historically performing poorly in hot conditions.
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After pre-seasoning testing, Ferrari either look to be the second or third quickest car but some actually reckon the Ferrari could be the worst of the top-flight of four teams.
A mega-star driver line-up, an upward trajectory and astute leadership under Frederic Vasseur - if Ferrari don't perform this season, they'll be held at the highest criticism.
Mercedes
The Silver Arrows spent much of last season reeling from news that for this season, the longest and most successful driver and team partnership would be coming to an end with Hamilton departing to rivals Ferrari. However, they have quickly found his replacement and have put a lot of faith into their junior driver with a quick promotion after only a single season in F2.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli - better known as Kimi Antonelli - is the driver that they reckon is just as talented as Max Verstappen with Antonelli having a very similar - successful - route through the motorsport ranks - winning at every opportunity.
Stepping into the official team leader role will be incumbent George Russell - who over the course as team-mates with Hamilton - won more races, secured more pole positions and finished higher in the Championship in both 2022 and 2024. He'll also work throughout the year to secure his place at the team with the the Brit out of contract heading into next season.
The team is confident that this year's car seems to better to last season's and they hope the car is able to be more consistent over a range of venues and track/weather conditions as well. Mercedes either look to be the second or third quickest car but as for the title fight - they remain the dark horse.
Red Bull
Red Bull started last season with the best package with Max Verstappen able to continue his unbelievable run - continuing on from a near-perfect 2023 Season where Red Bull won every single race bar one. However, the development of the car meant that there came a point where it was on a knife-edge with Verstappen or Sergio Perez couldn't expect what it would do at certain points.
The team then started to falter with losing the lead in the Constructor's Championship and then falling behind Ferrari to third. Even Verstappen's own title came under threat as Red Bull's rivals - mainly Ferrari and McLaren - caught up and overtook them in the development race which allowed Norris to apply further pressure.
Internal struggles as the team last year may have also contributed to the team's performance with the news that legendary designer Adrian Newey would be departing to join Aston Martin and that long-time employee and Sporting Director Jonathan Wheatley would be leaving to join Kick Sauber as Team Principal. The early season allegations against Team Principal Christian Horner also did not help the team's situation.
While Verstappen was able to clinch his fourth-straight title, his team-mate Perez struggled with the difficulty of the car and was unable to provide the much-needed points over the course of the season to keep Red Bull in the title-fight. After much deliberation, it was announced that Liam Lawson would be replacing Perez ahead of this season.
Lawson, who had previously driven for Red Bull's junior team - over two separate stints - was chosen over more experienced Yuki Tsunoda despite only having 11 race starts to his name. However, reports from within the team suggest that the mechanics and engineers are impressed with the New Zealander's attitude and mentality.
It will be a steep learning curve for Lawson as he travels to many tracks he's never raced on while Verstappen remains positive about retaining his Driver's crown but it might end-up being a difficult season for the squad.
Alpine
After a torrid start to the season last year, the Enstone based squad bounced back in the latter half of the season to clinch sixth in the Championship - helped by a double-podium finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Apart from Gasly's late run of form towards the end of the season securing that coveted place in the Championship, there wasn't much else about Alpine's season that was so spectacular. Apart from nearly benching Ocon for a race mid-season. Or parting ways with the Frenchman for 2025. Or by letting Ocon leave for new team Haas before the final race of the season. Or by shutting down their engine facility.
As for Ocon's replacement - Gasly's 2025 team-mate - Alpine have finally decided to promote from within and have promoted test and reserve driver Jack Doohan to a full-time race seat - and have immediately put him under huge pressure.
Having signed Doohan last year, Alpine have managed to also sign Williams' stand-in Franco Colapinto, during the winter break, on a long deal with the Argentine becoming the team's reserve. However, the team have reported given Doohan a very short contract and very high targets for the Australian to achieve so there could be driver movement as early as May for Alpine.
The team have performed far better at this year's pre-season test compared to last year and look to be in the fight to be "best of the rest".
Williams
Williams spent much of last season rebuilding cars with both Alexander Albon, and particularly Logan Sargeant, crashing and damaging many parts which put the whole team on the back-foot for the majority of the season.
When the opportunity to sign multiple Grand Prix Winner Carlos Sainz arose, Williams became a major player - eager to sign the Spaniard - and to the surprise of many, Sainz decided his future lies with Williams and Team Principal James Vowles.
For a driver of Sainz's calibre to sign with Williams - a team who haven't won a race since 2012 and haven't even stood on the podium since 2017 - it's a massive confidence boost to the team who are aiming to be very competitive once the new regulations come into effect in 2026. In the meantime, they are going to see where they end up this season.
Sainz actually produced the quickest lap time over the three days of pre-season testing with a very light fuel load but the consensus is that Williams is at the top of the "best of the rest" pack with Alpine - vying for fifth place.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin's worryingly downward trend seems to be continuing into 2025 with the team - who finished the Championship in 2024 in fifth place - firmly back in the mid-field with many experts ranking the team even lower.
The team went from securing six podiums within the first seven races of 2023 to not even registering a single podium finish in 2024 - with Fernando Alonso's fifth place at the second race of last year the team's highest finish.
Only the second team to have the same driver line-up as last year - other than McLaren - Two Time World Champion Alonso and Lance Stroll will fill the two seats at the team for the third year running.
Just as worryingly as the team's downward trend so too was Stroll's miserable campaign where the Canadian didn't score a single point in the final 11 races. Alonso out-qualified Stroll 19 times to five and finished ahead of him 15 times whereas Stroll only out-raced the Spaniard five times.
Aston Martin cannot rely on Alonso's abilities alone this season and despite how great a driver Alonso is, other teams around Aston Martin will have two competent drivers with the ability to score regularly. Although they are looking ahead to next season, Adrian Newey might have to switch focus to developing this year's car and has his work cut-out in order to transform this team into a championship-winning outfit.
Racing Bulls
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls team made headlines at nearly every Grand Prix weekend regarding their drivers and their candidacy for the possibility of an open seat the senior Red Bull team.
Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo occupied the seats at the team until the American Grand Prix where Liam Lawson was drafted in to replace Ricciardo. From then onwards, the battle between Tsunoda and Lawson - the fight to replace Perez at Red Bull - was on.
Despite the attention and the background noise, the team managed to score consistently over the course of the season with Tsunoda achieving three seventh place finishes while Ricciardo secured a brilliant fourth place at the Miami Sprint.
With Tsunoda being snubbed for the Red Bull promotion, the Japanese driver spearheads the team this season and will be out of contract for next season. He still admits that he wants to drive in the senior team but Red Bull have made it clear that they don't think he has the right mentality.
Instead, Red Bull have promoted their junior driver Isack Hadjar who was the final of the 2025 drivers to be confirmed for this season. The French driver competed in last year's F2 Championship and narrowly lost out to Gabriel Bortoleto.
The team - rebranded to Racing Bulls that will make life easier for everyone - look to remain firmly in the mid-field pack and will have a driver combination to watch-out for with Tsunoda and Hadjar eager to prove they've got what it takes.
Haas
Under the new leadership of former race engineer Ayao Komatsu, Haas has become a stand-out mid-field team again in Formula One and is on track to become profitable for the first time in its history - coming up for a decade in the sport - dating back to 2016.
Both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen revelled under the guise of Komatsu with the VF-24 being far more competitive than its 2023 predecessor with the team able to hold onto sixth place in the Championship for the majority of the season.
Alpine's late resurgence and its double-podium finish in Brazil for the French outfit denied Haas sixth place with the American team settling for seventh - their best finish and biggest points haul since 2018.
With Hulkenberg departing, and inconsistences from Magnussen, Haas have a brand-new line-up of 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Esteban Ocon and former reserve driver Oliver Bearman.
Rookie Bearman made his sensational debut at last year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix filling in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari and then again on two further opportunities with Haas in place of Magnussen at the Azerbaijan and Brazilian Grand Prix's.
Haas focused the pre-season test on their long-run pace which should transfer into their race management which also meant the team ran their cars heavy on fuel. So a true indication of their overall pace is yet to be seen.
Kick Sauber
After a disappointing campaign last season where the team only scored four points in the hands of Zhou Guanyu - even former Mercedes driver and 10-time Grand Prix Winner Valtteri Bottas - couldn't use all of his experience to do anything with the C44.
Despite both drivers trying the best of their abilities, both Bottas and Zhou contract's were not renewed with Bottas the favourite to stay on but was not favoured despite holding talks with two different managements over the season.
With Audi taking over the team from next season, the team will look to vastly improve the car over the course of the year to avoid such a massive undertaking by the German manufacturer.
Leading the charge is Nico Hulkenberg with the German given the chance to spearhead the project with a multi-year deal. His team-mate will be F2 Champion Gabriel Bortoleto.
Bortoleto, a former member of the McLaren Driver Development Programme, was snapped up by the team after becoming the seventh driver in their rookie season to win the Junior series title.
Sauber seem to be continuing where they left off in 2024 - at the back of the grid - with neither Hulkenberg or Bortoleto setting competitive lap times and both feeling uneasy with the car's handling.
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