F1: Dates, format, drivers & teams

The 2025 season will be the 76th running of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

In the final year before F1 introduces a new generation of cars in 2026, Max Verstappen will set out looking to defend his drivers' championship crown for a fifth successive year while McLaren enter the new season as the reigning constructors' champions.

2025 F1 season dates

The first race of the 2025 season will take place at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne on 16th March.

A total of 24 races are on the calendar stretching across nine months, with the final race of the season held at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on 7th December.

F1 2025 driver line-up

Team	Drivers
McLaren	Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri
Ferrari	Charles Leclerc & Lewis Hamilton
Red Bull Racing	Max Verstappen & Liam Lawson
Mercedes	George Russell & Kimi Antonelli
Aston Martin	Fernando Alonso & Lance Stroll
Alpine	Pierre Gasly & Jack Doohan
Haas	Esteban Ocon & Oliver Bearman
VCARB	Yuki Tsunoda & Isack Hadjar
Williams	Alex Albon & Carlos Sainz
Stake F1 Team	Nico Hulkenberg & Gabriel Bortoleto

F1 race weekend format 

An F1 race weekend takes place over three days, with teams getting two one-hour practice sessions on a Friday to study how the car is performing on a track on a standard weekend.

There's a third one-hour practice session on Saturday morning, before a one-hour qualifying session for the race itself is held in the afternoon.

Qualifying is split into three phases - Q1, Q2 and Q3 - with the five slowest drivers being eliminated in Q3, five more bowing out in Q2, before the final ten battle it out for pole position. 

Pole goes to the driver who sets the fastest time in Q3 and means they start at the front of the grid on race day, followed by the next fastest driver and so on.

The race itself is then held on Sunday and usually lasts just under two hours.

F1 sprint race explained

First introduced in July 2021 for the British Grand Prix, this season will again see six Sprint weekends held across the season in China, Miami, Belgium, Austin, Sao Paulo and Qatar. 

The sprint is a short race which is roughly one-third of a typical Grand Prix distance which is aimed at encouraging wheel-to-wheel racing and sprint venues are typically selected for their abundant overtaking opportunities.

Providing additional points over the course of a season, the format of a sprint weekend is different to a normal race weekend. A sprint qualifying session will replace FP2 on the Friday before the sprint race itself replaces FP3. Qualifying for the Grand Prix is conducted as normal on Saturday afternoon.

F1 scoring system explained

Drivers are awarded points for finishing in the top-10 of a Grand Prix, with 25 points going to the race winner. There's also an extra point on offer to the driver who sets the fastest lap time during the race.

You can find out everything you need to know about F1's points system here.

F1 history

First staged in 1950, Silverstone held the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix and five of the first seven seasons were won by Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina.

In addition to the drivers' championship, the constructors' championship was added in 1958 and featured road-car manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati.

Since the maiden F1 campaign, a total of 34 drivers have been crowned world champion. 17 of the 34 have won the drivers' championship more than once, with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton at the top of the pile with seven titles apiece.

Ferrari are the most successful team in F1 history having triumphed in 16 seasons, though the famous Italian manufacturer have not been crowned constructors' champions since 2008.