2025 F1 driver line-ups: latest rumours, confirmed seats & contract news

In theory that puts Red Bull on a stable footing going into 2026 when new technical and engine regulations come into force. Max Verstappen signed a record-breaking six year deal with Red Bull after his first drivers’ title in 2021, which should keep him in Milton Keynes until at least 2028. But the team has been unsettled in the first part of this year amid reports of a behind-the-scenes power struggle at the top levels of Red Bull, an investigation into misconduct involving Christian Horner — who was cleared — the imminent departure of superstar designer Adrian Newey and questions over the position of Verstappen’s mentor Helmut Marko.

This has led to suggestions that Verstappen could leave Red Bull before the end of his deal — which have been amplified by his father Jos — but Max himself has said that he’s committed to the team. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is among those unconvinced, however, and has said that he is monitoring the situation as he looks to fill the vacancy left by the departing Hamilton. Wolff has a strong bargaining chip: new engine regulations come into force in 2026. The last time this happened, Mercedes gained an advantage that lasted for seven years.

 

Ferrari 2025 F1 driver line-up

Charles Leclerc Multi-year contract beyond 2025	Lewis Hamilton Multi-year contract beyond 2025

• Hamilton will join from Mercedes in 2025, replacing Sainz
• Leclerc committed to Ferrari with a new multi-year deal announced at the end of January

Ferrari will have a Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc line-up in 2025, after confirmation of the seven-time champion’s bombshell move from Mercedes.

Hamilton has been linked with the Scuderia for several years, but after two years of Mercedes struggle has now committed to the move, replacing Carlos Sainz, who is out of contract at the end of 2024. He will have turned 40 by the time he joins the grid ahead of his 19th F1 campaign in 2025, but there are no signs that his talent to lead a title charge is diminishing.

It sets up the mouthwatering prospect of a fierce team-mate rivalry between F1’s most successful driver and one of its hottest talents, who is still waiting for a car that can support a sustained title challenge.

Leclerc committed his future to Ferrari early with a multi-year deal announced in January, despite repeated frustrations at the team. There were times last season where Leclerc looked anguished at another lost opportunity, as he watched Verstappen cruise to victory while he was stuck with a car that didn’t match his talent.

Can a Hamilton-Leclerc duo once again deliver a title for the Maranello team. And who would be lifting the trophy?

 

Mercedes 2025 F1 driver line-up

George Russell Contract to 2025	TBC

• George Russell has contract to 2025
• Lewis Hamilton will move to Ferrari

Mercedes seemed to be one of only two teams to have its driver line-up secured for 2025, with both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton signing extensions in the midst of the 2023 season. But a break clause in Hamilton’s deal has been activated and he will move to Ferrari in 2025.

It’s likely that his replacement will be Mercedes junior prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli who moved straight from Formula 4 to Formula 2 this season, and already has enough superlicence points to for F1; he just needs to wait until he turns 18 this August.

Team boss Toto Wolff has said that the young Italian represents the “future” and the only question is whether Mercedes deems him ready next season, or the following one. The searing pace he showed in F4 is starting to show in F2, and Wolff has told Carlos Sainz — who was holding out for an opportunity — that there won’t be a seat for him at Mercedes.

An unlikely alternative is Max Verstappen. The three-time champion has been with Red Bull teams throughout his F1 career, but recent instability — including the news that Adrian Newey will leave the team — combined with new power unit regulations in 2026, which could see a major reshuffle of the pecking order, have led to doubts over his commitment. Wolff has said that he is keeping an eye on Verstappen’s availability. As time goes by, that eventuality appears more remote, but stranger things have happened in F1.

While there remain many question marks surrounding one Mercedes seat, Russell’s future at Brackley looks likely to go beyond 2025. The team’s most recent race-winner, he looks to have the pace when he has the chance to fight wheel to wheel with the likes of Norris, Leclerc and even Verstappen, but a lack of consistency hindered his progress in 2023 — as he fell 59 points behind him team-mate in the drivers’ standings.

 

McLaren 2025 F1 driver line-up

Lando Norris Contract to 2026	Oscar Piastri Contract to 2026

• Norris signed new contract ahead of 2024, keeping him with McLaren until ’26
• Piastri’s 2023 performance earned him contract extension

McLaren has not beenpart of the scramble for 2025 seats with its youthful driver line-up already confirmed.

Ahead of the 2024 campaign, Lando Norris signed another long-term deal which will keep the Brit racing in papaya until at least 2026, with the option to extend beyond that date. That possibility is looking more likely after Norris’s debut F1 win in Miami and McLaren’s continued competitive pace, which will reassure  him that the team can fulfil his world title ambitions.

Even without Norris, McLaren’s future looks secure after signing Oscar Piastri to a long-term deal after the Aussie’s performance in 2023 triggered an extension midway through his rookie campaign. Although still lacking the consistent results produced by his team-mate, Piastri was undoubtably the best rookie driver on the 2023 grid as he secured podium finishes in Japan and Qatar as well as a sprint race win. Continued development throughout 2024 and 2025 may see Norris and Piastri fighting over race wins.

 

Aston Martin 2025 F1 driver line-up 

Lance Stroll Rolling contract	Fernando Alonso Multi-year contract beyond 2025

• Lance Stroll secures another extension beyond 2025
• Alonso has signed a multi-year deal that will take him into at least 2026

Aston Martin found a consistent place among F1’s elite in 2023, but its future beyond that fruitful season seems to be in doubt.

The team was led mostly by the efforts of a 42-year-old Fernando Alonso, who scored almost three-quarters of the team’s total points in 2023 — courtesy of eight podium visits and ten further point scoring finishes.

Its start to 2024 has been less assured but, even so, Alonso has committed himself to the team. His contract was due to expire at the end of 2014 but, after the Japanese Grand Prix, he signed a multi-year deal that will take him to 2026 and potentially beyond.

It was a quick decision from the the two-time world champion, who may have been under pressure to sign or risk losing the seat, given the quality of drivers yet to confirm a seat for 2025. At the team’s 2024 car launch, Alonso indicated that he was unsure of his future: “First I have to decide if I want to keep racing. Then I’ll talk to Aston. But if those things don’t succeed, I’ll look at what is available.”

On the other side of the garage, Lance Stroll’s performance last year did little to help Aston towards a top four finish in the constructors’ standings with an average finishing position of 12th and not a single podium position scored. But his position with the team is set to go unchallenged for the foreseeable future, as he has signed another multi-year extension — perhaps after negotiating with his father Lawrence, who remains in control of the outfit as its executive chairman and owner — which will keep him with the Silverstone outfit for 2025 and beyond.

Meanwhile former F2 champion and budding talent Felipe Drugovich is languishing on the sidelines in a reserve driver role.

 

Alpine 2025 F1 driver line-up

Pierre Gasly Multi-year deal	TBC

• Gasly extends his current contract
• Ocon will leave Alpine at the end of the season

Alpine underwent major upheaval in 2023 with the majority of its high-end staff — including team principal Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane, chief technical officer Pat Fry and director of racing expansion projects Davide Brivio — cast aside or replaced. Its current driver line-up were thought to be next out of the door — willingly — and while Esteban Ocon has agreed to mutually part ways with the team, the extension of Pierre Gasly’s contract could bring some much needed stability to the Enstone outfit.

2023 was a difficult season for the French pairing. Despite podium visits in Monaco and Zandvoort, neither driver was able to find any consistency from the troublesome A523. This ultimately led to a disappointing sixth place finish in the constructors’ standings. The start of 2024 has promised little better, and then came the Monaco Grand Prix where both collided after Ocon aggressively tried to overtake Gasly.

A week later came the announcement that Ocon will not be driving for Alpine next season. But while his future is unknown, Alpine were quick to secure at least half of their current line-up amid rumours that Gasly was eyeing up a move elsewhere. Has the controversial return of Flavio Briatore convinced the the one-time race winner that better performance is one the horizon?

Alpine appears to have put a late bid in for Carlos Sainz, but he might take some convincing to join a squad that has been so unsettled. Looking more likely are its promising reserve driver, Jack Doohan, or Mick Schumacher who drives an Alpine hypercar in the World Endurance Championship and has not been shy about his hopes for a return to F1.

 

Williams 2025 F1 driver line-up 

Alex Albon Multi-year contract beyond 2025	TBC

• Alex Albon extends Williams contract with multi-year deal
• Logan Sargeant faces another season of proving his worth

Williams showed the first signs of a resurgence in 2023, in no small part thanks to the efforts of Alex Albon. The Thai-Anglo driver scored all but one of the team’s 27 points which led to its best finish in the constructors’ standings since 2017.

Now it looks as if he will be with the team for the long-term after signing a “multi-year” deal. His contract had been due to run to the end of 2025, but Albon had been linked to an early move — with Red Bull apparently considering offering a contract for 2026 — or buying him out of his current deal to secure his talents for 2025.

“I’m fully committed to the team until my contract pretty much ends,” Albon told Sports Illustrated. “But I am also 27. Although I’m not young, I’m also not old. And I do feel like I am in a good part of my career. If you take another year I’m 28, then 29 going onto 30 soon. I want to give myself the chance to be able to fight for wins and fight for podiums. And what it comes down to is, at that time and in that time, can we bring this team to be that team?”

The future of Logan Sargeant looks bleak, particularly after team principal James Vowles publicly stated that he was pursuing Carlos Sainz for a seat next year. “First and foremost, I think Carlos is an exceptional driver,” he said in Montreal. “He’s a race-winning driver. And I think any team would be privileged to have him as a part of their organisation.” The Spaniard has since been heavily linked with a move to the Grove outfit, and Sargeant appears to be on borrowed time. A slow start to 2024 has done little to better his chances of another renewal.

F2 hotshot Kimi Antonelli could be also be an option, but Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas is also thought to be in contention for the seat. There’s also last year’s F2 champion Théo Pourchaire, or Aston Martin’s Felipe Drugovich — who is considered F1-ready due to his extensive reserve driver experience.

 

RB 2025 F1 driver line-up

Yuki Tsunoda Contract to 2025	TBC

• Reserve driver Liam Lawson is hopeful of a seat in 2025
• Tsunoda signs one-year extension

Sergio Perez’s Red Bull contract has blocked any hope of RB’s duo being promoted to its sister team, and so Yuki Tsunoda has now signed a one-year extension to his current deal.

It’s hardly a resounding declaration of commitment, given that most teams have been looking to secure longer-term driver deals to maintain stability into 2026 when power unit and chassis regulations change.

But at least Tsunoda has a contract. Daniel Ricciardo remains unsigned for 2025, and it has been suggested that he could be replaced mid-season by Liam Lawson, who proved his pace standing in for the injured Ricciardo last year.

Since returning to F1 last year with RB, Ricciardo has failed to show the pace and bold overtaking manoeuvres evident while racing at Red Bull until 2018. Tsunoda has looked the stronger driver, outqualifying his team-mate and showing determined and bold racecraft to move through the field. As a result, RB are seemingly looking to revert to a youthful driver line-up.

“The shareholders have made it known that it is a junior team and we have to act accordingly,” said Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who also oversees RB’s driver selections. “The goal was that he [Ricciardo] would be considered for Red Bull with exceptional performances. That seat now belongs to Perez, so that plan is no longer valid.”

If RB doesn’t stay with Ricciardo, then it would be a surprise if RB opted for anyone except Lawson. Even so, the team does also have the option of Red Bull juniors Ayumu Iwasa and Isack Hadjar who look strong in feeder categories, as does outsider Malthe Jakobsen, who was stunningly fast in a Peugeot Hypercar test last year.

 

Haas

TBC	TBC

• Hülkenberg will join Sauber in 2025
• Kevin Magnussen’s future is unknown

Haas took a new approach toward its driver line-up in 2023 — replacing the youth of Mick Schumacher with the experience of Nico Hülkenberg to partner Kevin Magnussen. With over 60 years of racing experience between them, it was suggested that both drivers would be able to get the struggling American marque back on track without costing the team millions in repair fees.

Ultimately it was far from a perfect season as the team finished at the bottom of the constructors’ standings for the second time in the last three seasons, but intermittent shows of pace at least convinced team boss Gunether Steiner to extend both his drivers’ contracts to the end of 2024.

That stability is at an end. Steiner has already been pushed out of the team, while Hülkenberg will leave for Sauber at the end of the year. Where that leaves Kevin Magnussen is the question. He was outqualified by Hülkenberg in seven of the first ten grands prix of the year, but has proved a team player by deploying controversial tactics to boost his team-mate’s chances of scoring points.

Haas’s pace in the first part of the 2024 season raised it to seventh in the constructors’ championship, ahead of Alpine, Williams and Sauber, but a recent dip in form has since demoted it back down to eighth. Nevertheless, competition for its two vacant 2025 seats appears heated.

As a customer team to Ferrari, it’s likely that Haas will be asked to make room for the talents of Ollie Bearman, who impressed thoroughly during his rookie F2 campaign in 2023 and delighted further throughout his F1 debut in Jeddah, where he replaced Carlos Sainz on short notice.

Esteban Ocon has been linked to the seat as well which, in current form, would amount to promotion from Alpine. The same could be said for Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Gunayu, neither of whom will have a future at Sauber if Carlos Sainz signs for the team.

Sauber 2024 F1 driver line-up

Nico Hülkenberg Multi-year contract beyond 2025	TBC

• Hülkenberg first driver confirmed – Sauber looking to Audi partnership in 2026
• German manufacturer likely to influence line-up

Sauber is in the process of being taken over by Audi and has been preparing for the transition for some time, with the appointment of former McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl as chief executive.

Now it has signed Nico Hülkenberg, one of F1’s most experienced drivers, to race for it in 2025 and 2026 (when it becomes a full manufacturer squad) and potentially beyond owing to his “multi-year” contract.

“With his speed, his experience and his commitment to teamwork, he will be an important part of the transformation of our team – and of Audi’s F1 project,” said CEO Andreas Seidl, who formerly worked with Hülkenberg as team boss of Porsche when the team won Le Mans 2015. “Right from the start, there was great mutual interest in building something long-term together. Nico is a strong personality, and his input, on a professional and personal level, will help us to make progress both in the development of the car and in building up the team.”

The 2025 driver line-up will  be decided with the following year in mind. The German car giant is thought to be holding out for Carlos Sainz, but its remaining vacancy has also been linked with Mick Schumacher, Esteban Ocon and current driver Valtteri Bottas — who is in the final year of his current contract.

The Finn joined the team from Mercedes ahead of the 2022 campaign and has since been the lead driver. Despite the car’s overall lack of pace, he finished as high as fifth at Imola in his debut season with the team. Development stalled in 2023 and the Swiss marque ultimately finished a close ninth in the constructors’ standings.

Bottas is keen to stay on, with the prospect of improved funding and — in theory — pace. The ten-time F1 race winner said that he wanted to enter negotiations with Audi in the early stages of this season with the aim of securing a long-term spot on the F1 grid. “I’m still hungry to get back on the podium eventually,” he said. “The Audi project could be the next opportunity.”

However, the car’s lack of performance has made it difficult for Bottas to demonstrate that he still has the pace that earned him the Mercedes seat and his age — 35 at the start of next year — means that Audi may not see him as a long-term prospect. He also appeared unimpressed by the decision to change his race engineer just before the Miami Grand Prix, and has been seen talking to Williams.

Zhou Guanyu looks to be at risk. He has shown elements of good performance during his short time on the grid — scoring critical points in Australia, Spain and Qatar in 2023 — but has remained rooted close to the back of the grid in 2024 qualifying sessions.