The 2025 Formula One (F1) season has officially begun, bringing with it a ton of exciting changes and developments that are sure to shake everything up and make this season one to remember. All kinds of driver swaps and team drama have enveloped F1 throughout the 2024 season and winter break, all set to take place at or near the start of the 2025 F1 season. We’ll be taking a look at some of the changes presented and answering some burning questions related to what could take place in the new season.
As there hasn’t yet been a race or qualifying session, it’s difficult to gauge exactly what we could end up seeing. However, based on the changes that have already been made to the roster, some very educated guesses can be made and some interesting conclusions can be drawn.
What can generally be expected for the 2025 F1 Season?
The 2025 F1 season has brought a lot to the table in terms of new driver lineups and has already seen an announcement for a brand new 11th team (though, it won’t be racing until next season). Due to the major shakeups for the new season, you may be tempted to try your best-educated guesses with an online sports betting website, and this article should hopefully serve well as a way to catch up on what could happen in the season to come.
Although we will shortly go quite a bit more in-depth on all of these points, there does exist some of the most major happenings that should be caught up on before anything else. These could also serve as some solid bullet points to better help you in the realm of F1 Betting, particularly in the Grands Prix to come.
Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari seems to be the most surprising development in the driver market, as well as Carlos Sainz’s subsequent forced move out of Ferrari and into his choice of Williams F1 Team. Additionally, five new rookies have entered the sport, mostly replacing drivers who either weren’t performing up to the standards of the various teams or were simply growing too old for the demanding physicality of Formula 1.
Over on the side of the teams themselves, a surprising 11th team has been added in the form of Cadillac F1 Team, previously known as Andretti-Cadillac F1 team. The man originally spearheading the project, Michael Andretti, was essentially kicked out of the project under slightly mysterious circumstances, though it’s rumored that his brash and unpleasant personality at the negotiating table ultimately made the Formula 1 Management Team happier with the project going forward without him.
In terms of technical regulations, the most prominent changes are the Flexi-wing rules loophole being closed from the Spanish Grand Prix onward (a move that is speculated to most benefit RedBull Racing), the addition of at least two mandatory pit stops in the Monaco Grand Prix in order to enhance both competitiveness and entertainment value and the fact that teams are now mandated to run rookie drivers in four free practice sessions throughout the new season in order to promote emerging talent (the previous minimum was two free practice sessions).
This rundown of changes to hit the new season should hopefully help you stay more informed on what’s to come, and should also help you choose the wisest bets in order to get the best possible returns. Stake.com is an online betting website that has already begun hosting betting for the 2025 F1 Season and will continue to do so throughout it. With that all being said, let’s take a deeper look at some of the more important changes that will impact the 2025 F1 season.
What are the major driver changes for the 2025 F1 Season?
- Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari – Undoubtedly the most well-known and groundbreaking move announced for the new season, Lewis Hamilton’s shock move to Ferrari stunned fans and analysts alike. This is due to the fact that it was announced as a surprise bombshell move that had no definitive prior signs or warnings, completely blindsiding everyone in the F1 space. The 7-time world champion won 6 of his titles with Mercedes, a team that he had spent 12 seasons with overall. The only title outside of Mercedes that Lewis won was with McLaren, the only other team he’s ever raced with and the team with which he won his first driver’s title.
It’s reported that Hamilton didn’t even bother informing Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff until just before the move to Ferrari was announced to the public, Toto himself has stated in an interview that he was nothing short of surprised and that he expected a bit more loyalty from Lewis.
The main reason for the move seems to be Mercedes’ slump in form ever since entering the ground effect era, one that they still haven’t recovered from. Hamilton is aware that his age is getting to him and time is running out for the chance to win a record-breaking 8th title, Mercedes simply didn’t seem to him like the team that could deliver that title anytime soon.
- Carlos Sainz to Williams – Carlos Sainz has unfortunately seemingly been caught in the crossfire of the bombshell Hamilton move, and was forced out of the team to make way for Lewis’ incoming 2+1 year Ferrari stint. This firing came at the end of a 2024 season where he secured multiple wins and podiums for the prancing horse, making it obvious that Sainz isn’t being kicked out due to lack of skill.
The other choice was firing Ferrari’s other driver, Charles Leclerc, but seeing as Leclerc is a driver who Ferrari believes has the edge over Sainz, as well as him being a driver that Ferrari has picked up and helped advance over his entire junior career through to F1, it was obvious that they weren’t just going to drop their golden boy so easily.
Sainz has gone on record saying that he personally takes no offense, considering who’s the one replacing him, and understands the decision and why it was made. The firing effectively made Sainz the most valuable free agent on the market, and he ended up controversially picking to sign with Williams over the promising Audi F1 project. Audi has a history with the Sainz family, already having signed his father, Carlos Sainz Sr., as a driver in the Dakar Rally. Sainz Jr. has admitted in a recent interview that his dad is still annoyed at the choice he made. Williams seems to have benefited the most from this strange move, with Team Principal James Vowles stating that he thinks the team has one of if not the strongest driver lineups heading into the 2025 F1 season.
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Promotion – Following the announced departure of Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes had an important empty seat to fill. While rumors were floated early on about Sainz, Alonso, or Verstappen potentially taking the seat, Mercedes F1 Team ultimately made the decision to promote their rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the full-time seat for the 2025 F1 season.
Antonelli was seen as a very risky pick by the team, as the 18-year-old driver had only just started racing in F2. Toto Wolff has reassured skeptics that this was the right choice to make and that Antonelli was the next big F1 star in the making. In fact, Mercedes lobbied the FIA to allow Antonelli to test in their F1 car despite being 17 at the time, a measure which the FIA agreed to, granting Antonelli the privilege to test in free practice sessions for the team at such a young age.
Mercedes reckons that George Russell has improved enough to serve as a first driver for the team, at least until Antonelli finds his way over the next couple of seasons. George himself also shares this sentiment, having learned a lot over his time as second driver to Hamilton, as well as actually outscoring him over the course of the 2024 F1 season.
These were the highest-profile driver changes for the start of the new F1 season, but they aren’t the only ones that happened. Other notable driver changes included, but weren’t limited to:
- Ollie Bearman’s move to Haas following an impressive showing as Ferrari’s reserve driver
- Gabriel Bortoleto’s F1 Debut with Kick Sauber following his impressive winning of the F2 championship
- Jack Doohan’s move to Alpine following their kicking out of Esteban Ocon due to poor sportsmanship exhibited towards his teammate.
What are the major team changes for the 2025 F1 Season?
While there aren’t many super important team changes that have been announced to take effect in the 2025 season, there have still been some swaps among team principals and higher staff. Additionally, many announcements have been made for the upcoming 2026 season.
- Cadillac F1 Team – The entry of General Motors into the world of Formula 1 through Cadillac Formula 1 team has been quite messy at times, with the possibility of the team entering the sport going back and forth before the team’s entry into the sport finally being approved and announced for the 2026 F1 season.
This 11th entry into the constructor’s championship was originally the idea of Michael Andretti, a man who was already involved in other FIA-regulated motorsports through his company Andretti Global. Michael is the son of F1 world champion Mario Andretti and has raced in F1 himself, though he did not have a particularly notable career in the sport. He later found much more success in the higher management of motorsport, with Andretti Global finding success in motorsports such as Indycar and Formula E.
The first major breakthrough came when Andretti Global had successfully spawned a partnership with General Motors, with GM’s Cadillac brand entering into a partnership that would officially form the team known as Andretti-Cadillac. Andretti Global applied to join the 2026 F1 Season, as an 11th team. It is of note that they were fully willing to pay the monstrous multi-hundred million Euro sum to enter the sport, as mandated under the famous Concorde Agreement. However, while Andretti-Cadillac did receive the green light from the FIA to start negotiations with FOM (Formula One Management) about its entry into the sport, FOM decided to deny Andretti-Cadillac entry, with rumors of Michael Andretti being quite brash and painful to deal with throughout negotiations about joining the sport.
Ultimately, Michael Andretti was forced out of his position at Andretti Global, and the Andretti-Cadillac project seemed to possibly be dead in the water, with its original mastermind completely ousted. However, GM made the decision to continue with the Formula 1 project, completely handling all aspects on their own and rebranding themselves as Cadillac Formula 1 Team. They additionally made the promise to supply their own American-made Cadillac Formula 1 engines starting in 2028, while stating that they would serve as a customer team until then.
The team at FOM ultimately decided to go through with this proposal, recently approving Cadillac F1 team to go racing for the 2026 season. GM has made a huge commitment to this project, setting up operations both in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom. It should be mentioned that Cadillac has since renounced its promise about running its own engines by 2028, and has shifted this to “by the end of the decade”.
While this was the biggest piece of news regarding teams that have been talked about during the 2025 F1 Season, it isn’t the only one. Other notable happenings include, but aren’t limited to:
- Andy Cowell’s move to Aston Martin – Aston Martin has parted ways with Mike Krack following its slump in form after the 2023 season, and instead brought in former Mercedes HPPT Director Andy Cowell as a replacement. Cowell will also be taking the role of being the CEO of Aston Martin.
- Oliver Oakes’ move to Alpine – Following the unceremonious departure of Bruno Famin from Alpine during the 2024 Season, it was announced that 36 year old Oliver Oakes would take the position, becoming the second youngest person to ever take the role of Team Principal for a Formula 1 team.
- Jonathan Wheatley’s move to Kick Sauber – The most recent new team principal is Jonathan Wheatley becoming the team principal for Kick Sauber F1 Team (Soon to be Audi F1 Team). Wheatley had previously been high up at Red Bull Racing but was most likely swayed by the chance to become a successful team principal. This marks one of many Red Bull departures over the past year, the most notable of which being Adrian Newey, who recently made his own move to Aston Martin F1 team.