Five key storylines to follow in the 2025 F1 season

The new F1 season is just two months away, with 24 races planned from Australia on March 16th to Abu Dhabi on December 7th. 

There are plenty of storylines up and down the grid that will bubble away throughout the year, and so RacingNews365 has rounded up five of the biggest.

Check them out below!

Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari

The biggest driver transfer in the history of F1 will finally become a reality.

For most of Lewis Hamilton's career, the 'will he, won't he?' of a move to Ferrari has never been too far away, with the move to partner Charles Leclerc becoming official on January 1st.

There are questions surrounding Hamilton after a relatively poor 2024 season, highlighted by that emotional win at Silverstone to end his long drought. 

He will have the challenge of going into Leclerc's team and establishing himself as number one, and not wanting to play second-fiddle. 

The class of 2025

If you include Liam Lawson, there are six rookies on the F1 grid in 2025, the most since six all debuted in the 2015 season. 

Lawson has the chance of a lifetime after being promoted to Red Bull to partner Max Verstappen after just 11 races, with Ollie Bearman and Jack Doohan also having made starts in F1 for their Haas and Alpine teams, respectively.

Elsewhere, Andrea Kimi Antonelli is in to replace Hamilton at Mercedes, Isack Hadjar gets the RB seat left by Lawson and F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto is in at Stake. 

Of the six, Lawson and Antonelli are under the greatest pressure to perform from the off, with Lawson being tipped by Red Bull boss Christian Horner to have the mental strength to put up with Verstappen.

How teams walk development tight-rope

From January 1st 2025, teams are now permitted to begin development and aero-testing of the new 2026 regulations.

Thus far, they have been banned from doing so with the radical regulations overhaul featuring active aerodynamics as part of a package designed to make cars more raceable. 

Whilst most focus will be switched to 2026 to ensure a good head-start, teams engaged in the 2025 title fight must walk the fine line between trying to win that championship but not scupper their chances with the new rules as McLaren and Ferrari did in the winter of 2008.

How will Adrian Newey do at Aston Martin?

Speaking of which, 2025 is something of a free-hit for Adrian Newey and Aston Martin after he joins as managing technical partner. 

There is no point in Aston going all-in on the 2025 season as the competitive order will largely remain the same as in '24, but '26 represents a golden opportunity for the big-money signing to work his wonders on a set of regulations almost perfect for him.

Aston has struggled to deliver meaningful upgrades since the middle of 2023, and so one thing Newey must solve is ensuring that any new parts actually deliver what the team intend. 

If Fernando Alonso sees good progress through the year and starts 2026 in a competitive state, might he extend his stay even further to finally maximise an Adrian Newey-designed car he has craved for so long?

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri

Perhaps the most intriguing of all the team-mate battles in 2025 comes at McLaren and Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri.

Piastri was close enough on a number of occasions to cause Norris a number of problems, and has shown in wheel-to-wheel combat he is not afraid of risking it all to pass the Briton, as evidenced at the start in the 2024 Italian GP. 

One sore point for McLaren in 2024 was its handling of team orders with the so-called 'papaya rules' in place, something of a fudge as the team got used to fighting once again at the front of the field. 

Piastri must take a step forward again, especially in qualifying compared to Norris, but the dynamics of this battle is fascinating going forward, given Norris is regarded very highly by Red Bull should Verstappen do a runner.