The “silly season” of Formula 1 is an annual institution – but why stop speculating about who will get which place in the 2022 starting field? Why not look a little further into the future? For fun for the summer break, we asked Will Buxton to think about what the grid would look like four years in advance by 2025.
While new teams and new engine manufacturers have definitely entered the sport at this point (especially with the entry into force of new engine regulations), we have left the starting grid on the same 10 teams in order not to be too canceled to fill the starting positions like in 2021. And please remember, it’s just for fun so don’t take it too seriously …
RED BULL – Max Verstappen, Lando Norris
We’re starting at Red Bull Racing, where in my little scenario the team took driver and constructor fame in 2021 and decided to stay with Sergio Perez for 2022. However, a combination of her focus on last year’s successful title fight and a resurgent Mercedes left her struggling to keep up in 2022.
READ MORE: Who has the mental advantage – and who will prevail? Our authors on the battle between Hamilton and Verstappen
At the end of the season, Red Bull got the man they’d had their eye on since early 2021 and shocked the paddock with the announcement that they had lured Lando Norris away from McLaren. After paying a staggering sum to initiate a breach of contract clause, he immediately harmonized with the team.
In the constructors’ championship in 2023, Verstappen nevertheless won the driver’s crown. In 2024, Norris will win the world championship while Red Bull take successive team wins. They’ll be back as favorites in 2025.
Norris and Verstappen – rivals 2021, teammates 2025?
FERRARI – Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz
The only team that has had an unchanged driver line-up since 2021 is Ferrari. Not only did Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s partnership prove to be a match for fans and sponsors, but the harmonious rapport between the two has created a positive and enthusiastic feeling that no one in Maranello would dream of parting with.
And the results have flowed. Race wins have become the norm under the new regulations, with Ferrari constantly appearing in championship fights. Second in 2022, Ferrari had a breakthrough in 2023 and won the constructors’ championship.
WATCH: Monaco misery for Silverstone silver – The ups and downs of Leclerc’s season so far
However, the disappointment of missing out on the drivers’ title hits the drivers and Ferrari drops to fourth place in 2024. But with Carlos only 30 and Charles only 27, both drivers are still on the upside of their competition. The mood in Maranello has not been so good since the glory days of Schumacher and Barrichello.
Will Sainz and Leclerc still drive together at Ferrari in 2025?
MERCEDES – George Russell, Daniel Ricciardo
At Mercedes, which missed the World Championship in 2021, the team will return in 2022. Lewis Hamilton, now partner of George Russell, wins his eighth world title and announces his retirement from racing.
He is changing to the position of the team’s sporting director, emulating his great friend Niki Lauda and intending to take over the reins of Toto Wolff one day in the near future. Again late in the driver market, Mercedes is offering Sergio Perez a lifeline for 2023 but they drop to fourth place in the championship.
READ MORE: “Many crack under pressure, but George is different” – Capito Says Russell thrives when it’s hot
Far better prepared for the following years, they replace Perez after a season with Daniel Ricciardo with a multi-year contract from 2024.
Russell and Ricciardo already drive Mercedes engines at Williams and McLaren, respectively, but will they also get the chassis in 2025?
McLAREN-Patricio O’Ward, Pierre Gasly
Down at McLaren, Norris’ departure in late 2022 had surprised the paddock, but not the team that had drawn up a succession plan for such an eventuality.
After Patricio O’Ward had impressed at his departure at the end of 2021, he has long been in the team’s schedule and so he will be brought in as IndyCar champion 2022 to compete in Formula 1 for the team from 2023.
If Ricciardo moves to Mercedes for 2024, McLaren will finally get his hands on Pierre Gasly, the line-up will reap immediate success and bring McLaren to the cusp of the title and second place in the championship, the highest ranking since 2011. They are confident of being killed again in 2025 fight the championship.
Could Patricio O’Ward be IndyCar’s next F1 import?
ASTON MARTIN-Nyck de Vries, Liam Lawson
Aston Martin has been experiencing a roller coaster ride for a number of years. The regulation change wasn’t good for the team, dropping it to ninth place in 2022, but steady progress in 2023 and 2024 has brought it back to a competitive place for 2025.
After three years in the team, Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of 2023 and became UN envoy for climate protection. His place is taken by Nyck de Vries, who joined Williams in Formula 1 in 2022 and impressed in his two seasons at Grove.
READ MORE: The Biggest Shock, Their Three Best Drivers, And A Bold Prediction – Our Authors About The First Half Of The 2021 Season
In 2024 he helped the team to fifth place in the constructors’ championship. At the end of the season, Lance Stroll declares his shock retirement and his place is taken by Liam Lawson after several impressive seasons at AlphaTauri.
Formula E champion Nyck De Vries makes Will’s Aston Martin line-up for 2025
ALPINE – Esteban Ocon, Theo Pourchaire
At Alpine, Esteban Ocon has firmly established himself as a team leader. Although Fernando Alonso held out until mid-season in 2023, he gave up on his 42nd birthday.
READ MORE: Alonso explains why the criticism he received on his return to F1 was “a blessing”
His place will be taken by Oscar Piastri for the remainder of the year, who will continue until 2024. At the end of the season, Theo Porchaire joins Ocon in an all-French driver pairing after making his Alfa Romeo debut in 2023.
Ocon leads the line for Alpine in Will’s crystal ball
ALPHATAURI – Dennis Hauger, Arvid Lindblad
AlphaTauri remained unchanged in 2022 and shot to 5th place in the constructors’ championship. At the end of the season, Yuki Tsunoda made way for Liam Lawson and another solid season put the team in sixth place.
But Gasly’s move to McLaren for 2024 left a door open and into it stepped the formidable Dennis Hauger, fresh from the F3 title in 2021 and the F2 crown in 2023, to compete alongside Lawson in 2024.
The big summer break quiz: how well do you remember the first half of the 2021 F1 season?
With Lawson’s move to Aston Martin in 2025, Red Bull has promoted precocious 17-year-old Arvid Lindblad to their junior team. The British Swede has been taking the world by storm since karting, and his rapid rise in the sport is known by everyone as the “new Verstappen”.
Dennis Hauger is already a winner in F3, but will he be in F1 by 2025?
WILLIAMS – Jamie Chadwick, Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Williams regained momentum and form under the new regulations, taking podiums and pride. And they became a strong focus on the sport in 2023 when they promoted Jamie Chadwick to a full-time racing course alongside Nyck de Vries, who had so impressed in his 2022 rookie season alongside Nicolas Latifi.
READ MORE: Who Will Drive For Williams In 2022? We rate all runners and riders
After his only season at Mercedes in 2023, Sergio Perez moves to Chadwick in 2024, but at the end of the season the team decides his future lies in youth and promotes 18-year-old Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli to a full-time seat.
With Lindblad at AlphaTauri, both Mercedes and Red Bull got involved with the extreme youth who were out in karting just a few years ago.
W-Series champion Jamie Chadwick is already in the books as a development driver at Williams. Will she make the step into a racing seat?
ALFA ROMEO – Mick Schumacher, Arthur Leclerc
At Alfa Romeo, Mick Schumacher returns in 2025 for his third season with the team and his fifth in Formula 1. Schumacher joined Alfa Romeo in 2023 after a second season with Haas in 2022 failed to meet expectations.
In his first two years at Alfa, he was a partner with Theo Pourchaire and the partnership blossomed. But since Pourchaire moves to Alpine for 25, Schumacher stands next to Arthur Leclerc.
READ MORE: What will Alfa Romeo’s range of products look like in 2022?
With big brother Charles at Ferrari, it is the first time that brothers have driven together in Formula 1 since Michael and Ralf Schumacher competed in the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Arthur Leclerc follows his brother Charles into Formula 1 on Will’s starting grid in 2025
HAAS – Kyle Kirkwood, Zane Maloney
At Haas, the Stars and Stripes are finally waving for an American driver on an American team. In 2024 standout IndyCar star Kyle Kirkwood, fresh from his 2021 Indy Lights Championship and impressive IndyCar rookie and sophomore seasons, will be signed to drive for Haas.
After the hugely successful transition from Patricio O’Ward, the Atlantic path seems to have finally opened and Kirkwood is instant good news.
In 2025, he will join Zane Maloney of Barbados, who with a British F4 title and F3 crown in his pocket has more than just the pedigree to rise to the top of open wheel racing.
READ MORE: America’s Got Talent – but when do we see the country’s next F1 star?
The post BUXTON: My just-for-fun prediction of what the F1 grid will look like in 2025 first appeared on monter-une-startup.
