In terms of who is driving which car, the F1 grid will look completely different to the line up at the final race in 2024. A total of 10 drivers, half the grid, will be strapped into unfamiliar seats when testing starts in Bahrain on 26th February.

Only two teams, Mclaren and Aston Martin have retained their 2024 drivers for this year and an unprecedented 6 rookies have secured full time drives in 2025. Also unique is the age gap between the youngest and oldest drivers with a staggering 25 years separating 18yo Kimi Antonelli, who replaces Hamilton at Mercedes, and veteran Spaniard Fernando Alonso who is 43.

Perhaps the most publicised change has been Lewis Hamilton’s switch from Mercedes to Ferrari who, at 40 years old, believes he can become one of oldest champions, certainly in the modern era. Juan Manuel Fangio still remains the oldest at 46 but that was 68 years ago in very different times.

Almost equalling publicity of the Hamilton switch was the move of legendary car designer and engineer Adrian Newey from the all conquering Red Bull Racing Team to Aston Martin for 2025.

Although this move emphasises the Silverstone based factory’s ambition to be amongst the leading cars, Newey has already muted controversial but necessary changes to the driver line up with the team owners son, Lance Stroll, being specifically targeted for criticism.

Stroll’s parental security may be enough to save the Canadian but if he fails to deliver in 2025, history has taught us that contracts for full time seats mean very little if expected points are not delivered, particularly when driving for teams at the head of the grid. Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull, Liam Lawson will be more aware of this than most as Christian Horner has previously demonstrated ruthless mid season driver changes on several occasions in recent years.

With five other rookies, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Jack Doohan (Alpine) and Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) all desperate to keep their seats, the odds of the final grid being the same as the first may be very high this year.

There are always rules and regulation changes and 2025 is no exception with several minor changes including the use of driver cooling vests in high temperature conditions. Disappointingly, the change everyone wants to see has, once again, not been addressed by the new rules. Overtaking is the biggest single factor required to improve the spectacle of the world’s premier motorsport class. Despite two more races in 2024 the number of overtakes was down from 858 in 2023 to only 788 last year.

Fans were also treated to a huge change in the season launch with all the teams present at a packed O2 arena for a live televised event presenting all the cars and drivers for the year ahead. This illustrated the one thing that is unlikely to change in 2025 and that is the increasing popularity of Formula 1. The event was broadcast by 42 TV companies throughout the world and followed by 7.5 million viewers on social media channels.