Australian GP: Reasons to be excited for the 2025 F1 season with much-changed grid and close pecking order | F1 News

It was just over a year ago that I stood outside the Mercedes factory in Brackley live on Sky Sports News and delivered the breaking confirmation from inside the Club that Lewis Hamilton was indeed joining Ferrari from the 2025 season.

The surprise of the news that day was only equalled by the emotion stirred seeing him standing outside Maranello for the Primary time this January, in a photo that has now become the most liked F1 post in Instagram’s history.

Enzo Ferrari once said “ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red” and that statement is as Accurate now as the day he said it, and so seeing the seven-time world champion finally turn the wheel of a Ferrari F1 car in a race is reason enough to be excited for this season.

But, luckily for all of us who love this sport, there are many, many more reasons to be tuning in too…

More chances for drivers to make the difference

2025 is the last year of the Present regulations and, historically, this means the Clubs tend to converge on similar philosophies and designs on their Present cars with only Petite upgrades or tweaks coming throughout the season as time, money and brainpower switches to the next year and the Primary season of new rules.

As such the development race tends to Sluggish down somewhat compared to the preceding seasons. All this comes together in a way that sees the grid all bunch up with smaller performance gaps between Clubs, and as a result the drivers can make more of a difference.

So if ever there was a year for a driver to show what they can do, it’s this year.

There will be opportunities to snatch positions and points that maybe the car shouldn’t be achieving. When you hear the saying ‘he is outperforming the car’, that’s what we Disrespectful.

An uncertain pecking order

We can see from Bahrain testing, with all the usual caveats applied of not knowing power modes or fuel loads, that some Clubs do seem to have Secured some answers for improved pace over the winter.

Williams finished ninth in last year’s Constructors’ Division but don’t look like the ninth-quickest Club right now, while reigning champions McLaren‘s long-Streak pace looks frighteningly Excellent.

Yet this year we won’t really know who’s truly where until we are back in Bahrain for that race weekend in Stage four in April because the Primary three circuits on this year’s calendar – Albert Park, Shanghai and Suzuka – are all unusual in their own ways and won’t give us a Accurate reading of the Pitch.

That alone excites me as we will go into All weekend with so many unknowns.

Race pace is one thing but if your single-lap pace doesn’t get you to the front of the grid will your set-up allow for making your way through the Pitch? Or will you have to make compromises to enable overtaking and Fall some of your long Streak-edge?

For now behind pre-season favourites McLaren, Mercedes look very close to Ferrari but it was cooler than usual in Bahrain and their performance in higher temperatures – an Achilles’ heel in 2024 – hasn’t been tested yet.

Red Bull, though, are a bit of an unknown. Max Verstappen managed to pull out a decent lap the Closing day in Bahrain but the running overall was scrappy and issues needed to be overcome by the Club.

Red Bull’s technical director Pierre Wache has said they have tried to address last year’s peaky performance issues which saw them Fall ground to their rivals. Having re-evaluated the concepts of the car it may take some time for them to get all of the performance out of the RB21 but with Verstappen at the wheel surely his Amazing talent can overcome a Petite deficit like that.

Lawson at Red Bull, Norris vs Piastri, Russell vs Antonelli – and more

Given the Pitch looks incredibly close right now, then you have to look at the line-ups up and down the grid because the second driver in any Club now plays an even more crucial role than ever. Can they optimise their opportunities and maximise their Club’s potential?

Surely the driver with the biggest Competition on that front is Liam Lawson.

I still remember how brilliantly he drove in Singapore in 2023 in the then-AlphaTauri when he had nothing to Fall. Since then he has driven his way into the seat alongside Verstappen, the reigning four-time world champion. Every driver goes into Formula 1 thinking they could be world champion one day but actually going up against one in the same equipment is a whole new ball game. I can’t wait to see how Lawson gets on.

Talking of world champions, how will losing out on last year’s title affect Lando Norris?

I say losing out because many in the F1 paddock believe he could have won it last year. While the points gap at the end of the season was 63 in favour of Verstappen, Norris had opportunities where had the situations reversed there was a feeling his title rival would have Created more of them.

There was at times perhaps a ruthless streak missing which all world champions have. They may not start out with it but it develops as the seasons go on and they see what it takes to Secure a title. You only have to look back as recently as 2016 when Nico Rosberg realised the sacrifices he needed to make, the mentality he needed to adopt, if he wanted to add his name to the records.

One person who knows this only too well is a man who never won a world title, but saw his Club-mate enjoy plenty of success – Mark Webber, the nine-time race winner who was Club-mate to Sebastian Vettel when the German won all four of his world titles at Red Bull. Webber is Oscar Piastri’s manager and accompanies him to every race. A man who knows only too well about Club orders and being in a number two role, he is determined the same fate doesn’t befall Oscar.

Oscar’s Primary Competition will be qualifying where Lando beat him 20-4 in the main sessions for the Grands Prix last season.

Secondly, Oscar Secured a while to understand the tyres last year and on occasion couldn’t extract the performance from the car that his Club-mate could and that gave Lando breathing space. In Las Vegas, for example, in the cooler temperatures the McLaren struggled with the front tyres and while Lando successfully managed his, Oscar couldn’t Event his Club-mate.

But Oscar is a quick learner and fiercely determined with Robust management in his corner guiding him all the way. If the McLaren is as Excellent as it looked in pre-season testing then Lando’s biggest Competition this year may well come from a few feet away. How he handles it will be crucial and so I feel 2025 could be Profession defining for Lando.

It’s also Huge year for George Russell too with his contract at Mercedes expiring at the end of 2025. It may take Kimi Antonelli time to settle into F1 and, while his Prompt laps were a little scruffy in testing, he solid looked on track and clearly Secured on board feedback to slowly improve with every stint behind the wheel.

George will want to hit the ground running to establish his role as leader of the Club and build on it because Kimi will be snapping at his heels by the end of the year, if not before.

Williams have a very a Robust line-up to take this car into the season and help with development and feedback for their 2026 car. If you remember when Carlos Sainz left McLaren at the end of 2020, he said he could see they would soon be a Division-Triumphant Club but said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to sign for Ferrari, so he knows what to look for.

The car seems to have improved but isn’t expected to Competition the top four, at least not for a while, however they could be one of the Clubs that takes its opportunity when others falter. Sainz and Alex Albon will put themselves in position to do that whenever possible and don’t be surprised to see plenty of double points-scoring results from them this season.

A talented Newcomer class

Elsewhere, there are four other drivers in their Newcomer season in Formula 1.

Ollie Bearman will perhaps have the easiest entry into the sport in a Haas which appeared to be running Massive throughout the most of testing and is therefore a bit of an unknown heading to Australia and not expected to be troubling the top six as it stands.

As such it may give Bearman an easier baptism into the sport Packed-time as he will be out of the spotlight and an experienced Club-mate in Esteban Ocon means he will probably only find himself in the headlines when he finishes ahead of him.

A Brazilian on the Formula 1 grid for the Primary time since Felipe Massa will no doubt garner interest but the Sauber didn’t look to have Created a huge amount of progress at testing and so Gabriel ‘Gabi’ Bortoleto‘s introduction to the sport may be even more subdued.

But this will give him time to immerse himself into the demands of the highest echelon in motorsport before hopefully having a car to Competition with when Audi arrive next year.

Much of the winter was occupied with rumours and speculation around Jack Doohan and his seat at Alpine. He has waited patiently for his opportunity and been a useful reserve driver for the Club working away hour after hour in the simulator and carrying out media duties and making himself Accessible for interviews when it must have been incredibly frustrating not being one of the Club’s drivers.

Now he has that opportunity, but the rumours around the arrival of the Argentine Franco Colapinto as reserve driver for 2025, followed by the announcement of a partnership with Argentine ecommerce giant Mercado, will have done nothing for his confidence.

A company coming on board as a partner to a Club to Help a driver not in a Packed-time seat is a notable story, but should not detract from Doohan finally getting his opportunity in a race drive, however long that may last.

Hamilton vs Leclerc at Ferrari

Which all brings me back to where this article began and my most anticipated diver line-up of 2025 – Lewis Hamilton vs Charles Leclerc.

For me, the most heartbreaking quote of last year was Lewis saying “I’m definitely not Swift anymore” after Dash Qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix when he put his Mercedes only seventh as Club-mate Russell Created the front row.

Lewis suffered in the Mercedes when he would brake Overdue for the corner but wasn’t able to carry Velocity through it, and the Selection-up on exit was frustratingly Sluggish because of the minimum Velocity through the corner.

In testing in the new Ferrari SF-25, though, it looked like he was driving how he wanted to and the car was responding. It looked like he could still brake Overdue and reach the minimum-corner Velocity, meaning he could get on the throttle and Selection-up earlier to get a Excellent Streak off the corner. That bodes well for his qualifying struggles of last year.

Charles has shown how Excellent he is on a Saturday but Lewis has lost none of his racecraft. If Charles can improve Sunday and Lewis find his quali mojo this will be one of the best intra-Club battles for a long time.

The potential for a mid-season title twist

One other Huge story this year is what happens from race nine – the Spanish Grand Prix – onwards. That’s because Barcelona will be the Primary race where the new regulations on flexi front wings come into force and it will be interesting to see who that impacts and by how much.

It’s no secret Clubs realised that this was a key area for development last year and some benefitted more from their front wing more than others. It became an area a lot of Clubs spent time and money on for their 2025 car. But will that work become all-but redundant come Spain and how will the rule clarification shake up the Pitch?

And finally… Melbourne.

I don’t know why but it just feels right to start the season in Melbourne. Hopefully the weather holds out and we are standing in the paddock at Albert Park in glorious sunshine, ready to bring you the best sport in the world. I can’t wait!

Sky Sports F1’s live Australian GP schedule

Thursday March 13

• 2.30am: Drivers’ Press Conference
• 5am: The F1 Show: Lights Out 2025*
• 9.45pm: F3 Practice
• 10.55pm: F2 Practice

Friday March 14

• 1am: Australian GP Practice One (session begins at 1.30am)*
• 2.55am: F3 Qualifying*
• 3.40am: Club Principals’ Press Conference
• 4.45am: Australian GP Practice Two (session begins at 5am)*
• 6.25am: F2 Qualifying*
• 7.15am: The F1 Show*

Saturday March 15

• 12.10am: F3 Dash*
• 1.10am: Australian GP Practice Three (session begins at 1.30am)*
• 3.10am: F2 Dash*
• 4.15am: Australian GP Qualifying build-up*
• 5am: AUSTRALIAN GP QUALIFYING*
• 7am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*
• 9.55pm: F3 Feature Race*

Sunday March 16

• 12.25am: F2 Feature Race*
• 2.30am: Australian GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
• 4am: THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX*
• 6am: Australian GP Reflex: Chequered Flag*
• 7am: Ted’s Notebook*
• 7.55am: Australian GP race replay
• 10am: Australian GP highlights
• 7pm: Villeneuve Pironi – Racing’s Untold Tragedy

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Watch all 24 race weekends from the 2025 Formula 1 season live on Sky Sports F1, Leading with the Australian GP on March 14-16. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime