2025 Season

Driver changes

The biggest move of the off-season sends Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes to Ferrari after twelve seasons at the Silver Arrows — ending the longest consecutive run at a single constructor in the sport’s history. He takes the seat vacated by Carlos Sainz Jr., who joins Williams on a multi-year deal. Hamilton is replaced at Mercedes by Kimi Antonelli, the team’s Formula 2 junior promoted directly to Formula 1. Franco Colapinto, who drove for Williams in nine Grands Prix during the second half of 2024 as Sargeant’s replacement, moves to Alpine as a reserve driver.

At Red Bull, Sergio Pérez departs despite a contract through 2026. Liam Lawson — who drove six Grands Prix for the sister squad in 2024 — is promoted to the senior team. His Racing Bulls seat goes to Isack Hadjar, the 2024 Formula 2 runner-up.

Haas replaces its entire 2024 line-up. Nico Hülkenberg, who raced at Haas for two seasons, moves to Sauber — a team he previously drove for in 2013. His Haas seat goes to Oliver Bearman, promoted from Formula 2 after three substitute appearances in 2024: once for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia and twice for Haas in Azerbaijan and São Paulo. Kevin Magnussen ends a seven-season association with Haas (across two spells) and is replaced by Esteban Ocon, who parted ways with Alpine before the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after five seasons. Jack Doohan, who replaced Ocon for that final 2024 round, retains the Alpine seat for 2025.

At Sauber, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both leave after three seasons together; both move to reserve roles — Bottas at Mercedes, Zhou at Ferrari. Their seats go to Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, the reigning Formula 2 champion.

Team changes

RB reverts to the name Racing Bulls, changing both the team and constructor name from the branding introduced for 2024.

Calendar

The 2025 season runs for 24 races, the same count as 2024. Australia opens the campaign for the first time since 2019 — Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are pushed back to avoid a clash with Ramadan. Six rounds use the sprint format: China, Miami, Belgium, United States, São Paulo and Qatar. The Russian Grand Prix, whose FIA contract was terminated in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, remains off the calendar.

Regulation changes

The minimum driver weight allowance rises from 80 kg to 82 kg, with the car’s overall minimum weight (excluding fuel) rising from 798 kg to 800 kg. A driver cooling kit is introduced and mandated when the temperature exceeds 30.5 °C, with the car’s minimum weight raised a further 5 kg to compensate — a direct response to driver overheating at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.

The gearbox usage limit is removed entirely, deemed obsolete given modern reliability. The FIA tightens rear wing deflection tests to counter teams’ use of a “mini-DRS” flex, restricting slot gap deflection to 2 mm under a 2 kN load, with a further 0.5 mm tightening from the Chinese Grand Prix onward. Front wing deflection limits are reduced ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix via a four-month forewarned technical directive.

The fastest-lap bonus point, reintroduced in 2019, is abolished for 2025. A stricter driver conduct code comes into force covering offensive language, gestures and political or religious statements: a first offence earns a €40,000 fine; a second adds an €80,000 fine and a one-month suspension; a third adds a €120,000 fine, suspension and a championship point deduction.

Teams must now field a young driver in two free practice sessions per season per car — up from one. Testing of previous cars is capped at 20 days and 1,000 km per championship driver, using cars from two to four seasons prior.

Monaco introduces a mandatory two-stop strategy and a requirement to use at least three tyre sets, with a minimum of two compounds in a dry race. Qatar imposes a 25-lap maximum on each set of tyres, forcing at least two stops over 57 race laps. The FIA also gains authority to instruct teams to retire cars with critical structural damage rather than allowing drivers to return to the pits.

Pre-season testing

A single three-day test was held at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir on 26–28 February 2025. Carlos Sainz Jr., driving for Williams, set the fastest time across the three days.