Five big Australian Grand Prix questions we want answers to

We’re mere hours away from Formula 1 cars hitting the track at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne for the beginning of the 2025 season — and there are plenty of questions lingering about the kind of action we’ll see when teams begin to reveal their true pace.

How will our newest drivers perform against the much-hyped Ferrari move by Lewis Hamilton? Will the pecking order remain similar to what we saw in 2024, or are we in the midst of a shake-up? Let’s dig in.

Five big Australian Grand Prix questions we want answers to

Will Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut be a dream come true — or a night to forget?

The hype for the 2025 Formula 1 season kicked off well before lights out on 2024’s season opener thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s shock announcement that he would be leaving Mercedes after 12 years to begin a new chapter at Scuderia Ferrari.

From that moment on, Hamilton’s move remained one of the biggest talking points of the season, with conversation continuing well into the start of 2025 after Hamilton’s first few tests with Ferrari machinery. Finally, we’re about to see just what the pairing can do together, and we’ll begin to understand if this is a match made in heaven, or if Hamilton will be regretting the move.

Expectations here are naturally high, and a debut win would be sweet, but success here doesn’t only have to be characterized by victory. In fact, if Hamilton is able to fully integrate into the car, and if the Ferrari team can patch him seamlessly into their Grand Prix routine, a finish alone could serve the outfit well.

But it may not be perfect. Hamilton could struggle to adapt. The team could make silly errors caused by the pressure of fielding a seven-time champion. Much still hangs in the air, and we won’t know how to rank this debut until the checkered flag falls.

Can McLaren maintain its impressive 2024 pace?

It took a few races and one key update for McLaren to find its footing in 2024, but when it did, the Woking-based team easily had the quickest car of the bunch. Can McLaren carry that performance directly into 2024?

It’s a tough question, because finding an answer relies as much on McLaren crafting a strong car as it does on the rest of the field evolving in the wrong direction. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has characterized the team’s evolution as ‘bold,’ that the outfit hasn’t been content to rest on its laurels and has instead looked to innovate in a new direction.

Will McLaren have out-engineered itself? Or will some other concern arise — perhaps the ongoing drama with the flexi-wing?? That remains to be seen and will depend as much on how the FIA evaluate the flexibility of wings as it does on how McLaren have evolved.

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Do Red Bull Racing have any performance secrets up its sleeve?

Red Bull Racing kicked off the 2024 season on a high, as Max Verstappen scooped up race wins and set the tone for the World Championship well in advance of the team’s stumbles later in the year.

But stumble Red Bull did. Verstappen may have taken his fourth drivers’ title, but his marque slipped to third in the constructors’ championship after the team failed to counter the strong upgrades made by rivals like McLaren.

PlanetF1.com’s data connoisseur Pablo Hidalgo has noted that pre-season testing data suggests Red Bull may have played its cards close to its chest, and that the Milton Keynes team may have a few surprises up its sleeve.

Whether or not that means Red Bull are back in championship contention remains to be seen — but it could create a compelling storyline that no one is expecting.

Who will emerge as the standout performer in Formula 1’s stacked rookie class?

Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), and Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) will all make their Formula 1 debut in Australia, while Jack Doohan (Alpine), Oliver Bearman (Haas), and Liam Lawson (Red Bull) will be embarking on their first full seasons in the sport.

That’s a frankly stacked class of rookies and new drivers, all with a wide variety of skillsets and driving styles.

Naturally, the immediate standouts are the likes of Antonelli and Lawson thanks to the nature of their teams, but the scrutiny on all of the young drivers will be a hefty burden to bear as they battle to retain their seats and prove that they’re the next generation of Formula 1.

How will the F1 2025 championship begin to shape up?

While some of our big questions are specific, some are more general — but that’s because it’s hard to know just what to ask until we’ve seen how a race shakes out!

Only one driver can win in Australia, but the entire grid will be able to show us just what they’ve been working on over the offseason, establishing a rough pecking order until the first wave of mid-season updates begin to change direction.

Will Williams see a bump in its fortunes with Carlos Sainz? Will Aston Martin continue to lead the midfield? Will Sauber prove it’s ready to fight for a better finishing position?

We’re about to find out.

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