Red Bull Racing’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen at the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix on December 5, 2024.. Photos by AFP
The 2025 Formula One season has all the makings of a white-knuckle 24-race celebration to mark 75 years since the inaugural seven-race championship in 1950, while Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari provides an intriguing storyline.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen appears to have his work cut out to seal a fifth straight title with Lando Norris poised to knock the Dutchman off his perch.
Hamilton says his move from Mercedes to Ferrari has given him a new lease of life.
So what are the five talking points before the season gets underway in Australia on Sunday?
Fifth title for Verstappen?
Seventy-five years after Giuseppe Farina claimed the first F1 world championship at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo, Verstappen embarks on the 2025 season in pursuit of a fifth successive title, a feat only achieved once before, by Michael Schumacher.
If he succeeds it will cement the Dutchman’s place as a titan of the sport.
He hoovered up seven of the first 10 races in his rampaging Red Bull last year, before a 10-race winless run as McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari ran riot.
But Verstappen had the last word, fighting back to win in Brazil and clinch title number four with two races to spare.
McLaren prised the constructors championship away from Red Bull to seal their long road back to the F1 summit.
The tough task facing Verstappen is underlined by the betting, which has him as only second favourite behind Norris (who ended last season 63 points behind) for the 2025 crown.
