F1 2025:

Everything You Need to Know

Who, What? Where?

This will be the 76th running of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the 75th anniversary season after the maiden running in 1950.

A night out at the O2 Arena in London to launch every team’s livery in February was followed by three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain with the 2025 machines.

The team enters the season with two graduates of its Junior Programme for the first time, with Kimi Antonelli joining George Russell behind the wheel of W16.

For George, it will be a seventh F1 season, and his fourth with our team full-time. He will be hoping to add to his three wins, five poles, and 15 podiums.

Eighteen-year-old Kimi stands to become the third youngest driver ever to start a Grand Prix when he takes to the line in Melbourne next week – only Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll would have been younger on debut.

There’s been plenty of change up and down the paddock, too. Only two of the 10 teams (McLaren and Aston Martin) have retained the same driver line-up from 2024.

As last year, there will be 24 races on the calendar this season. Starting in Australia on March 16, and finishing in Abu Dhabi on December 7.

The two-week-long Summer Shutdown will take place on the weeks commencing Monday 11 and 18 of August, after round 14 in Hungary.

The same 24 tracks that featured on last season’s calendar remain this year, and like 2024, six F1 Sprint races appear on the schedule.

China, Miami, Belgium, Austin, São Paulo, and Qatar will all host the shortened format of the Grand Prix weekend in 2025.

What’s New?

To make sure you’re not confused by anything you see at a Grand Prix in 2025, we’ve broken down the new rule changes being introduced for this season:

No Point For Fastest Lap – This rule, re-introduced in 2019, has been removed for 2025.

Qualifying Classification – After a busy Sunday morning in São Paulo last season because of inclement weather, the rule has now been changed if a Qualifying (or Sprint Qualifying session on Friday) is cancelled.

The grid for the Grand Prix or Sprint race will now be determined by championship order. If Qualifying at the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne is cancelled, drivers will line up in an order decided by the Stewards.

More Junior FP1s – In previous years, every driver on the grid had up sit out one FP1 session for a rookie (a rookie is defined as a driver who has competed in no more than two Grands Prix in their career).

Now, this number will be doubled to two for every driver on the 2025 grid. Kimi’s two ‘rookie’ FP1s will be undertaken in Australia and China, meaning only George will vacate his seat twice in 2025.

Rear Wing Flexibility – For 2025, the FIA has clarified that the minimum gap for rear wing plates has been reduced from 10-15mm to 9.14-13mm while closed – remaining at 85mm when open.

There can also now only be two positions for the rear wing (DRS open or closed) and the time to switch between the two must be less than 400 milliseconds.

Testing of Previous Cars – More time will be given for teams to test their young and reserve drivers. Of the 20 allocated days, only four can be used by a driver on the grid, and they cannot exceed 1,000km of running in that time.

Cooling – Drivers will be given cooling kits to help at GPs where race temperatures rise above 31C. This will include a fireproof shirt with tubes that allow fluid to be pumped around to keep the drivers cool. Driver weight limits will be adjusted accordingly in these races – 2kg for Free Practice and Qualifying, and 5kg for Sprint or Grand Prix.

Multiple Monaco Stops – In an attempt to improve racing around the tight and twisty streets, the World Motorsport Council has deemed that the Monaco Grand Prix must be a mandatory two-stop race. Under the new rules, drivers will have to use three different sets of tyres across two different compounds.

In addition to the new rules, there will be a few new faces on the grid in 2025. Kimi will be joined by fellow full-time F2 graduates Ollie Bearman (Haas), his team-mate from Prema Racing last year, Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber), and Jack Doohan (Alpine).

Liam Lawson will also make his full debut with Red Bull after 11 races for Racing Bulls across the past two seasons.

So, 20 of the world’s best drivers plus 24 of the world’s best racetracks. What’s not to love? Who will add themselves to 75 years of F1 history in 2025?