With Formula One teams beginning to ramp up their pre-season activity, the excitement levels amongst the F1 world also goes up a few gears. The sight of cars on track is a welcome sight ahead of one of the most highly anticipated seasons in recent history. In 2024, McLaren claimed their first constructor’s trophy since 1998 and although there was nothing new on the driver’s front with Max Verstappen winning his fourth driver’s championship in a row, the 2024 season gave us the closest driver’s battle in years.
Lando Norris and the resurgent McLaren team pushed Verstappen and Red Bull all the way, but inexperience and poor decision-making cost Norris the chance to really challenge Verstappen. But with seven drivers winning multiple races for the first time in F1 history, the scene is beautifully set for a stellar 2025 season.
The betting markets are currently tipping Verstappen and Norris to resume battle for the championship and there might be a few more options available to those who gamble with a credit card. With the pack bunched closer than they have ever been, picking a winner or a full podium has never been more difficult. However, this makes for incredibly tense and exciting racing.
In the final year of the current era of regulations, constructors will have one eye on 2026, but for the upcoming season, there is one storyline that is expected to dominate F1 news sections throughout the season.
Even before the lights in 2024 went out in the opening race in Bahrain, the headlines had been dominated by the announcement that Sir Lewis Hamilton would join Ferrari from the 2025 season. That time has finally come, and photos and video clips of Hamilton dressed in the scarlet red overalls have got racing fans around the world excited and experts speculating what is possible this season for Hamilton and Ferrari.
Hamilton to take Ferrari to the next level
Although Verstappen romped away with the championship, Red Bull only struggled to third position in the constructor’s standings, mainly because of Sergio Perez’s struggles. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner made the swift decision to replace the Mexican with Kiwi Liam Lawson, who finished the 2024 campaign with VCARB after jumping in to replace Daniel Ricciardo as recently as September 2024. Not only McLaren, but Ferrari also took advantage of Red Bull’s Mexican handicap and only finished 14 points behind McLaren.
And with Hamilton partnering Charles Leclerc for the upcoming season, Ferrari potentially possess the most devastating driver line up on the grid. With Hamilton’s experience and pure driving ability, Ferrari have the potential to push McLaren even further in an attempt to win their first constructor’s championship since 2008, when Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa were driving for the Scuderia.
The signing of arguably Formula One’s greatest driver is also expected to push Charles Leclerc to greater levels and could even prove an interesting challenge for Hamilton to overcome. But together, the Tifosi have good reason to believe they can enjoy a successful 2025.
Hamilton to make it a gr-eight season
While the constructor’s championship is far from a forgone conclusion, breaking Verstappen’s stranglehold on the driver’s championship trophy will prove an even tougher task. Hamilton’s last championship came in 2020 when seated in a dominant Mercedes, before he was tantalisingly close to securing a record-breaking eighth title in the controversial 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi.
Ferrari will harbour ambitions of finishing at the top of the constructor’s standings, but Hamilton will be keen to make history with his new team. The 105-time Grand Prix winner did not enjoy the greatest of starts in a Ferrari, crashing during testing in Barcelona. The team immediately responded by saying it is a “normal situation that can happen in such testing sessions,” and even someone of Hamilton’s calibre cannot be expected to push a new piece of machinery to its limit perfectly on one of its first runs.
Nevertheless, pushing to the limit could also signal the intent and appetite Hamilton has ahead of the 2025 campaign. Driving for Ferrari was a childhood dream for the Brit. Now he is finally living his dream, Hamilton will be desperate to add an eighth world championship to his collection and in doing so, surpass another Ferrari legend, Michael Schumacher, and officially become the greatest driver in the history of F1.
