F1 2025 calendar and race reports: The new Formula One season as it happens

We’re now two races into the 2025 Formula One season, and the form book is beginning to become clearer, but as predicted this is one of the most competitive seasons in history. McLaren has the edge, continuing the Woking-based team’s form from 2024, but Mercedes and Ferrari also look competitive, with Max Verstappen also very much in the running (though his rookie team-mate Liam Lawson has had a shocker, and may not even keep his seat for the Japanese GP).

Dutchman Verstappen is arguably still the class of the field, driving the doors off his Red Bull F1 car (if they had doors), which he’s clearly not 100 per cent happy with yet, though Lewis Hamilton managed his first win for Ferrari in China (a Sprint race, but still a milestone for the Brit in his new colours).

Aston Martin will need to wait before the Adrian Newey effect kicks in (the former Red Bull Racing design chief and engineering superstar was only able to start work at his new outfit on March 1 this year), and the team appeared to have one of the slowest cars at the Bahrain test last month, but the team hasn’t been as off the pace in the grands prix as predicted.

Things are looking brighter for Williams, and the team could easily be the best of the rest this year — despite Carlos Sainz crashing out in the wet of Australia and having to retire in China with a clutch issue. There’s clearly decent pace but consistent points finishes over the rest of the year will be key.

When is the next F1 race?

The upcoming Formula One race is the Japanese Grand Prix, on Sunday, April 6, 2025.

If you can watch it live, the main race starts at 2pm in Suzuka, which for our UK readers is 6am BST. We’ve included local times below for the UK, USA and Australia.

• London: Sunday, April 6, 2025, 06:00:00 BST (UTC+1 hour)
• New York: Sunday, April 6, 2025, 02:00:00 EDT (UTC-4 hours)
• Los Angeles: Saturday, April 5, 2025, 23:00:00 PDT (UTC-7 hours)
• Canberra: Sunday, April 6, 2025, 16:00:00 AEST (UTC+10 hours)

The full Japanese GP schedule with UK timings:

2025 F1 calendar

Here’s the full schedule of grands prix for the 2025 Formula One season. After each round you’ll be able to click on links to read a report of each race.

Date	Country	Venue
March 14-16	Australia (race report)	Melbourne
March 21-23	China (race report)	Shanghai
April 4-6	Japan	Suzuka
April 11-13	Bahrain	Sakhir
April 18-20	Saudi Arabia	Jeddah
May 2-4	USA	Miami
May 16-18	Italy	Imola
May 23-25	Monaco	Monaco
May 30 – June 1	Spain	Barcelona
June 13-15	Canada	Montreal
June 27-29	Austria	Spielberg
July 4-6	United Kingdom	Silverstone
July 25-27	Belgium	Spa
August 1-3	Hungary	Budapest
August 29-31	Netherlands	Zandvoort
September 5-7	Italy	Monza
September 19-21	Azerbaijan	Baku
October 3-5	Singapore	Singapore
October 17-19	USA	Austin
October 24-26	Mexico	Mexico City
November 7-9	Brazil	Sao Paulo
November 20-22	USA	Las Vegas
November 28-30	Qatar	Lusail
December 5-7	Abu Dhabi	Yas Marina

---

2025 race reports

Come back to this page in the week following each grand prix for full race reports and highlights videos.

Australian Grand Prix race report

The 2025 season was already shaping up to be a promising one, between driver changes, exciting rookies and the lack of any major regulation changes. For the first time since 2019, the F1 season kicks off “Down Under” at the Australian Grand Prix, writes Dave Humphreys. 

Calm and predictable Autumn greeted the F1 community at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne for the Friday and Saturday sessions. Qualifying threw up some surprising results, with experience proving a strength as none of this year’s six rookie drivers made it into the top ten. Pole position was clinched by Lando Norris (McLaren), who just edged out his teammate Oscar Piastri on home turf. 

Current world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) secured a third-place slot on the grid next to George Russell (Mercedes). They were followed by Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), Alex Albon (Williams), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Carlos Sainz (Williams).

The best of the rookies was Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls, who started from 11th, just ahead of Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin — now the most senior F1 driver on the grid. 

The calm weather ended on Sunday morning as heavy rain in the build-up to the start, adding further unpredictability. Car setup changes for Ollie Bearman (Haas) and Liam Lawson (Red Bull) would see them start from the pit lane. As the drivers made their way around on the formation lap, Hadjar lost control of his car and collided with the barriers, ending his debut race before it officially began; he appeared inconsolable in the aftermath, understandably.

That delayed the start by 15 minutes as his Racing Bulls car was recovered. 

With the track already starting to dry, all cars started on intermediates, and it was clean racing into the first corner. Verstappen harried Piastri for second place, a move he made stick into the third corner. Two corners later, Jack Doohan (Alpine) lost the back end and hit the barriers, bringing out the safety car.

That should have settled things down, but conditions were still tricky as Carlos Sainz lost control of his Williams in the final corner and hit the wall. The Spaniard complained of a surge of torque (twisting force), suggesting some throttle mapping work is required at Williams.

Racing proper eventually got underway on lap 7, with Norris quickly building a gap to Verstappen. More drivers were going off the racing line in search of wet sections to cool their inters from overheating on the drying racing line. A spin for Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) saw the rookie drop down to 13th, while Verstappen made an error in turn 10, running deep and opening the door for Piastri to reclaim 2nd place, much to the delight of the home crowd. 

Piastri was in the groove now, consistently putting in fast laps as he honed in on Norris. As the gap closed, the team told Piastri to hold position as the duo made their way through to lap the backmarkers before confirming, “We are free to race now. You know the rules.”

A second safety Ccar period started on lap 34 when Alonso uncharacteristically lost control of his Aston Martin at turn 6, colliding hard with the wall. The incident prompted a flurry of pit lane activity as drivers came in to switch to slicks for the drying track. However, no sooner had the safety car period ended than teams began to report incoming rain showers. 

As the rain began to fall, teams had differing views on whether to stay out and ride out the tricky conditions on slicks to switch back to intermediates. Then Norris and Piastri skated off the track at turn 12, with Verstappen just managing to hold onto his car.

Piastri, temporarily beached, managed to reverse back onto the circuit and rejoin, but any prospect of a podium finish was now gone. Norris pitted, but Verstappen and most of the field stayed out. 

All of this promoted the Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc to 1st and 2nd. With intensifying rain Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) went off into the barrier quickly followed by Lawson in the Red Bull, ending both their races. 

As the safety car once again returned to police the field, Ferrari were forced to pit, dropping them back down the order to just within the top ten. Norris kept a cool head on the restart, now back at the front ahead of Verstappen, Russell, Albon, Antonelli, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber), Gasly, Hamilton and Leclerc. 

Gasly ran wide in the first turn, opening the door for Leclerc and then Hamilton to capitalise. Verstappen made some late moves but didn’t have enough to make it by Norris, who claimed a well-earned victory.

Russell’s 3rd place on the podium, combined with a 4th place for Antonelli on his debut, gave Mercedes a haul of points to put them joint-top of the Constructor’s championship next to McLaren, as Piastri managed to get home in 9th. Vital points for Williams, Sauber and Aston Martin place them ahead of Ferrari in the team standings. 

Watch the 2025 Australian GP race highlights

2025 Chinese GP race report

The Chinese GP was back-to-back with Australia, and the drivers didn’t have much time to get to grips with the resurfaced circuit at Shanghai, writes Dave Humphreys. That’s because there was just one practice session before heading into qualifying for the season’s first Sprint Race weekend of the year.

Sprint race

With improved grip levels from the new track surface and clearly keen to overcome what he described as a lacklustre performance in Australia, Lewis Hamilton surprised many by setting a new lap record on his way to putting the Ferrari on pole for the Sprint Race. 

Max Verstappen lined up alongside Hamilton on the front row in the Red Bull, followed by Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), George Russell (Mercedes) and Lando Norris (McLaren) to round out the top six. 

As the lights went out for the 19-lap Sprint, Hamilton made a strong getaway from pole, with Verstappen defending from Piastri into the winding first corner complex. Russell and Norris were side-by-side, but a lock-up from the McLaren driver saw him tumble back down the rankings. Russel has Leclerc in his sights and, by the second lap, had made the move stick, while Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) was also progressing, moving up to 6th. 

While Verstappen was trying to keep Hamilton in his sights and keep ahead of Piastri, his teammate, Liam Lawson, was struggling in the other Red Bull at the opposite end of the field, tussling with Jack Doohan in the Alpine back in 18th. 

Several drivers were complaining of front tyre graining caused by the new track surface. Carlos Sainz (Williams) made a pit stop for fresh tyres, which saw him return at the tail-end of the field, but in the hope that he could leapfrog some of the others as the older tyres wore out. 

Back at the front, Hamilton was sailing home as Leclerc began to fight back at Russell in 4th place. On lap 15, Piastri got the better of Verstappen, who could no longer defend from the rapid McLaren. It was a lights-to-flag victory for Hamilton, his first with the Scuderia and the team’s first Sprint race win.

Piastri followed him home ahead of Verstappen. Russell held onto 4th, ahead of Leclerc, with Tsunoda claiming valuable points in 6th. he was followed by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Norris, who claimed the final Sprint Race point in 8th position. 

Grand Prix

The grid for Sunday looked quite different, with Piastri breaking Hamilton’s lap record set earlier that weekend, with Russell joining him on the front row. Norris claimed 3rd for the start alongside Verstappen, while Hamilton and Leclerc took row three. Behind them were Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Antonelli, Tsunoda and Alex Albon (Williams), making up the top ten. 

Lawson’s struggles to get to grips with the Red Bull saw the team make some further changes to the car under parc ferme, meaning a pit-lane start for the New Zealander. As the race got underway, Piastri fought off a challenge by Russell, who, in turn, lost out to Norris. Verstappen was passed by both Ferraris, but in doing so, Leclerc tapped the back of Hamilton, breaking off part of his car’s front wing. 

The race for Fernando Alonso ended after just a few laps with the Aston Martin driver reporting a major braking issue. Piastri was maintaining a comfortable gap to Norris at the front, keeping his McLaren teammate just outside of the one-second window for DRS. 

The first pit stops began on lap 11, with Pierre Gasly (Alpine) stopping, followed by Tsunoda, who made a good undercut on Antonelli to move up a place. Four laps later, Piastri and Russell pitted, soon followed by Leclerc and Norris. Ferrari didn’t change the damaged front wing on Leclerc’s car, as he seemed able to drive around the issue. 

A later pit stop for Norris saw him lose out to Russell, who had also benefitted from an “undercut”, as the Mercedes was ahead of the McLaren when it rejoined.

Stroll was caught up in the middle of it in the sole-remaining Aston Martin, but Norris had the pace once his tyres were up to racing temperature and retook his position from Russell with some DRS help.

Ferrari had some juggling to do with its drivers, as Leclerc seemed the faster of the two. After some radio discussions, Hamilton moved aside to let him through. Verstappen was in 6th place, ahead of Stroll and Ollie Bearman (Haas), both of whom had yet to stop. 

McLaren was also managing its drivers at the front, instructing Piastri to up the pace so that Norris could break clear of Russell. The risk of rain on the last few laps added yet another curve ball to the strategists. Haas’ day continued to look up as Esteban Ocon had made his way up to 7th place.

Tsunoda and Hadjar were having equally strong race performances in the Racing Bulls, but towards the end, the Japanese driver was forced into an unplanned third pit stop due to a front wing issue. 

McLaren’s stress levels increased as Norris reported a developing brake issue with his pedal going long, but would there be enough time left for Russell to capitalise?

Piastri sailed over the finish line and, much to the team’s relief, was followed by Norris to take 2nd place ahead of Russell, who was just 1.3 seconds behind at the end. 

A 4th place finish for Verstappen was as good as he could have hoped for given the car’s performance, and Leclerc took the flag ahead of Hamilton. However, there was more drama to follow as both Ferrari cars were disqualified for separate regulation breaches after the race. Leclerc’s car was found to be 1kg under the legal 800kg minimum requirement, while Hamilton’s rear skid block was 0.5mm below the minimum thickness. Pierre Gasly was also disqualified for his Alpine being underweight. 

All that meant that Ocon was promoted to 5th, with Antonelli in 6th, followed by Albon, Bearman, Stroll and Carlos Sainz (Williams). 

Watch the 2025 Chinese GP race highlights

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