The 2025 Formula 1 season has officially begun, another eventful year for fans worldwide. This year features new drivers on the grid and some surprising driver transfers between teams. With the season starting on March 23, there have already been a few race weekends, with Lando Norris winning the Australian GP and his teammate, Oscar Piastri, winning the Chinese GP, marking an excellent start for McLaren. Max Verstappen secured a win at the Japanese GP, bringing him to second place in the championship behind Norris. Piastri then went on to win the Bahrain GP, which brought him two wins this season.
Many fans were upset last year due to Max Verstappen’s dominance, with some claiming that the sport had gotten a bit “boring.” Fortunately, there are a few new kids on the block to compete with, including Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Isaac Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Oliver Bearman (Haas), and Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes). With all these additions to the grid, fans are hoping for more competition between drivers throughout the year.
As of March 27, Yuki Tsunoda has officially been promoted to Red Bull to race alongside Max Verstappen, which is a surprising change since many fans had already hoped that this would happen, with many people claiming that Yuki’s talent was being wasted at Racing Bulls. With Cadillac already being confirmed to be added to F1 next season, many fans hope Sergio Perez will return with the team after being replaced at Red Bull.
There have been a few rule changes with the start of the season, but the most impactful one seems to be the removal of the fastest lap point, which means a driver in the top 10 can no longer get an extra point by setting the quickest time for a lap around the track. Some fans have criticized this change by saying it removes competition late in the race since drivers won’t have the incentive to push their limits to try and score that extra point for themselves. Another impactful change is the implementation of the driver cooling system, which mandates the installation of a driver cooling system if the weather forecast predicts temperatures of 31 °C or above sometime during a sprint of the Grand Prix. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the weight limit of the cars with two different limits: an additional 2kg for practice, Qualifying, and Sprint Qualifying sessions, but a total of +5 kilograms for a Sprint or Grand Prix. The two different weight limits exist so teams can install the base system to reduce workload without filling it with cooling fluid. The system isn’t required during practice or qualifying sessions involving shorter runs.
Steevenley Pascal (12) stated that his favorite driver is Max Verstappen: “Max was just so consistent last year, and I feel like he’s defrosting this season, but he will dominate again.” He believes Tsunoda will be a good addition to the Red Bull team and a good teammate for Verstappen.
David Ekezie (12) had much to say about this Formula One season: “This season is starting pretty good; Max finally has some competition and isn’t just winning every race like last year.” His biggest concern is that Charles Leclerc might not get to shine much in the spotlight since his teammate is now Lewis Hamilton, and he believes that he might get more attention from Ferrari and overshadow Leclerc.
Connor Fulmer (12) is a new fan of F1. He said, “I heard some of my friends talking about it, and I decided to look into it, and it seems pretty cool.” His favorite driver is Lewis Hamilton because “he dresses the best out of everyone.”
