And they’re almost off as new racing season looms

Kieran Jackson makes his predictions for the 2025 calendar

- Kieran Jackson

Roll up, roll up it’s pre-season predictions time!

The 2025 F1 season has all the foundations to be one of the most action-packed in the sport’s 75-year history, with a title race set to be extremely close and Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari certain to attract even more eyeballs to the sport.

Lando Norris is the favourite, given McLaren’s constructors’ triumph last year, with four-time world champion Max Verstappen his closest contender, chasing a fifth title in a row.

There are also six new full-time rookies on the starting grid, including British teenager Ollie Bearman – who impressed on debut for Ferrari last year in Saudi Arabia – and Hamilton’s replacement at Mercedes, 18-year-old Italian hotshot Kimi Antonelli.

Less than two weeks out from the season-opener in Melbourne, these are the predictions for 2025:

World champion – Lando Norris

Before testing, I was inclined to go with Charles Leclerc, on the basis that Ferrari could have closed the marginal gap to McLaren in the off-season. But a telling three days in Bahrain have changed that.

McLaren’s standout race-pace last week, with Norris at the helm of their 2025 MCL39 car, was the main on-track headline. Despite a tightly congested top four, McLaren are clearly the frontrunners ahead of the new campaign.

This year should see a limited number of race-by-race car developments, as all 10 teams look to divide resources between the current campaign and new engine and chassis regulations in 2026. Race nine, in Spain, could be a turning point, when the FIA’s new directive on flexi-wings comes into effect, when teams will face stricter limitations on the flexibility of their wings.

Nonetheless, it gives whoever has an advantage at the start a massive opportunity to make hay while the sun shines. And it gives Norris what could perhaps be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.