2025 F1 Australian Grand Prix preview: New season starts

• The 2025 F1 season gets underway this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix
• The season includes five rookie drivers and will be run over 24 races
• The season is also the first for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

After the long winter break, the Formula 1 World Championship returns this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit.

The season marks F1’s 75th anniversary and is the last for the sport’s current regulatory era, which goes back to 2014 when F1 made a switch from V-8 engines to turbocharged V-6 engines paired with complex hybrid systems. The V-6 hybrid format will remain when F1’s new era gets underway in 2026, though with greatly increased power from the electrical side.

As F1 continues to prepare for that new era, the 2025 season doesn’t bring much in the way of new car designs, though five new drivers joining the grid should provide some surprises. They include Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes-Benz AMG, Jack Doohan at Alpine, Oliver Bearman at Haas, Gabriel Bortoleto at Sauber, and Isack Hadjar at RB. The talented Liam Lawson also returns with a full-time seat at Red Bull Racing, while Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hülkenberg, and Esteban Ocon are all at new teams—Ferrari, Williams, Sauber, and Haas, respectively.

F1 fans also have another jam-packed 24-race season to look forward to. As was the case last year, three of those races will be held in the U.S. alone, at locations in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas.

The Australian Grand Prix returns to its traditional place at the start of the calendar for the first time since 2019. It’s held at the Albert Park Circuit, a street circuit that has been on the F1 calendar since 1996. The current layout measures 3.28 miles and features a mix of high-speed and technical sections that incorporate 14 turns and four DRS zones.

With 72% of the lap time, and 79% of lap distance, spent at full throttle, the Albert Park Circuit ranks third highest of any circuit on the calendar judged on both these metrics. The circuit also has the shortest pit lane on the calendar, at just over 900 feet, meaning cars spend only about 13 seconds at pit lane speed. Pirelli has nominated its softest tire combination for the race: the C3, C4, and C5.

Weather can be a mixed bag in Melbourne, with the current forecast calling for mild temperatures throughout the weekend and possibly some rain during Sunday’s race.

Conditions were fine during Friday’s practice sessions, where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the day at the top of the timesheets (live updates are now available via Apple Sports). McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also impressed, while Bearman in his debut for Haas ended his session early when he crashed at the high-speed Turn 10 and ended up in the wall.