Magazine: The potential shocks to come in F1's 2025 driver market

WEB 18th Apr

Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull started it. For very different reasons, they have made the driver market silly season far more interesting – and at a much earlier time – than usual this year.

Having hit the paddock hard in recent weeks, Alex Kalinauckas digs through the various possibilities, some likely and some not so much, in this issue’s investigation into what the 2025 grid could look like. Fernando Alonso re-signing for Aston Martin last week locked one more piece into place and leads out international news section.

We also take a look at why Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is struggling in qualifying, something he usually aces, while Trevor Carlin’s new guest column focuses on the signs the former team boss saw in F3 that convinced him Carlos Sainz was going to be a future star.

On-track, the big event in the UK last weekend was the Goodwood Members’ Meeting. British Touring Car champions Gordon Shedden, Andrew Jordan and Ash Sutton were outstanding, while perhaps a surprise highlight came with the 75th anniversary celebration sidecar world championship shootout. Marcus Pye was there and picks out the highlights in our report.

The Gordon Spice Trophy for Group 1 saloons impressed and, sticking with tin-tops, we select the greatest BTCC cars, to coincide with our current Top 10s podcast series.

There was plenty of drama in Italy, where a chaotic Formula E opener appeared to have been won by Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa. As Stefan Mackley reports, the Portuguese was controversially excluded hours later, before team-mate Pascal Wehrlein took a last-gasp victory in the second race.

Ferrari’s return to British GT, a new competition for F1 cars of the 1990s and lots of rally news lead our 15-page National section, which also tells the story of an extraordinary modified Ford Capri.

For the best motorsport coverage, from F1 to Britain’s club-racing scene via the Le Mans 24 Hours, why not get Autosport magazine delivered to your door each week? Subscribe today and never miss your weekly fix of motorsport: www.autosportmedia.com/offer/Autosport