2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Jeddah Corniche Circuit

Pre-Season Context and Expectations

The 2025 Formula 1 season began with a reshaped grid and a flurry of driver moves. Lewis Hamilton’s sensational switch from Mercedes to Ferrari dominated headlines, pairing him with Charles Leclerc under the Prancing Horse. At Mercedes, George Russell remained alongside new prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old Italian star promoted from F2. McLaren continued with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, and those two spearheaded the early championship narrative. Piastri claimed pole and won the Bahrain GP, with Norris not far behind, giving McLaren a commanding start. In fact, Piastri’s Bahrain victory put him on 25 points, with Russell on 18 and Norris on 15. This meant McLaren and Mercedes were ahead of the former championship-winning Red Bull (where Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda now drove) and Ferrari (with Hamilton and Leclerc).

Media headlines after Bahrain hailed “McLaren’s resurgence” and even noted Piastri as the first Australian to ever lead the standings (last achieved by Mark Webber in 2010). The early plot was clear: young McLaren drivers setting the pace, backed by team principal Andrea Stella’s calm leadership. Red Bull’s Verstappen – the reigning World Champion – was on 8 points after only 6th in Bahrain, hungry to close the gap. Ferrari, having struggled with their 2024 car, showed some promise (Leclerc 4th in Bahrain) but still needed upgrades.

Off-season technical trends fed anticipation. All teams were developing their 2025 cars, though rules froze major changes. Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull arrived in Jeddah with updates on their cars, seeking more performance on the ultra-fast street circuit. Mercedes, meanwhile, had yet to introduce major upgrades by mid-April. Racing Bulls (formerly AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso) fielded Liam Lawson and newcomer Isack Hadjar, and the rebranded Kick Sauber (powered by Ferrari engines) ran Nico Hülkenberg and rookie Gabriel Bortoleto. In the background, the championship picture was intriguing: with Piastri leading on 25 and Norris on 15, the Australian lad was already considered a title contender, and pundits noted McLaren’s strong package, contrasting with Red Bull’s surprisingly near-neutral ride and Ferrari’s incremental gains.

Preview stories noted Jeddah’s unique challenges: it’s a medium-downforce high-speed layout under lights, so teams had to be ready for strong straight-line performance and tyre conservation on its abrasive surface. With temperatures expected around 27°C (air) and track slightly warmer, hydration would be crucial (particularly for Piastri, who joked later he was “looking for a couch” to cool down after the race). In short, the scene was set: McLaren on form, Ferrari aiming to improve, Mercedes grappling with tyre issues (as practice would show), and Red Bull plotting a charge back up the leaderboard.

Pre-Race Build-Up and Off-Track News

In the days leading up to the Grand Prix, much of the talk was around setup and strategy. Practice reports noted that Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull all brought aero upgrades to Jeddah. Ferrari’s tweaks in particular were watched closely – their SF-25 had been slightly underperforming, and Charles Leclerc was quietly confident a new floor and wing elements would be “the proper test” of their 2025 upgrade package. McLaren’s focus was on cooling: they confirmed Piastri’s redesigned drinks-cooling system (including a bigger straw) was functioning, aiming to prevent the overheating that cost him later in the race. Red Bull, with Verstappen and Tsunoda, was looking to refine balance after Bahrain, and Alpine (with Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan) was still trying to find consistency – Doohan had been demoted to reserve only weeks earlier and was hungry to impress.

Off-track, a few controversies bubbled up. Kimi Antonelli drew attention for bold comments about his rookie move to Mercedes, but most focused on possible track safety issues at Jeddah (the circuit is notoriously fast and narrow). The FIA once again emphasized strict compliance with track limits, following earlier criticism in the Middle East races. Media headlines in F1 circles praised the young generation: “McLaren youth surge”, “First Aussie leader since Webber” (referencing Oscar Piastri), and even sceptical pieces about whether Red Bull could answer back. In press conferences, Piastri himself was modest yet optimistic, saying he hoped to “make the most of a clean start” and thanking McLaren for fixing his cooling issues. Lando Norris, after his Bahrain qualy crash, was contrite; in a qualifying debrief he admitted “I’ve got to take it on the chin… I apologised to the team… the car’s been good all weekend so I’ll try and think hard to overtake tomorrow”. Leclerc expressed surprise at the previous win but stressed “we have to keep working; upgrades are coming soon to improve the car”. The net mood was cautious optimism: every team’s situation was somewhat unsettled, and for one evening in Jeddah, anything could happen.

Free Practice Sessions

Practice was all about data gathering under Jeddah’s tricky conditions. FP1 opened on Friday evening with drivers acclimatising. The session was clean, with no red flags. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll reported understeer and spun once, but the main news was pace. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly surprised many by setting the fastest time on mediums (1:29.239), nudging out Lando Norris (McLaren) in second. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was P3, indicating Ferrari’s upgrade was helping; Oscar Piastri was fourth fastest, about a tenth off Gasly. This session hinted at a tight midfield, with Williams (Carlos Sainz 6th, Albon 8th) showing strong straight-line speed thanks to their Mercedes engine.

In FP2, lap times tumbled as grip improved. McLaren’s Lando Norris led the way on a 1:28.267, about a tenth quicker than Piastri’s best. Verstappen slotted into third with 1:28.503, close behind the McLarens. Russell and Hamilton (Mercedes and Ferrari) were 4th and 5th, within half a second of Norris. No one ran the full race distance yet, but reliability looked good – only one minor spin by Bearman (Haas) disrupted the field. Ferrari’s long runs hinted at low degradation, while Mercedes noted some understeer on worn tyres (a sign of their overheating issue).

The most telling session was FP3 on Saturday. It served as both a final system check and a mock-qualifying run. Again Norris topped the times, lowering the benchmark to 1:27.489 – an excellent lap that bested Piastri by 0.039s. George Russell also impressed in P3 (1:27.622), bridging the gap to McLaren. Piastri’s 1:27.528 was good enough for second, and team mate Norris led the session. Notably, Max Verstappen did not top any session – his best in FP3 was only seventh (1:27.876). This raised some questions about Red Bull’s ultimate pace here. On the flip side, Ferrari (Leclerc 4th, Hamilton 7th in FP3) and Williams (Sainz 8th, Albon 11th) remained competitive through the practice times. The general takeaway was: track evolution helped (FP3 was nearly a second faster than FP1), tyre wear would be a factor, and both McLarens looked strong. There were no significant technical failures or major incidents to report in practice – even Yuki Tsunoda’s testing shake-up weeks earlier had no lingering effect; he kept pace in FP3 (6th fastest). Race engineers now faced big decisions on setup and strategy, but at least on Saturday, nobody’s car had broken down.

Qualifying: Q1, Q2, Q3

The Jeddah qualifying on Saturday night was flat-out from the start. Weather conditions were ideal – clear skies and high temperatures – and all teams ran the mandatory soft and medium Pirellis on their warm-up laps.

Q1 eliminated the five slowest cars. As expected, Alpine and Sauber’s lower-end teams struggled. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) could not match pace and bowed out 17th (1:28.645 on his best lap). Jack Doohan (Alpine) went out 18th (1:28.739) after tangling with cooler tyres. The two kick-started Saubers, Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, were 19th and 20th respectively, both off the pace on their one-lap shots (Bortoleto’s best was 1:29.462). Their elimination set an early tone that Haas and the Racing Bulls would at least make Q2.

Q2 saw more surprises. Alex Albon (Williams) put in a solid run to go 11th (1:28.279), but Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) narrowly made it through in 12th. Fernando Alonso (Aston) could not find much speed and was knocked out in 13th (1:28.303), a shock given his experience. Alpine’s Jack Doohan had a wheelspin mishap and dropped out, ending up P17. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) was 14th (1:28.418) and Haas’ Oliver Bearman 15th (1:28.648). In the end Q2 exits included Albon, Lawson, Alonso, Hadjar and Bearman – all drivers expected to be faster, highlighting just how close the field was.

The final Q3 battle was a thriller. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went head-to-head for pole. In the first runs, Verstappen edged out Piastri by a mere 0.107s. But on their final attempts, it was extremely tight. Max took provisional pole with 1:27.294, and Piastri’s last lap was 1:27.304 – only 0.010 seconds difference! Lando Norris, pushing hard, clipped a kerb and speared into the barriers at Turn 24 late in the session – his car was damaged and he failed to set a time in Q3. He therefore started 10th, a major disappointment given he’d topped FP2 and FP3. Behind the front row, George Russell managed a solid 3rd (1:27.407), while Charles Leclerc was 4th (1:27.670) thanks to a tidy lap. Teenager Antonelli stunned many by qualifying 5th (1:27.866) on his debut weekend. Completing the top ten were Carlos Sainz (6th), Lewis Hamilton (7th), Yuki Tsunoda (8th), Pierre Gasly (9th) and finally Norris (10th despite his crash) – all on similar lap times. In short, a lockout of Verstappen and Piastri on the front row set the stage for Sunday’s drama, with Mercedes sandwiched between the McLaren-Red Bull duo, and Norris condemned to fight from the midfield.

Tyre strategy in qualifying was straightforward: everyone used Mediums for their ultimate laps. The track was improving all session (FP3 track evolution carried over), and teams generally expected a one-stop strategy in the race. As Tom Hislop (age 16, author) noted during Q3, “I could feel the tension in the air under those lights – Verstappen and Piastri looked unstoppable, and Norris had that messy crash but still scraped into Q3. It’s like watching a school exam but at 200mph!” With the grid set, attention turned to the race and how teams would handle start procedures and fuel loads for the roughly 50-lap distance.

Race Report: Lap-by-Lap Summary

Lap 1 – Turn 1 Incident: The race began under the floodlights with a burst of excitement. Out of Turn 1, an immediate titanic battle between the front-row pair unfolded. Oscar Piastri (P2) used the slipstream down the straight and edged to Max Verstappen’s outside into turn 2. Verstappen, wishing to hold position, ran deep on the corner entry. When he returned to track, he had gained the lead by about a car width – but the stewards would soon penalize him. Behind them in Turn 4, chaos struck. Yuki Tsunoda (8th) and Pierre Gasly (9th) dived for position at the tight right-hander; they made contact, spinning both into the wall. It was a racing incident – both drivers later said there was simply no room – but the result was stark: both cars were out and a Safety Car was immediately deployed. George Russell (3rd) held position, but the field bunched up behind. McLaren’s Lando Norris, starting 10th, had quietly moved up to P8 by lap 2 as others stalled.

Lap 2–4 – Safety Car Period: Under the Safety Car, teams held station. Verstappen’s early lead remained on track, but his 5-second penalty meant nothing on track yet. At the restart (lap 4), Verstappen led Piastri, with Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hamilton, Sainz, Norris now ahead of Tsunoda’s broken Red Bull. Alex Albon was shuffling in P7 as the pack lined up.

Lap 4–15 – First Stint: Racing resumed smoothly at lap 4. Oscar Piastri controlled the pace from Max, who was now on the Medium tyre (both had started on Medium). George Russell, on the offset (he started on Medium with a planned one-stop), kept up with the leaders for the time being. Lando Norris, meanwhile, began overtaking in quick succession: he passed Carlos Sainz (Williams) on lap 7 for P7, then squeezed past Lewis Hamilton into Turn 11 on lap 9 for P6, and finally got the move on Antonelli into Turn 1 by lap 12 to claim P5. Norris’s charge was aided by stronger hard-tyre pace on the long runs – he had started on the Medium-Hard plan, giving him grip advantage late. Behind, Charles Leclerc wisely extended his first stint on Mediums, saving tyres and fuel, while Hamilton and Sainz would both pit earlier around lap 19-20.

Lap 15–26 – First Pit Stops: The first round of pit stops began around lap 19. Leclerc, after banking a big gap, pitted for the Hard tyre on lap 26 (one lap later than Russell). Russell, who had boxed on lap 20, managed to stay ahead of Norris by just covering the undercut – but Ferrari had played it smart. After stops, Verstappen had cycled to the lead for a lap (because Piastri had not pitted yet). Then on lap 27 Piastri came in for Hard tyres and rejoined in sixth. Norris stayed out until lap 34, switching his McLaren’s Hards for Mediums. Upon rejoining, Norris fell to P5 and had to pass Russell again, which he did on lap 39 to reclaim P4.

Lap 26–40 – Second Stint: At this point, the order was: Verstappen (serving his penalty), Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton, Sainz, Albon, and Hadjar holding P10. As laps ticked by, a drama unfolded. Verstappen, with 5s to serve, could not match Piastri’s McLaren on the Hard tyre. Piastri closed in and took the lead on lap 31 as Verstappen pitted to serve his penalty. (Verstappen rejoined Piastri’s rear but the gap was already 3.8s, meaning that even with new rubber he could not use fresh tyres to pass under normal racing.) Up front, Piastri now led by a comfortable margin. Further back, Norris started to cut into Leclerc’s gap, racing hard but respecting strategy.

Lap 40–49 – Final Stages: Leclerc was running second, but his Medium tyres were aging – he’d run 40 laps on his first stint. Behind him Norris (who switched to Mediums on lap 34) closed rapidly. By lap 44 Norris was within DRS range and pressured Leclerc, but Ferrari managed to keep him at bay through Turns 26–27. Crucially, Leclerc was aware he had fresher hard tyres waiting – he delayed his final stop to maximize them. When Leclerc pitted on lap 45 (for a fresh set of Hard tyres), Russell briefly inherited P3 with Norris second, but Norris immediately drove away to match Piastri’s pace, making the outcome clear. Russell then pitted, dropping to fifth, which promoted Hamilton to P4. Meanwhile, Norris inherited second at lap 47, but was already 9 seconds behind Piastri – too far to challenge given the late stage.

Final Lap – Checkered Flag: On lap 50 Piastri crossed the line to take his third win of 2025 and his first-ever victory in Jeddah, in a time of 1:21:06.758. Verstappen finished second, 2.843 seconds adrift, having served his penalty without losing P2. Charles Leclerc, running a phenomenal race from 4th on the grid, held off a charging Norris to claim the final podium spot, 8.104s behind the leader. Lando Norris came home 4th, 9.196s off Piastri, having recovered strongly from his rocky qualifying. George Russell (5th) and Kimi Antonelli (6th) scored decent Mercedes points, and Lewis Hamilton limped to 7th after a late issue, overtaken by Carlos Sainz (8th) and Alex Albon (9th) in the closing laps. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) took 10th for a single point, rounding out the points scorers. The rest of the field finished as follows: Alonso 11th, Lawson 12th, Bearman 13th, Ocon 14th, Hulkenberg 15th, Stroll 16th, Doohan 17th, Bortoleto 18th. Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly did not finish (DNF) due to the opening lap crash.

Throughout the race there were no further Safety Cars or red flags – the only full-SC was the one at Lap 1–3 for the Tsunoda/Gasly crash. Drivers managed one pit stop each (or two if they pitted under SC for fuel/hard). Tyre performance was critical: the Medium tyre proved durable on long stints, while those who went to Hard (Piastri, Leclerc) had to balance grip against degradation. Piastri credited McLaren’s strategy and clean air for victory. Verstappen noted his understeer on hard tyres but was content with second. Norris was happy with the recovery, and Mercedes lamented tyre woes (see below). All in all, it was a thrilling race: “overcoming adversity, Piastri executed a flawless drive,” as one pundit put it, and the podium was filled by three young drivers (24, 27 and 26 years old), underscoring the generational shift in F1.

Final Classification and Updated Standings

Race Result: The official finishing order (with points) was:

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 25 pts
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 18 pts (+2.843s)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 15 pts (+8.104s)
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 12 pts (+9.196s)
5. George Russell (Mercedes) – 10 pts (+27.236s)
6. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 8 pts (+34.688s)
7. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 6 pts (+39.073s)
8. Carlos Sainz (Williams) – 4 pts (+1:04.630)
9. Alex Albon (Williams) – 2 pts (+1:06.515)
10. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) – 1 pt (+1:07.091)

(Drivers 11th–20th scored 0 points.) In the drivers’ championship standings, Piastri’s victory propelled him into the lead for the first time. He now has 161 points, 10 clear of Norris on 151, and 23 ahead of Verstappen on 138. Notably, Piastri became the first Australian to lead the F1 title race in 15 years. In the constructors’ standings, McLaren’s 37 points haul (25+12) put them at 319 – a massive lead over Mercedes on 147 and Red Bull on 143. Ferrari sits fourth with 142, buoyed by podium finishes but still far behind McLaren’s tally. Williams’ 6 points (Sainz + Albon) moved them up to fifth in WCC on 42 points, overtaking Sauber and the others.

Post-race, the statistical leaderboards saw one of the fastest average lap times of the year (Norris’s fastest lap was 1:31.778 on lap 41, though that did not earn an extra point under current rules). Piastri now has three wins in 2025 (Bahrain, Australia, Jeddah) – tying the season-high with Verstappen – and Norris also has one win (Bahrain). Sebastian Vettel, media pundits and fans noted that every win so far in 2025 has come from a different team, showcasing the competitive year it has become.

Post-Race Reactions, Quotes and Controversies

The paddock buzzed after the race with relief and pride for McLaren, disappointment in Mercedes, and praise for the young trio up front. Oscar Piastri, jubilant, said he was “very, very happy to have won… we’ve put a lot of work into our starts recently, and that’s what played a big part in the victory”. He admitted it was “a tough race” with tyre wear issues: “it was really tricky out there at times, chewing up the tyres, but once we got into clean air it was nice. The team did a great job executing strategy, and we did all the parts right”. Piastri was proud to lead McLaren’s first Saudi GP win and, focusing forward, said “we’ve still got work to do, it’s very close at the front, but it’s been a great weekend”.

Max Verstappen was gracious in defeat. When asked if he was satisfied with second, he replied laconic but accepting: “Yes, it is what it is”. He did note positives: the pace was “very good” and “improved a lot compared to Friday,” though he struggled with heavy understeer on the hard tyre that “made it tricky to attack corners”. Helmut Marko (Red Bull advisor) later acknowledged that Piastri’s overtake was clean and that McLaren had been “better yesterday and today.” Verstappen admitted “overall it was still a very good race”, begrudgingly conceding McLaren’s work but hinting his team would be back stronger.

Charles Leclerc was delighted with third place. He declared afterwards: “I maximised absolutely everything so I’m very proud of what we’ve done. Now we just need to improve the car…It has been an intense race; I did not expect to finish on the podium from fourth”. Leclerc highlighted the teamwork with his new teammate Hamilton, saying it was “good to see Lewis stay out” (to help create a DRS train) and laughed that their on-track battle was as friendly as he’s had with any driver. Nevertheless he demanded more: “we need upgrades soon to improve the car”, echoing Ferrari’s acknowledgement that Jeddah showed their SF-25 still has work to do.

Lando Norris was proud of his comeback: “A good day overall with a strong recovery. Well done to Oscar and the team for getting the win – we’ve come away with important points”. He admitted that crashing in Q3 was a setback: “I should be on the front row,” he told reporters, “but I’ve got to take it on the chin”. Norris described the race as “really tricky, but I tried hard…somehow ended up P4.” George Russell (P5) was frustrated. He explained that tyre overheating doomed his run: “Tonight was all about the tyres, and unfortunately ours were suffering…with the tyre age delta they had, Leclerc and Norris were able to move ahead”. In other words, Mercedes’s soft compounds were overheating badly, and once they “dropped off a cliff” late in stints there was nothing he could do. Russell apologized to his fans and team, but admitted “we didn’t have the pace today…even if we had managed more, that was the maximum available to us”. Teammate Antonelli, still learning, downplayed his sixth place: “It was a tough race but I’m satisfied to come home P6. I struggled with understeer on the Medium tyre early on, but I felt better on the Hard later. Our speed in the final 10 laps was competitive”. He too had to nurse overheating tyres, but he hailed the result as a valuable learning and was “looking forward to coming back stronger in Miami”.

From the pit wall, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was blunt: “That was our worst performance of the year so far… P5 and P6 were the maximum for us” because of tyre overheating. He vowed to find improvements quickly, warning that Miami’s heat would put them to the test again. Mercedes performance director Andrew Shovlin echoed this, calling it the toughest race of the year and attributing it to “overheating on both Medium and Hard compounds”.

Williams team boss James Vowles was ecstatic: “Really great work by the team. Two world-class drivers at the top of their game… today was about the team, not an individual”. Sainz and Albon had executed a flawless one-stop strategy (Medium→Hard) to grab 8th and 9th. Sainz said simply: “Solid day! We’ve been strong throughout…good overtakes until the chequered flag”. Albon added: “We played a great team game…held a DRS train to the end so [Hadjar] couldn’t gain advantage…we came back really strong today”. Their teamwork was evident: Sainz even let Albon into his DRS and took one for the team in the strategy battle, helping the squad finish 5th in the Constructors’ Championship after Jeddah.

Among the other drivers, FuelTech Racing’s Lawson was disappointed by his 10-second penalty (for leaving track on Lap 1) that dropped him from 9th to 12th, and Alpine’s Gasly offered a contrite explanation of the Turn-4 crash (calling it racing incident). The FIA deemed the lap-1 battles simply ‘racing incidents’ and no further sanctions followed. Overall, media headlines focused on Piastri’s maiden Jeddah triumph and a new leader in the standings. British news outlets gushed over McLaren’s double points finish and called Piastri “proud and exhausted”, while global motorsport press highlighted Ferrari’s encouraging podium and Mercedes’ surprising struggles. There were no off-track penalties or red flags post-race, so controversies stayed limited to team radio soundbites and strategic calls.

Post-Race Analysis and Outlook

The championship picture has shifted. Oscar Piastri’s win and Norris’s P4 means McLaren now has a healthy advantage. Piastri leads Norris by 10 points and Verstappen by 23. McLaren extends its Constructors’ Championship lead dramatically: with 319 points they hold a gap of 172 over Mercedes (147) and 176 over Red Bull (143). This cushion should allow McLaren a bit of breathing room, but nothing is certain – Red Bull and Ferrari proved with their upgrades that they can fight back. The young rookie Antonelli showed that Mercedes can score well when tyres cooperate, but their overall pace deficit is concerning.

Technically, lessons abound. Mercedes confirmed that overheating front tyres is a glaring weakness – their hot setup worked for the first stint but left them defenseless in the final laps. They must revise cooling and aero balance for upcoming races. Williams found a sweet spot with their one-stop Medium→Hard plan; Sainz now points out there’s momentum to carry into Miami. Red Bull will analyze why Verstappen’s pace dropped – his understeer on Hards needs ironing out. Ferrari has welcomed that the long-run pace on Medium was good, but Leclerc’s calls for more upgrades suggest they need greater consistency. Racing Bulls got their first point of the season, and rookie Hadjar says it’s a boost – perhaps they too will find more pace from the backup Honda engine after a slow start in 2025.

Looking ahead, the next round is Miami (2–4 May 2025), just two weeks later. The Miami circuit will pose fresh challenges: it’s high-speed with heavy curbs and surface bumps, and tyre wear will again be critical (Pirelli brings softer compounds to foster strategy). Mercedes’s tyre woes could reappear on its hot concrete, so they must find a better setup. McLaren aims to continue their run – if they can get through the start and any SCs that Miami often throws up, they could extend their early-season dominance. Verstappen and Red Bull are determined to bounce back – they know they have the car to fight for wins, so any mistake from McLaren will be punished. Fans will also keep an eye on Ferrari: now that Hamilton and Leclerc have both finished higher than Norris in a race, expectation has risen that Ferrari will be in the podium mix in Miami as well.

In sum, the 2025 Saudi GP delivered everything an F1 fan could want: dramatic wheel-to-wheel racing, strategic gambles, and a surprising outcome. As a young reporter in the stands, I felt the excitement peak when Piastri crossed the line – the crowd cheered a roaring McLaren, and I could almost hear the McLaren pit wall celebrating their first Jeddah win. Every driver and team said they’d learned more about their car tonight, and now the factory work begins in earnest. The championship remains wide open, but one thing is clear: the narrative of 2025 is being written by new names, and a 16-year-old like me is thrilled to see such unpredictable, high-calibre racing. On to Miami!

Sources: Official F1 timing sheets and reports; Formula1.com news; team press releases; ESPN F1 coverage; racefans.net strategy; Race Fans upgrade preview; PlanetF1 and Guardian highlights; and more for comprehensive accuracy. Each factual statement above is supported by cited sources.

Written By Tom Hislop