By Michael Pedro
Once again, it’s “lights out, and away we go,” as the sport’s play-by-play announcer David Croft would say. It’s once again time for another exciting Formula One season. Throughout the past 74 seasons, we’ve seen dominance and struggles, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, as well as numerous driver changes as people retire and fresh faces take their place. This season will be no different, but the whole circuit feels more celebratory. This season has a lot to unpack, with storylines all over most teams.
This year’s roster is heavily refreshed, with only a few drivers staying with their teams from last year. For example, defending champion Max Verstappen seeks to capture his fifth-straight title with Red Bull Racing (yes, it’s owned by the energy drink company). McLaren and Aston Martin are the only two teams not to change their roster at all, with the teams retaining the pairs of Lando Norris/Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso/Lance Stroll, respectively. Other drivers that are staying with their teams are George Russell with Mercedes, Charles Leclerc with Ferrari, Pierre Gasly with Alpine, Alex Albon with Williams, and Yuki Tsunoda with Racing Bulls, a “sister” team of sorts to Red Bull.
Team swaps happen just about every season, but none shook up the racing world more than seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton leaving the silver arrows of Mercedes, with whom he won six of his titles, for the long-lasting Ferrari team, replacing Carlos Sainz as he joins the midfield team of Williams Racing. Sainz was incredibly consistent during his time at Ferrari, with four wins in four seasons, and while the split was mutual, some sources have suggested he may return after Hamilton retires.
Replacing Hamilton at Mercedes is the 18-year-old phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who goes by his middle name. Kimi ran some practices in Mercedes equipment, and while he struggled at times, most of that can likely be attributed to getting used to an F1 car. On the other side of the spectrum, we have drivers like veteran Nico Hulkenberg leaving Haas to join the Kick Sauber team. Both are lower-end teams completely refreshing their lineup, with Esteban Ocon leaving Alpine to take Hulkenberg’s seat.
The last preseason storylines focus heavily on the rookies. Six drivers are taking to the track for their first full-time season in Formula One. The most experienced of the bunch is Red Bull’s new hire, Liam Lawson, who is replacing Sergio “Checo” Perez.
Lawson ran for Racing Bulls eleven times over the past two years as a substitute driver of sorts, replacing injured or underperforming drivers. With more than the maximum starts to be counted as a rookie, Lawson is technically off the table for the honors, but many fans still count him in. With him driving for a top team as the teammate to four-time champion Max Verstappen, it’s expected he will make a splash. With Lawson’s vacancy at Racing Bulls, Formula 2 championship runner-up Isack Hadjar will be promoted to drive as their second driver, paired with Yuki Tsunoda.
Kimi Antonelli, who was mentioned prior, is also a rookie, driving his first races in F1 with Mercedes. Haas’s new hire, Ollie Bearman, has some experience, driving only three Formula One Grand Prix with Haas and Ferrari, replacing ill drivers. Bearman impressed last season, scoring points in his debut in Saudi Arabia and carrying that on in Azerbaijan. Then, there’s Gabriel Bortoleto, joining Kick Sauber alongside Nico Hulkenberg. Bortoleto won the Formula 2 championship last season, catching the eyes of many fans and teams.
The last rookie on the grid is Jack Doohan, driving for Alpine as Ocon’s replacement. He has only one Formula One Grand Prix start under his belt at the season finale in Abu Dhabi this past December. However, there’s a real chance he’s booted from the team before the season even reaches halfway, as Alpine has hired Argentinian driver Franco Colapinto as a substitute driver. Colapinto joined Williams last season, replacing the underperforming Logan Sargeant at the Italian Grand Prix. Colapinto impressed greatly, running near the top ten almost every week. If Doohan underperforms, the writing may be on the wall for him.
Drivers not returning this season are the aforementioned Sergio Perez and Logan Sargeant, as well as former Racing Bulls driver Daniel Ricciardo. While these three have no plans at the time to stay involved, there is a chance they may come back in the future. Former Haas driver Kevin Magnussen leaves the sport to pursue endurance racing. Kick Sauber’s 2024 lineup of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also left full-time racing, with Bottas becoming Mercedes’ reserve driver and Guanyu becoming the reserve driver for Ferrari.
On Tuesday, February 18, Formula One held a kickoff event to celebrate their upcoming 75th season, called F1 75 Live. It was hosted at the O2 Arena in London. One by one, the ten teams on the grid revealed the cars they’d be driving throughout the season. Some teams, like Racing Bulls and Mercedes, completely overhauled their designs, while teams like Red Bull and McLaren appeared to have largely similar designs to last season. The festivities ran late into the London night, and the stage was set for yet another season. The first race kicks off in Melbourne, Australia, on March 16th.
