2025 Formula One World Championship

The 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars and the 76th running of the Formula One World Championship. It was recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the governing body of international motorsport, as the highest class of competition for open-wheel racing cars. The championship was contested over twenty-four Grands Prix held around the world. It began in March and ended in December.
Drivers and teams competed for the titles of World Drivers' Champion and World Constructors' Champion, respectively. The season saw Lando Norris win his first drivers' title in his seventh season in the sport, ending the four year reign of Max Verstappen as champion. The season was largely dominated by McLaren drivers Norris and Oscar Piastri, and reigning Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT. All three were in the running for the World Drivers' Championship in the final race in Abu Dhabi with Norris in the championship lead and Verstappen having closed a gap of 104 points down to 12. Norris's third place finish in the season finale was enough to win the title. Defending champion Verstappen won the race, allowing his to finish within two points of Norris, and Piastri, who had led the championship for 15 rounds, finished the season in third, 13 points behind Norris. Norris became the 35th driver overall to claim the World Drivers' Championship, and the eighth to do so driving for McLaren. At the Singapore Grand Prix, Defending Constructors' Champions McLaren successfully retained their Constructors' title moving them second on the all time list with ten Constructors' titles ahead of Williams. It was the first time they had secured both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles since 1998.

Entries

All teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli. Each team was required to enter at least two drivers, one for each of the two mandatory cars.

Free practice drivers

On four occasions throughout the season in one of the first two free practice sessions of a Grand Prix weekend, each team had to field a driver who had not competed in more than two races. Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli's participation at the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix fulfilled both of the required rookie sessions for their respective cars at Sauber, Racing Bulls and Mercedes. Jack Doohan's participation at the Australian Grand Prix fulfilled one of the required rookie sessions for his car at Alpine.

Team changes

discontinued its use of initialism and entered instead as Racing Bulls, thus changing its team and constructor name.

Driver changes

left Mercedes after twelve seasons to join Ferrari, ending his record breaking streak of the most consecutive seasons driving for a single constructor. He replaced Carlos Sainz Jr., who left Ferrari after four seasons to join Williams on a multi-year deal. Sainz was initially set to replace Logan Sargeant, but Sargeant was replaced by Franco Colapinto midway through the season. Hamilton was replaced by Mercedes junior Kimi Antonelli, who was promoted from Formula 2. Colapinto left Williams to join Alpine as a reserve driver.
Haas fielded an all-new line-up in 2025; Nico Hülkenberg departed the team after two seasons to drive for Sauber, he previously competed for Sauber in. He was replaced by Haas's reserve driver Oliver Bearman, who stepped up from Formula 2. Bearman had competed in three Grand Prix in 2024 as reserve driver, once for Ferrari, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and twice for Haas at the Azerbaijan and São Paulo Grands Prix. Kevin Magnussen also departed Haas after seven seasons across two stints. He was replaced by Esteban Ocon, who split from Alpine before the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after five seasons. Jack Doohan, who replaced Ocon for the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, obtained the seat at Alpine for 2025.
Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both left Sauber after three years. Both moved to reserve driver roles; Zhou at Ferrari and Bottas at Mercedes, where he raced from to. The vacant seat alongside Hülkenberg was filled by reigning Formula 2 Champion Gabriel Bortoleto.
Despite a previously signed contract until, Sergio Pérez left Red Bull Racing after the conclusion of the 2024 season. He was replaced by Liam Lawson, who was promoted from Racing Bulls after five Grands Prix with them in under the AlphaTauri moniker, and six Grands Prix in 2024 under the RB moniker. Red Bull Racing reserve and 2024 Formula 2 runner-up Isack Hadjar was promoted to Racing Bulls in his place.

In-season changes

Following the Chinese Grand Prix, Liam Lawson was demoted to Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda making his debut for Red Bull Racing at the subsequent Japanese Grand Prix. The move came after analysis of Lawson's performance across the opening two rounds, and testing showed that he was not performing to a high enough level.
Following the Miami Grand Prix, Jack Doohan was relegated to a reserve driver role for Alpine. His seat was given to former reserve driver Franco Colapinto on a "rotating seat" basis, with the latter debuting at the subsequent Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and being initially scheduled to race for the team until the Austrian Grand Prix. Before the race at Spielberg, it was confirmed that Colapinto would retain his seat with the team, effectively on a race-by-race basis. Colapinto previously raced for Williams in nine Grands Prix in.

Calendar

The 2025 calendar comprised the same twenty-four Grands Prix as the previous season. The Chinese, Miami, Belgian, United States, São Paulo and Qatar Grands Prix featured the sprint format.

Calendar changes

The Australian Grand Prix hosted the opening race of the 2025 season for the first time since. For the past three years, it was scheduled as the third round of the season, following the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, respectively. In 2025, however, these races were pushed back to avoid conflict with Ramadan. The Russian Grand Prix was under contract to feature on the 2025 calendar. However, the contract was terminated in due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Regulation changes

Technical regulations

Minimum weight changes

The minimum driver weight allowance was increased from 80 kilograms to 82 kilograms. Consequently, the overall minimum weight limit of the car, excluding fuel, rose from 798 kilograms to 800 kilograms. The adjustment was implemented to promote driver well-being, particularly for individuals who are taller or heavier.

Driver cooling

A driver cooling kit was introduced for 2025. The system would only be mandated by the FIA in extreme heat conditions, with the minimum weight of the cars increased correspondingly when applicable. This was aimed at avoiding a repeat of driver overheating cases, as witnessed at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix. When the FIA predicts a temperature of over, a "heat hazard" would be declared. This would require teams to equip the drivers with their cooling systems, and the minimum weight would be raised by to compensate for the equipment.

Drag reduction system (DRS) parameters

The slot gaps for the rear wing between the two modes of the DRS was changed, with the minimum gap reduced. It was shrunk from to ; the upper boundary remained at with DRS open. Additionally, the FIA tightened up the rules on the DRS modes, stating that there must only be two positions, and that ending the application of DRS must return the wing exactly as defined to the initial mode.

Number of gearboxes

There is no longer a limit on the number of gearboxes used by teams, as the reliability of current designs renders this restriction obsolete.

Wing flexibility

The FIA introduced stricter rear wing deflection tests that mandated the slot gap – the distance between the mainplane and rear-wing flap – be restricted to under a load, which was again reduced to from the onwards to counteract teams' usage of a "mini-DRS". Additional front wing tests were implemented in a four-month forewarned technical directive for the, reducing the deflection under a load from to.

Sporting regulations and related material

Fastest lap point

The point awarded to drivers finishing in the top ten positions for setting the fastest lap in the race, which was reintroduced in, was abolished.

Driving standards guidelines publication

Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, the FIA released the latest version of its driving standards guidelines into the public domain. Originally introduced in 2024, these written guidelines aimed to provide drivers with a clearer understanding of the expected racing etiquette during on-track battles. Making the guidelines publicly available was intended to help fans and media better understand the rationale behind the FIA's decision-making and race officiating processes.

Young driver free practice requirements

The requirement for teams to run a young driver during free practice sessions was increased from once to twice per season per car.

Testing of previous cars

The sporting regulations introduced stricter limitations on "testing of previous cars", defined as cars designed and constructed to the technical regulations of any of the three championships run from 2 to 4 years prior to the current championship. A cap of twenty days was imposed on TPC activities, with championship drivers restricted to a maximum of across four days of testing. Testing was permitted at any circuit holding FIA Grade 1 or FIA Grade 1T license, but with specific restrictions relating to testing on the circuits included on the current year's calendar.

Qualifying contingencies

The sporting regulations now included specific provisions for setting the starting grid in the event that qualifying sessions for either the sprint or the main race are cancelled. In such cases, the starting grid would be determined based on the Drivers' Championship standings. Previously, when a qualifying session could not be held, the starting order was left entirely to the discretion of the stewards. If the championship standings cannot be used to determine the grid, the decision remains at the discretion of the race stewards.