Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
The upcoming 2025 Formula 1 season has plenty to live up to after last year’s fascinating campaign.
Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari caught the F1 paddock off guard and set off a chain reaction of movement few could have predicted 12 months ago.
The 2025 grid is now confirmed, with Racing Bulls the final team to declare that Isack Hadjar would be joining Yuki Tsunoda.
Some pairings look incredibly close while others appear to be a complete mismatch.
There’s also the added factor that six drivers are starting their first full seasons in Formula 1 and will have to get up to speed quickly to avoid being left behind.
10. Red Bull – Max Verstappen vs Liam Lawson
- Max Verstappen, 2024 points: 437 (1st)
- Liam Lawson, 2024 points: 4 (21st, racing for RB – six Grand Prix)
Whichever driver joined Max Verstappen at Red Bull this season was going to have their work cut out.
The Dutchman didn’t have it all his own way last year, but even when he didn’t possess the fastest car, he was never under serious pressure in the Drivers’ Championship.
Hopes are high within Red Bull about Liam Lawson, but he’s still very raw and joining a team that is completely geared towards one driver.
More experienced drivers than Lawson have struggled to adapt to the way Red Bull set up their car to benefit Verstappen and it’s going to be fascinating to see how he fares.
9. Alpine – Pierre Gasly vs Jack Doohan
- Pierre Gasly, 2024 points: 42 (10th)
- Jack Doohan, 2024 points: 0 (24th – one Grand Prix)
Jack Doohan’s debut at the end of the 2024 season can’t be read into too much, but Flavio Briatore might not have got that message.
Alpine have signed Franco Colapinto and Doohan’s rumoured short-term contract suggests that this match-up may not last until the end of the season.
This shouldn’t take anything away from Pierre Gasly who was brilliant in the second half of last season.
He’s the established team leader at Alpine and will hope he can improve on his top 10 finish in the championship this year.
8. Mercedes – George Russell vs Andrea Kimi Antonelli
- George Russell, 2024 points: 245 (6th)
- Kimi Antonelli, 2024: 6th in Formula 2
One of the biggest question marks heading into the 2025 season is just how good Andrea Kimi Antonelli really is.
The Italian is incredibly highly rated by Mercedes but converting potential into results is easier said than done.
He’s up against George Russell who became just the third driver – after Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button – to finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the championship in 2024.
Toto Wolff is already tempering expectations on Antonelli but the 18-year-old will be keen to prove plenty of people wrong this year.
7. Aston Martin – Fernando Alonso vs Lance Stroll
- Fernando Alonso, 2024 points: 70 (9th)
- Lance Stroll, 2024 points: 24 (13th)
Lance Stroll starts the 2025 F1 season on a run of 11 Grand Prix without scoring a point, making him one of the most out-of-form drivers on the grid.
It’s not entirely his fault, with Aston Martin slipping down the pecking order the longer the campaign went on.
However, Fernando Alonso still managed to finish 2024 with back-to-back points finishes and continued to show his class even when the team were struggling.
Stroll has been in Formula 1 long enough to know that a sudden improvement in performance isn’t just around the corner and Alonso should comfortably finish ahead of him unless he experiences a serious downturn.
6. Racing Bulls – Yuki Tsunoda vs Isack Hadjar
- Yuki Tsunoda, 2024 points: 30 (12th)
- Isack Hadjar, 2024: 2nd in Formula 2
Tsunoda arrives with a point to prove in 2025 after being overlooked once again by Red Bull over the winter break.
He was very quick last year and saw off the challenge of Daniel Ricciardo convincingly despite RB’s car getting worse and worse as the season progressed.
In Hadjar, Tsunoda has a rapid but raw new teammate with limited running in a Formula 1 car up to this point.
It may take the Frenchman time to get up to speed, but if he can avoid making too many mistakes, he’ll keep Tsunoda on his toes.
5. Sauber – Nico Hulkenberg vs Gabriel Bortoleto
- Nico Hulkenberg, 2024 points: 41 (11th)
- Gabriel Bortoleto, 2024: Formula 2 champion
Nico Hulkenberg was seen as a real coup for Sauber after his brilliant beginning to the campaign with Haas in 2024.
His form dipped slightly as the season went on and despite previous driving for Sauber, he’s adapting to new surroundings at 2024’s weakest team.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Bortoleto has impressed every time he’s been presented with a new challenge and while very little is expected of him this year, his fans in Brazil are well aware of just how quick he is.
Alonso thinks Bortoleto is this year’s strongest rookie and he’ll be desperate to prove that against Hulkenberg in the team’s final season before they become the Audi works team.
4. Haas – Esteban Ocon vs Oliver Bearman
- Esteban Ocon, 2024 points: 23 (14th)
- Oliver Bearman: 2024 points: 7 (18th, three Grand Prix racing for Haas and Ferrari)
Esteban Ocon’s exit from Alpine wasn’t the most subtle departure from a Formula 1 team but offered him the chance to become a clear team leader elsewhere in the paddock.
Ocon’s relationship with Gasly was rock, to say the least, and Oliver Bearman will hope he doesn’t have similar issues ahead of his first full campaign on the grid.
While Ocon has more than 150 Grand Prix and a race win under his belt, he’ll be aware that he can’t underestimate his new teammate.
Bearman scored points on his debut for Ferrari and Haas with neither outing straightforward for the British teenager.
3. Williams – Carlos Sainz vs Alex Albon
- Carlos Sainz, 2024 points: 290 (5th, racing for Ferrari)
- Alex Albon, 2024 points: 12 (16th)
Williams will feel confident that they’ve got one of the most closely matched pairings on the grid next year.
Alex Albon knows the team inside out from the past few years and will hope to use that to his advantage against Carlos Sainz.
Both drivers will feel that they have a point to prove once the lights go out in Australia.
Sainz will want the world of F1 to realise they made a mistake allowing him to drop so far down the grid, and Albon will want to beat him to prove that he’s the strongest driver outside the top teams this year.
2. Ferrari – Charles Leclerc vs Lewis Hamilton
- Charles Leclerc, 2024 points: 356 (3rd)
- Lewis Hamilton, 2024 points: 223 (7th, racing for Mercedes)
Charles Leclerc proved during the start of his spell at Ferrari that he’s not afraid of a multiple world champion arriving on his doorstep.
He defeated Sebastian Vettel after returning from his one-year loan spell at Sauber and will have similar ambitions to do the same to Hamilton in 2025.
The 40-year-old doesn’t arrive in the best form after a tricky season with Mercedes, but if he gets the car hooked up, he may end up being unstoppable.
It’s up to team principal Frederic Vasseur to make sure their battle to be the number one driver doesn’t get out of hand.
1. McLaren – Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri
- Lando Norris, 2024 points: 374 (2nd)
- Oscar Piastri, 2024 points: 292 (4th)
The battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri could quite easily decide who wins this season’s Drivers’ Championship.
Norris is more experienced and eventually opened up a decent lead over his McLaren colleague once they reached Abu Dhabi.
But Piastri is getting quicker and quicker all the time and few drivers can claim to be multiple race winners after their first two seasons in the sport.
McLaren won’t want to use papaya rules again in 2025, but unless one driver establishes an early lead in the standings, they may have to be told to drive with the team in mind to avoid losing their Constructors’ Championship crown.
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