The 10 biggest talking points of the Australian Grand Prix
With surprise personnel changes, ongoing feuds and new rules, 2025 shapes as one of the biggest Formula One seasons in years. REBECCA WILLIAMS and JULIAN LINDEN break down the biggest talking points.
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Fire up your engines – the Formula One season officially starts at Albert Park next Sunday March 16.
Here are the biggest talking points leading into 2025.
THE BIG SWITCH
It’s the most anticipated move in Formula 1 in decades.
Lewis Hamilton created shockwaves when he announced at the start of last year that he was leaving Mercedes – the team where he won six of his seven Formula 1 world titles – to join Ferrari and it has the Scuderia faithful salivating ahead of his debut in red in Melbourne.
Hamilton nearly broke the internet when he posted the first pictures of himself in his Ferrari race suit and the 40-year-old is hoping the move can deliver him an eighth Formula 1 world championship.
The Brit shares the record for the most world drivers’ crowns with Michael Schumacher, but an eighth title would put his place as the greatest of all time beyond doubt.
To do it with F1’s most famous team would no doubt mean even more.
“If I was fortunate enough to win another title, which is obviously what we are setting out to do, I don’t see myself stopping,” Hamilton told formula1.com.
PAPAYA RULES
The big question every Aussie F1 fan wants to know is whether Oscar Piastri will be given a fair crack at winning the drivers’ title in 2025.
In the second half of last season, McLaren gave preferential treatment to Piastri’s British teammate Lando Norris in what ultimately proved to be a failed pursuit of Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship race.
While McLaren did secure the constructors’ title, the team orders, known as ‘papaya rules’ were a source of contention.
Both drivers have been assured that they will start the new season as equals and be free to fight each other for race wins but things could change depending later on.
“They’re crystal clear going into the start of the season,” Piastri said.
“We’re both starting on zero, and there’s every opportunity for either of us to go and win races. ”Of course, if there becomes a points difference in either direction towards the end of the season, and we need our teammate’s help, then we’ll try and help each other out.
“But that’s still going to be a long, long way away and hopefully it never comes to fruition, because for either of us, we want to win, because we’ve been able to put in the performance ourselves.
“So going into the season, we’ll be racing each other hard but fairly and hopefully, it’s more often than not fighting for first and second.”
VERSTAPPEN v RUSSELL
It was the spat that had the whole of F1 talking at the end of last season.
Tensions escalated between world champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver George Russell at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Russell accused Verstappen of blocking him dangerously during qualifying, which resulted in a stewards’ investigation and the Red Bull ace losing pole position to Russell.
Verstappen lashed out at Russell after losing pole, saying he had “lost all respect” for the British driver.
But Russell stood firm, telling the media ahead of the next race in Abu Dhabi that Verstappen was a “bully” who “cannot deal with adversity”.
The feud between the two drivers spilt over to their team bosses, Christian Horner and Toto Wolff, who also traded barbs defending their drivers.
So, is the spat going to spill over into 2025?
The pair seemed to indicate at the F1 season launch that he had put a line through the line through their public spat.
“We haven’t spoken, (I have) no concerns about him or his driving or anything,” Russell said.
“That happened last year and I want to focus on myself.”
Verstappen added:
“I have no intention to continue any kind of beef,” the Dutchman said.
But Formula 1 fans will be eager to see what unfolds if the pair cross paths on track.
Watch this space.
UNPREDICTABLE SEASON AHEAD
Second guessing what will happen in F1 is a fool’s game but all the indications point to 2025 being one of the closest championships ever. McLaren won last year’s constructors’ title by just 14 points, the smallest margin since Renault clinched the championship by five points in 2006.
McLaren will likely start as favourites again with Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes the dangers after they each won at least four races in 2024.
The drivers’ championship is shaping as even more unpredictable after seven different drivers won multiple races in 2024.
Lando Norris is the pre-season favourite, just ahead of Max Verstappen, but Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and George Russell all have genuine hopes too.
ROOKIE WATCH
Australian Jack Doohan (Alpine) is among six rookies on the grid this year – the most since 2001 – making their full-time debuts in Formula 1.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Liam Lawson (Red Bull), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) are the other fresh faces in 2025.
While a few got an early taste of Formula 1 action last year, some are stepping into the hot seat in their rookie campaigns,
Lawson has been tasked with what his team principal Christian Horner has described as the “hardest job in Formula 1” as four-time world champion Max Verstappen’s teammate after stepping into the seat vacated by Sergio Perez.
Antonelli, 18, has big shoes to fill at Mercedes, replacing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton after the champion’s Ferrari move.
Bearman impressed as a sub at Ferrari and Haas last year, while Bortoleto follows Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri as a rookie entering F1 with back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships behind him.
Bookies have Lawson pegged as the best-performing rookie, just ahead of Antonelli.
MAD MAX
No one should be writing off Max Verstappen’s chances of winning this year’s drivers’ championship.
His Red Bull car is no longer as dominant as it was in previous years and history is against the Dutchman.
Only one driver, Michael Schumacher, has won five titles in a row, while three others, Juan Manuel Fangio, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, saw their streaks end with four.
But Verstappen can never be underestimated. A natural racer who ranks as the best driver of his generation, he is still only 27 and hungry for more.
He won nine races in 2024 and comfortably won the championship despite claiming pole position just once in the last 17 rounds.
LIGHTS OUT
Melbourne has been restored as the first race of the season after losing its spot during Covid.
Albert Park had hosted the opening race every year from 1996 to 2019 – with the exception of 2006 and 2010 – but was relegated to third behind Bahrain and Saudi Arabia from 2022 following the global pandemic.
It is back to the start this year because the dates clashed with Ramadan, so Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, have been moved to later in the year.
As well as the added excitement of being the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix has also proven to be a good pointer to the championship. Of the 27 Australian Grand Prix held at Albert Park since 1996, the race winner has gone on to claim the drivers’ championship 14 times.
COLAPINTO CLOUD
He hasn’t lined up on the grid yet for the start of his rookie season, but there has already been speculation over Doohan’s future in the Formula 1.
Alpine’s signing of highly-rated Argentinian Franco Colapinto in January as a reserve driver, leading to talk his seat is already under pressure.
Colapinto joined Alpine from Williams where he made nine race appearances in the second half of last year in place of Logan Sargeant.
Doohan shot down suggestions his position was under threat at the season launch, but said he embraced the pressure ahead of his debut season.
“I’ve been told he’s a reserve driver,” Doohan said when asked about Colapinto’s arrival.
“If it’s someone inside the team, outside the team, anyone that’s performing well, you’re always going to have pressure on your shoulders because you’re in such a cutthroat sport.
“Whatever pressure there may be, I look forward to enjoying that, embracing it, and just enjoying my Formula 1 season.”
It’s unlikely to be talk that dies down if Doohan falters early.
NEW RULES
The FIA, the governing body for world motorsport, is always tinkering with the rules and regulations and this season is no different.
The biggest change for 2025 is the elimination of a single bonus point for the fastest lap in a race, following the controversy around Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap at the Singapore Grand Prix, which took a point away from Lando Norris.
Drivers will also face increased fines if they swear in public, including on their team radios and at press conferences.
Cars will have to make at least two pit stops at the Monaco Grand Prix after complaints the race had become a procession because it’s almost impossible to overtake on the narrow streets.
There’s also new rules for the minimum weight of drivers, cooling systems, DRS, gearboxes and the protocols for damaged cars returning to the pits.
WILL F1 MISS DANIEL RICCIARDO?
Most definitely. There might be drivers with plenty more wins and world championships to their name than the affable Aussie, but there was no one on the grid who brought the element of fun quite like the driver from down under.
Even as his career faltered, signing off after the Singapore Grand Prix last year when he was replaced by Liam Lawson, the Perth racer remained a firm fan favourite.
Even before the season starts, fans are sure to be getting nostalgic for the eight-time Grand Prix winner as the latest instalment of Netflix’s Drive to Survive drops.
Ricciardo breathed more personality into the worldwide F1 circus than any driver in recent memory and there will be a void in his absence.
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