Formula 1: The 75-year event that will probably never happen again

As a veteran Formula 1 enthusiast who has witnessed the ebb and flow of driver lineups over the decades, I must say that this upcoming 2025 season promises to be as exhilarating as ever! The whirlwind of changes we’ve seen this year is truly unprecedented, with seven drivers switching teams, and potentially eight if you count Daniel Ricciardo’s impending departure from Red Bull.

For the upcoming 2025 Formula 1 season, there have been seven driver switches confirmed across six different teams. Moreover, it’s possible that an additional change could occur at a team, as Daniel Ricciardo has been replaced by Liam Lawson at RB for the final six races of the ongoing 24-race 2024 season, which is setting new records.

Let’s start at the very beginning – before that, even.

Prior to the start of the 2024 racing season, it was officially announced that Lewis Hamilton would take over from Carlos Sainz Jr. at Ferrari in 2025, marking an end to his 12-year tenure with Mercedes. The record-breaking seven-time Formula 1 world champion’s partnership with the Silver Arrows has been the most victorious driver-team duo in the history of the sport.

In the end, Sainz secured a deal with Williams as their new driver instead of Logan Sargeant, whose position has already been taken over by Franco Colapinto for the rest of 2024. Meanwhile, rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli was brought in to fill Hamilton’s spot at Mercedes.

For the remainder of the grid, Esteban Ocon is slated to be replaced by newcomer Jack Doohan at Alpine. Instead, Ocon will join Haas, who have also recruited rookie Oliver Bearman. Notably, neither Kevin Magnussen nor Nico Hulkenberg are expected to return to the team in 2025; Hulkenberg has been signed by Sauber, taking Zhou Guanyu’s place.

If Sauber chooses to swap out Valtteri Bottas, it would imply that just 11 of the 20 full-time drivers who will compete in the 2024 season have committed to remaining with their existing teams for the 2025 season.

This chaos comes after the first offseason in Formula 1 history which saw zero driver changes.

In a first-of-its-kind occurrence in the history of Formula 1, tracing back to 1950, all twenty drivers who completed the 2023 season decided to stay with their teams for the 2024 competition.

Remarkably, it appears to be quite a fluke that such an event transpired, as this year has demonstrated, it’s unlikely to occur repeatedly. For everything to fall into place flawlessly – almost as if the stars were perfectly aligned – meant no alterations in drivers for any racing team were necessary.

From the onset of the 2023 racing season to the beginning of the 2024 season, the sole alteration occurred at Racing Team (RB). Specifically, Daniel Ricciardo stepped in during the year to fill the position previously held by the underperforming Nyck de Vries.

In the world of gaming, I found myself in the driver’s seat for the initial 18 races of 2024. However, much like a tough level boss, fate caught up with me just before the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Lawson is stepping in to take over, and it seems he’ll be sticking around with Red Bull’s sister team for the following year.

Only three teams are poised to kick off the 2025 season with the identical driver pairings they’ve had this year.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will rejoin Red Bull, contrary to previous speculations about their early departures that surfaced over the past nine months. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are expected to make a comeback at Aston Martin, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are set to return to McLaren.

2024-10-04 13:32