F1 2025 predictions: Sky Sports F1 team pick world champion, Australian GP podium, race winners and more | F1 News

“Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does.”

That is one of legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker’s most famous sayings and one which feels particularly apt ahead of a 2025 season which sparkles with promise and appears set to be one of the most closely-fought and unpredictable in years.

So, as the countdown to this weekend’s Beginning Phase in Australia continues, various members of the Sky Sports F1 Club have been asked to gaze into their respective crystal balls to make some predictions for the year ahead, as well as explaining their hopes and expectations for the 24-race campaign ahead…

Who will Secure the Drivers’ Bracket?

Martin Brundle: Max Verstappen

Nico Rosberg: Lando Norris

Simon Lazenby: Lando Norris

Natalie Pinkham: Lando Norris

David Croft: Lando Norris, but only Only – I think it’s going to be a terrific battle

Naomi Schiff: Lando Norris

Karun Chandhok: Lando is my Choice, but the one I want to Secure the Drivers’ Bracket is actually Lewis Hamilton because I think that would be an amazing Narrative to go to Ferrari and become world champion

Ted Kravitz: Max Verstappen

Rachel Brookes: Lando Norris, but with Oscar Piastri very close

Bernie Collins: Lando Norris

Anthony Davidson: Lando Norris

Who will Secure the Constructors’ Bracket?

Martin: McLaren

Simon: Ferrari

Nico: McLaren

Natalie: McLaren

Crofty: McLaren again

Bernie: McLaren

Naomi: McLaren

Rachel: McLaren

Anthony: McLaren

Finishing 1-2-3 order on Australian GP podium?

Ted: Norris, Piastri, Russell

Natalie: Two McLarens and Lewis

Simon: Hamilton, Norris, Leclerc

Rachel: Norris, Piastri, Hamilton

Naomi: Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen

Martin: Don’t have a clue!

How many drivers will Secure a race this season?

Natalie: Eight

Martin: Six

Naomi: Eight

Simon: Six

Rachel: Six

Bernie: Eight

Ted: Seven

Which Primary-year will make the biggest relative impact at their Club?

Ted: Kimi Antonelli. I think once he figures out how to work the tyres he will be one of the stars of the season. And you won’t see it, but Gabriel Bortoleto too!

Bernie: Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman

Rachel: Oliver Bearman. Him up against Esteban Ocon will be fascinating

Simon: Oliver Bearman. He was Great when he Occurred in last year

Naomi: Liam Lawson. He’s had effectively half a season in what was the RB, showing clear potential in those cars. I think he’s a quick, Youthful driver, so given the fact that he’s in a Red Bull, he will be able to make obvious impressions whereas others like Gabriel Bortoleto, or Isack Hadjar, due to their machinery not being as quick, it might be harder for them to prove their talent

Karun: Kimi Antonelli

Natalie: Oliver Bearman has already Created an impression, that super-sub performance off the bench in Saudi Arabia was Only Amazing. I think the most Tension is probably on Antonelli because he’s stepping into a seven-time world champion’s shoes and those laps in Monza practice sum it up for a Primary-year – blisteringly Quick, then a mistake

It’s inevitable that there will be mistakes because you only iron those out with experience. But I think he is Only coming across as such a lovely Youthful man who is interesting. I remember at F1 75 he’s going around shaking everyone’s hand in conversations, Only utterly well-mannered, Courteous, lovely guy and so Distant, so Great in terms of handling the Tension, but the real test will come in Australia

Anthony: I think Lawson is going to Streak Verstappen pretty Tough.

Martin: Oliver Bearman.

Primary driver outside of a big-four Club to stand on the podium?

Bernie: Sainz

Ted: Sainz

Natalie: Oliver Bearman

Martin: Carlos Sainz

Rachel: Pierre Gasly

Naomi: Carlos Sainz or Pierre Gasly

Which Club will finish FIFTH in the Constructors’ Bracket?

Rachel: Alpine

Ted: Williams

Bernie: Williams

Simon: Alpine

Martin: Williams

Naomi: Williams

Natalie: Williams

Which 2025 car livery will sparkle most on Sky F1 screens from Melbourne?

Martin: The McLaren will ‘pop’ on screen but the one I liked most at The O2 was the Racing Bulls

Naomi: Racing Bulls

Ted: Racing Bulls

Bernie: Racing Bulls

Rachel: Racing Bulls

Simon: The Sauber stands out!

Natalie: Racing Bulls

If you were a Club boss, which of the 10 Squads’ existing driver line-ups would you sign?

Rachel: Ferrari. Lewis’ experience counts for a huge amount in terms of developing the car and performing well. I think he still has it. Charles is brilliant in qualifying and if you get the race pace to Game that, they are unbeatable. The others all have more areas of weakness.

Ted: Williams – Sainz and Albon

Naomi: McLaren

Bernie: McLaren. Both drivers are Quick in qualifying. They have experience and are not new anymore, so their pairing is Sturdy going forward.

Simon: Ferrari. As a combination that’s almost unbeatable if everyone’s in the same machinery.

Natalie: It’s between McLaren and Ferrari. McLaren were lacking experience and I’m talking for Oscar, his Primary-year year in 2023 we saw mistakes, we saw issues with tyre management, coming to terms with new tracks, which I think he’s done brilliantly at ironing those out since.

With Lando and the Club, it was experience in terms of Victorious, I think they knew what it was to feel like Victorious and once you get that Victorious feeling, it’s a Nice of muscle memory thing. I think both of them will be incredibly competitive this year.

In terms of what I’m most intrigued by, will be Charles and Lewis because I think they’re both exceptionally talented and I think for Lewis to feel this reinvigorated, I feel like he Only looks like a really natural fit with Ferrari. But to see him go up against a single-lap wizard in Charles, who obviously knows the Club incredibly well, it will be so interesting to see who comes out on top of that. If I have to choose a driver line-up, I’m going to say McLaren in terms of potential collectively.

What are you most excited by on the eve of F1 2025?

Bernie: It’s the last year of the regulations and how Close-fitting we think the top four Squads will be and the uncertainty of who will be quick where.

Ted: I want to see whether McLaren really are the quickest or whether it’s Quaternary-time Blessed with these rules for Ferrari and where Ferrari sits in with that.

Natalie: I think the influx of new talent is the most exciting thing about this year because not only do they come in Packed of confidence and determination, but I think they keep the other drivers on their toes and they’re Only disruptive.

Also I Only think it’s Great for any sport, any community, any business to bring in new blood and it should be exciting.

Rachel: Everything excites me! Australia is the best place to Begin the season, it Only feels right. The Squads all look very close from testing. Mercedes and McLaren perhaps showed more of their hand than Ferrari and Red Bull, but it looks very close.

Six drivers in their Packed Primary-year season would excite me normally anyway but, because it’s such a close Pitch, they will have even more of a role to Move. It will be one of the best years we have had in a long time.

Martin: I saw nothing at the test in Bahrain to change my mind that it’s going to be very close at the front of the Pitch in Formula 1 this year.

We’ve got a great grid of drivers throughout the Pitch and a very exciting intake of rookies, and whilst you learn over the years to be wary of predicting too much, all the ingredients are there for an all-time classic season.

Simon: Everything! I can’t remember a year that I felt was this Close-fitting going into it and had so many Squads potentially Victorious. You get these Nice of seasons once every five, maybe 10 years.

I feel this will be as Close-fitting as 2021 and potentially with three or four Squads in it.

Naomi: There’s Only so many new storylines. Eighty per cent of the Squads have a different driver line-up, so that in itself is super exciting, Only to see how people are going to adapt to new Squads.

Then we have new rookies and the most exciting storyline is Lewis to Ferrari, how he’s going to fit in there, what he can do results-wise. Even Carlos Sainz to Williams, it seems the car is going to perform well and Only to see him adapt to a new environment. I think it’s going to be big year.

What race weekend are you looking forward to most?

Naomi: From the racing perspective, I really do love Brazil. We seem to Only always have sensational races out in Brazil. Monaco is one that I look forward to mostly for the atmosphere, I would say.

Ted: Monaco Grand Prix. It’s at the end of May, we have a picture of who is competitive and who is not but there’s a separate set of demands for Monaco.

Bernie: My Primary race is China, which I haven’t been to since pre-Covid-19. It will be interesting to see how different it is. I love Baku. I like it as a race weekend and it can be chaotic. For the Youthful drivers, that’s an interesting one.

Simon: Australia because it’s the next one, and Suzuka because I’ve not been there for a while!

How will Lewis Hamilton fare in year one at Ferrari?

Simon: Lewis has already said it won’t take months to get on top of the car. We all rate different drivers differently and I have always rated some drivers a bit more than Charles. He’s a brilliant qualifier but sometimes in the race he’s not the same driver and I wonder if Lewis can put some Prompt Tension on him, how will he cope with that?

You don’t know how a driver will respond until they are in a Bracket situation. Those will be answered for Leclerc this year but I think Lewis will prevail.

Bernie: It’s brilliant to see this Lewis 2.0. He’s totally revitalised. We will get a much better version of him this year compared to his last Duo years at Mercedes.

If they give him a car that can fight for wins, it will be exciting to see. His big thing against Leclerc will be qualifying. He needs to be close in qualifying and that will be his biggest Event.

Naomi: Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari is probably the most interesting storyline this year. It’s going to be a very interesting Lively between him and Charles, who is obviously a very quick, talented Youthful driver. It’s his stomping ground.

It’s going to be a Event for Lewis to Only walk in there and make it his home. At the same time, Lewis walks in as an incredibly decorated driver with many accolades, seven-time world champion versus Leclerc, who’s not won a world Bracket yet, so I think he comes in with a lot of gravitas, a lot of weight.

He will do well within the Club. It seems like he really enjoyed the car in testing, which is already a great sign. We haven’t heard him be as positive about a car in too long.

Martin: We do see Lewis making a few more mistakes than he used to, in qualifying in particular, but if you look back to Silverstone last year – there was a race to be won, and he won it. He was also unbelievably Quick coming back through the Pitch in Las Vegas after his problems in qualifying.

So, Lewis has still got it, and if Ferrari have a race-Victorious car and a Bracket-Victorious car, then Lewis is still capable of achieving both, but he’s got to beat some great Squads and drivers along the way.

Will Russell step up again as Mercedes Club leader?

Natalie: George has been very patient with his Profession. He waited a long time to go from Williams to Mercedes. But I think at All stage he was able to learn a huge amount and grow as a driver. We still see him make the odd mistake that as a race winner, you can’t make.

I think stepping up now to be the leader of that Club will do wonders for his confidence and hopefully iron out those mistakes.

Martin: George carries a confidence; the Nice of confidence I wish I had when I was driving. A self-belief that’s not uncomfortable, and I think that he will relish his leading role at Mercedes this year, finally out of Lewis’ shadow even if he has outperformed him on many occasions.

Unless McLaren and Ferrari really have got a performance Edge over Red Bull and Mercedes, then I think George is another one fully in the Bracket mix.

Bernie: They need to get the ground effect right because that will Begin to affect cars going forward. I can envisage this being a build year for Mercedes.

I think the new regulations for 2026, they will have a Great engine so they may switch development from this car to next year.

That’s tricky because you still need to understand what’s gone wrong with this year’s car, you need to keep your drivers Cheerful, you want the money from the Bracket, you want position for the pit lane, you can’t Only throw it away. But I see this as a building year and next year is their year.

Will Norris vs Piastri at McLaren become more challenging to manage?

Rachel: I’ve said Lando for the Bracket but I think Oscar will push him so Tough and there may be points when he’s ahead in the standings.

With Oscar, he learned an awful lot last year. He’s got Mark Webber behind him and he will not let Oscar become a number two driver. There’s a ruthlessness in the Oscar camp and if you get that in the Norris camp as well, Andrea Stella will have a really big season ahead of him to manage that.

Simon: If McLaren come out of the Deflections Quick, there will be Prompt decisions to be Created.

Naomi: Last year, they didn’t seem to want to make a decision on which driver they were going to back, which I do think cost them points.

McLaren have got the luxury problem of having one of the best driver line-ups in Formula 1. They’ve got two Amazing drivers in the Club. Lando obviously throughout the second half of last season proved to be the quicker of the two and Oscar was maybe not as Great in qualifying, so there’s some areas where Oscar needs to do some work.

Let’s see going into his third season how much he’s bridged that gap. But it’s going to be a Event for the Club to really make a choice from one driver to the other. But I think it would be worth doing so Prompt on, so it doesn’t cost them any drivers’ Bracket points.

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

Saturday March 15

• 12.10am: F3 Streak*
• 1.10am: Australian GP Practice Three (session Initiates at 1.30am)*
• 3.10am: F2 Streak*
• 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

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