All the Formula 1 Cars on the Grid in 2024
Formula1/YouTube
The official return of Formula 1 is almost upon us following a three-month break. The competition’s 75th campaign doesn’t kick off until the Australian Grand Prix next week, with pre-season testing—the sport’s version of spring training—held last week at the Bahrain International Circuit.
The three-day event offered the first concrete signs of what to expect from the coming season in motorsport’s premier competition. At stake this year is how hungry Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is to win a fifth consecutive driver’s championship, if McLaren and Lando Norris can build on last year’s surprising constructor’s title and second-place driver’s finish, and if Lewis Hamilton is the missing piece in Ferrari’s quest to end a 17-year title drought. Pre-season testing also gave us a chance to see each team’s new livery—which were unveiled during last week’s F1 75 Live show—in action.
As impressive as Verstappen’s run of dominance has been, it’s also resulted in some rather predictable racing over the last few seasons. Fortunately, changes throughout the grid should inject plenty of drama into the upcoming season. Changes with car liveries will also mean they’ll zoom by in new colors, and that’s an upgrade or a downgrade, depending on your perspective.
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Alpine A525
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube The upcoming season will be one of transition for Alpine. The team is welcoming a new driver in 2025—Jack Doohan, who is replacing Esteban Ocon—and entering its final year using Renault-built power units. With new regulations going into effect in 2026, Alpine will give up its status as a full works team and will utilize Mercedes engines and gearboxes going forward. Before then, Doohan and veteran Pierre Gasly will try to see if they can improve on last season’s sixth place finish in the team’s bold pink and blue car.
Racing Since: 1986 (Alpine since 2021)
Principal: Oliver Oakes
Drivers: Pierre Gasly (11th in the 2024 Driver’s Championship standings) and Jack Doohan (24th)
Team Titles: 0
Last Season: 6th -
Aston Martin AMR25
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube Aston Martin is well positioned to further cement its position as the fifth-best team on the grid in 2025. That may not sound like much, but three straight years square in the middle of the pack represents progress for a team that finished in seventh in the constructor’s standings four of its first five years in F1. As was the case the past two seasons, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will drive this year’s race car, the AMR25. The vehicle’s Racing Green-dominated livery looks mighty similar to last year’s, though too many white accents rob it of some of its power.
Racing Since: 2018
Principal: Andy Cowell
Drivers: Fernando Alonso (9th) and Lance Stroll (13th)
Team Titles: 0
Last Season: 5th -
Ferrari SF-25
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube More eyes will be on Ferrari than any other team during the opening weeks of the new campaign. That’s because F1’s winningest constructor has welcomed its greatest driver, Lewis Hamilton, to the fold in 2025. It remains to be seen if the seven-time driver’s champion and Charles Leclerc can drive the Ferrari to its first constructor’s title in nearly two decades, but they’ll certainly look good trying. The team’s new livery adds a splash of white that works surprisingly well with the team’s traditional red and yellow (though we’d prefer if title partner HP’s logo weren’t so prominent).
Racing Since: 1950
Principal: Frédéric Vasseur
Drivers: Charles Leclerc (3rd) and Lewis Hamilton (7th)
Team Titles: 16 (last title in 2008)
Last Season: 2nd -
Haas VF-25
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube It’s safe to say that 2024 was a pleasant surprise for Haas, with the team placing seventh one year after finishing dead last. The only U.S. team on the grid (though it will be joined by Cadillac next season) clearly sees room for improvement, which explains why it saw fit to replace last year’s drivers, Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, with the established Esteban Ocon and promising Oliver Bearman. That’s not the only thing that’s changed, as the team has also made an adjustment to its livery, with white now the dominant hue in the 2025 design.
Racing Since: 2016
Principal: Ayao Komatsu
Drivers: Esteban Ocon (14th) and Oliver Bearman (18th)
Team Titles: 0
Last Season: 7th -
Kick Sauber C45
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube Kick Sauber can take comfort in the fact that things probably can’t get much worse for it in 2025. The team, which finished last in the constructor’s race last season, is hoping that veteran Nico Hülkenberg, who finished 11th in the driver’s standings last campaign, and newcomer Gabriel Bortoleto can help it begin to inch its way up the grid this season. No matter what happens, the team can depend on having one of the most eye-catching cars thanks to its brash “Fluo Racing Green” livery.
Racing Since: 1993
Principal: Mattia Binotto
Drivers: Nico Hülkenberg (11th) and Gabriel Bortoleto (n/a)
Team Titles: 0
Last Season: 10th -
McLaren MCL39
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube With the exception of Ferrari, no team comes into 2025 with more momentum than McLaren. The team won its first constructor’s title since 1998 last season and is ready to add another this year, which would bring its total to 10. Its drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, will also be looking to build upon last season’s second- and fourth-place driver’s finishes, with the former coming closer to Max Verstappen than anyone has since the Red Bull driver beat Lewis Hamilton to the title in the last race of the 2021 season. It’s a little disappointing that the team’s Papaya Orange-heavy livery is basically the same as last year’s, but why mess with success?
Racing Since: 1966
Principal: Andrea Stella
Drivers: Lando Norris (2nd) and Oscar Piastri (4th)
Team Titles: 9 (2024)
Last Season: 1st -
Mercedes-AMG Petronas W16
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube The coming season will mark the start of a new era at Mercedes. For the first season since 2013, Lewis Hamilton won’t be filling one of the team’s two driver’s seats. Fortunately for principal Toto Wolff, the team already has a decent idea of what he’ll get out of George Russell and seems to have high hopes for rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The team’s lineup may have a new look in 2025, but its car won’t. The “new” livery further refines the familiar black, silver and Tiffany Green theme of recent years.
Racing Since: 1970 (AMG Petronas since 2010)
Principal: Toto Wolff
Drivers: George Russell (6th) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (n/a)
Team Titles: 8 (2021)
Last Season: 4th -
Racing Bulls VCARB 02
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube As in past years, expectations for Red Bull’s other team, Racing Bulls, won’t be all that high in 2025. The operation has long been used as a farm team by its bigger brother. That’s why last year’s reserve driver, Liam Lawson, was named Max Verstappen’s new teammate late last year. That won’t stop Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar from trying to earn points where they can. Regardless, they’ll be driving one of the best-looking cars on the grid week after week, thanks to an all-new white-dominated design that’s so much more striking than last year’s livery.
Racing Since: 1985 (Racing Bulls since 2024)
Principal: Laurent Mekies
Drivers: Yuki Tsunoda (14th) and Isack Hadjar (n/a)
Team Titles: 0
Last Season: 8th -
Red Bull Racing RB21
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube McLaren may have beaten Red Bull to the constructor’s title last season, but it remains the dominant team of the decade. That’s because it can still count on Max Verstappen, the winner of four-straight Driver’s Championships, finishing on the podium (or very close) nearly every week. This year, he’ll be joined by new teammate Liam Lawson. The newcomer replaces Sergio Perez, who only managed an eighth-place finish last season despite driving the same car as Verstappen. Principal Christian Horner will hope some new blood is what’s needed to return the team’s RB21 race car, which looks almost identical to last year’s vintage, to the top of the sport.
Racing Since: 1997 (Red Bull Racing since 2005)
Principal: Christian Horner
Drivers: Max Verstappen (1st place last season) and Liam Lawson (21st)
Team Titles: 6 (2023)
Last Season: 3rd -
Williams FW47
Image Credit: Formula1/YouTube Carlos Sainz may have finished fifth in last season’s driver’s standings, but that didn’t stop him from being squeezed out at Ferrari to make room for the legendary Lewis Hamilton. The driver’s loss is Williams’s gain, though. Sainz’s arrival gives Williams the best driver it’s had in years and it’s not hard to imagine that he and teammate Alex Albon have what it takes to improve upon last year’s ninth-place finish in the constructor’s race. No, the team isn’t going to end its title drought anytime soon, but expect to see its blue race car in the points more frequently in 2025.
Racing Since: 1978
Principal: James Vowles
Drivers: Carlos Sainz (5th) and Alexander Albon (16th)
Team Titles: 9 (1997)
Last Season: 9th
