By James Broughton, February 19, 2025
Formula One celebrated its 75th anniversary with a live event at the O2 Arena, London yesterday, attended by celebrities and a large audience. The spectacle felt more like the Oscars, and hopefully, it remains a one-time event—only to be repeated when F1 reaches its 100th anniversary. Thankfully, I won’t be around to see that.
Nevertheless, the F1 75 Live event played host to all teams, many of whom used the occasion to launch their 2025 campaign cars. There were some noteworthy moments: Christian Horner was booed, a seated Max Verstappen looked occasionally bored, and Lewis Hamilton received the loudest cheers during an on-stage interview.
The 2025 F1 season is a transitional year, so the cars will look similar to their predecessors. However, this season is all about refining engineering and aerodynamic details in the relentless quest for performance gains. In over 25 years of watching Formula One, Ferrari always seems to start the season as the team to beat—and this year is no different. That said, every team up and down the grid will say the same.
The Top Teams
It’s always difficult to predict this early, but McLaren and Ferrari ended the 2024 season strongly and will likely carry that momentum into 2025. Red Bull started 2024 in dominant form, but their performance dipped after Adrian Newey announced his departure. However, the team managed to rally towards the latter stages of the season. The biggest question mark for Red Bull this year is their power unit—having opted to develop their own engine, early reports have not been promising.
With that in mind, Red Bull could struggle this season, and Verstappen may start considering other options—perhaps a switch to Aston Martin to reunite with Newey.
Mercedes is another big unknown. They’ve lost their talisman, Lewis Hamilton, and they have yet to develop a ground-effect-era car that can consistently challenge for wins at every Grand Prix. George Russell has the speed to win races, but does he have the mentality to sustain a championship campaign?
As for Aston Martin, they now have the technical expertise of Adrian Newey and a supply of works Honda engines—a formidable combination. However, Newey’s role in 2025 is transitional, meaning he had little input into this season’s car, which was largely developed last year. That said, he will undoubtedly implement key improvements. While Aston Martin may start the season on the back foot, expect them to come on strong by mid-season.
Pre-Season Testing & The Road to Australia
The livery launch cars will undergo extensive updates before the first race of the season in Australia on March 14. Before that, teams will have two days of testing at the Sakhir Circuit, Qatar, from February 26-28.
Modern F1 testing is now dominated by supercomputers and simulators. The team with the best testing software and hardware will gain a crucial advantage. However, nothing beats real-world data, as even the most advanced software struggles to replicate the unpredictable nature of actual track conditions.
