If you haven’t already read the Formula One 2024 season recap, I highly suggest you check it out! Formula One’s 75 season officially starts on March 14 in Australia and ends Dec. 7 in Abu Dhabi. Only two teams are retaining the exact same lineup as 2024, Aston Martin and McLaren. There are new drivers on the grid, and rule changes, creating a season full of changes and chances for upsets. With 24 Grand Prix weekends, it’ll be a season to watch as competition is close and no dominant driver or team has come out of pre-season testing.
History Made:
Haas has hired the first female race engineer in Formula One history: Laura Muller. She will be the voice in Esteban Ocon’s ear during the races. Haas also has a new head of strategy: Carine Cridelich, who was recruited from Red Bull. These two hires by Haas are showing the future of F1 and how it can become less of a male-dominated sport.
Teams:
Lewis Hamilton has reunited with his former trainer, Angela Cullen, as he starts his first season with Ferrari. The seven-time world champion and former Mercedes driver first started working with Cullen in 2016, only to part ways with her at the start of 2023. It hasn’t been said in what capacity she will return, but sources confirmed that she has joined Hamilton’s Project 44 company. Hamilton is also starting his first season with Ferrari.
Williams Racing has a new title sponsor making their official name Atlassian Williams Racing for the foreseeable future as they signed a long-term title sponsorship. WIlliams has said that the partnership deal was the biggest in the 48-year history of the team, though no financial details were given.
Carlos Sainz, driving for Williams, has become a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA). He is filling the vacancy left behind by four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who retired from F1 at the end of 2022 and stepped down as a GPDA director in 2024. The GPDA was formed in the early 1960s and predominantly focused on safety matters, though that has changed in recent years as the drivers find themselves at odds with Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). The FIA governs not just F1, but the World Rally Championship, World Endurance Championship, Formula E, and more.
Rule Changes:
2025 brings seven new rule changes as well:
- Drivers can no longer receive a point if they drive the fastest lap during a race. Starting in 2019, if a driver finished in the top ten, they could earn a bonus point by setting the fastest lap of the race. That point will no longer be awarded to any driver.
- If the weather forecast predicts a temperature of 31 Celsius or above during either the Sprint or Grand Prix, a “Heat Hazard” can be declared. The Heat Hazard means that teams would be required to fit a driver cooling system in the car and on the driver. The cooling system allows a weight increase for the car limit.
- Drivers can only take part in testing the cars for a total of four days, during which type cannot exceed a total of 1000 kilometres. That restriction only applies to using a car that is at least two seasons old and does not include tire testing or promotional running with their current machinery.
- Teams have to double the amount of time that rookies are run in Free Practices! For each team, rookies will go from driving once per car to twice per car in the first practice sessions of a Grand Prix weekend, so four times in total throughout the season in an attempt to give rookies more F1 practice.
- The FIA has tightened the technical regulations that cover the rear wing and the Drag Reduction System (DRS). The main changes focus on defining the state of deployment and restricting the rear wing to only two positions: open and closed.
- There have been changes to qualifying as well. If the stewards accept that a qualifying session is unable to take place, such as due to weather, the starting grid for the race will be based upon the order of the Drivers’ Championship. That will also apply to the Sprint starting grid as well if necessary. However, if the Drivers’ Championship order can’t be used, such as at the start of the season, the grid order would be up to the stewards to determine. To add, if a driver is unable to set a time in Q2 or Q3, they would be ordered based on the results of the previous qualifying segment.
- At the end of the season, along with the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi, teams will have to run a second car as well. The Young Driver Test features a current car being driven by a rookie who has started in two or less Grands Prix weekends. The second car teams will have to run is a mule car (the term for a chassis that has been adapted to complete test running. The car typically is updated to mimic upcoming regulation changes and can differ drastically from the specifications of the original car). The mule car will be adapted for the 2026 regulations for the purpose of testing the 2026 Pirelli tires.
The Monaco Grand Prix has also made a rule change: two stops minimum must occur with drivers using at least three sets of tires in the race and a minimum of two different tire compounds to be used if the track is dry and there is no rain.
Also, a new regulation in the sporting regulations allows the race director to force a team to instruct their driver to pull over if driving a severely damaged car.
Rookies:
There are also six new rookies on the grid if you include Ollie Bearman and Liam Lawson because it will be their first full season in F1.
Ollie Bearman will be officially entering his first full season with Haas after debuting as a reserve driver for both Haas and Ferrari last season.
Liam Lawson will finally have a permanent seat in F1 with Red Bull after replacing Daniel Ricciardo in 2023 with just five races of that season and then returning again for the last six races of 2024 to replace Ricciardo yet again.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (who goes by Kimi) will be debuting for Mercedes, replacing Hamilton. Antonelli was given a chance to drive a Mercedes during a practice session and crashed the car within ten minutes.
Jack Doohan will be debuting with Alpine after having stepped in the last race of 2024, Abu Dhabi, to replace Esteban Ocon.
Gabriel Bortoleto is joining Kick Sauber alongside Nico Hulkenberg after winning back-to-back F3 and F2 championships.
Isack Hadjar will be filling the vacant seat left by Lawson at Racing Bulls (formerly Visa Cash App RB).
The FIA:
The FIA made changes to the sporting code that governs various motorsports around the world. The FIA has stated that misconduct is defined as including both offensive language and physical assault, along with acts deemed to cause “moral injury or loss” to not just the FIA but auto racing in general. If a driver criticises the FIA, they could be punished. Drivers could also be punished for “political, religious and personal statements or comments notably in violation of the general principle of neutrality promoted by the FIA” if there is no written approval in advance.
One of the biggest changes surrounds swearing after the controversies that occurred last season and the GPDA standing up for the drivers. Part of the new rules could also lead to not just F1 drivers but any motorsports driver under the FIA rule receiving points deductions, fines, and even a possible race ban for misconduct violations such as swearing. A driver at the 2025 Rally Sweden, part of the World Rally Championship, was given a €10,000 Euro fine ($15,148.30 CAD). F1 drivers would receive a €40,000 Euro fine—$60,593.20 CAD—as their penalties are multiplied by 4 for having said “we f*cked up yesterday” when interviewed on Rally.TV about the race the day before. It remains to be seen what stance the GPDA will be taking and how F1 drivers will handle the new fines and rule changes.
Another change the FIA is requiring any drivers starting from the pit lane to join the formation lap instead of staying in their garage until the grid has formed after the formation lap, closing any potential loopholes that might arise.
It’s certain to be a close season among the top drivers, with Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, and more ready to race hard against Max Verstappen and become the new reigning champion of the 2025 season. The new rules and regulation changes have yet to be challenged during a Grand Prix weekend. With just a week or so until the new season starts, so much is changing in the sport with new challengers emerging. You can watch the races on F1TV, TSN, and RDS in Canada. The 75 season of F1 is one you won’t want to miss!