The last race in the 2024 Formula 1 season had a lot to offer: McLaren took the constructors’ world championship ahead of Ferrari and record world champion Lewis Hamilton said goodbye to Mercedes. RTL reporter and F1 expert Felix Görner looks ahead to the year 2025 in his sport.de column – and sees three big question marks with a view to Hamilton, Verstappen and Mercedes.
The last time of the season was of course all about the pop star leaving his star: Lewis Hamilton.
A man who set records for a team that will likely last forever. 246 races, six titles, 84 wins, 78 poles for Mercedes – even Max Verstappen won’t be able to achieve that in the next few years. This is unique.
This heralded the upheaval at Mercedes and the beginning of a new beginning at Ferrari. Seeing Lewis Hamilton in red will electrify the fans. This makes Maranello Hollywood.
Here comes a driver who, like Michael Schumacher once, represents such a fixed star who – I don’t want to say – outshines Ferrari, but who will definitely make Ferrari something special. That’s good for Formula 1.
It will be interesting to see if a 40 year old can do it again. That’s not easy, we also see that with Fernando Alonso. That would be the ultimate thrill in Formula 1 if Hamilton could win his eighth title with Ferrari.
But it will be a rocky road. With the current, stable regulations, McLaren will be the favorite for 2025 as team world champion. There will be a razor-thin race throughout the year.
Will Verstappen maintain his willingness to take risks?
A human component will also be very interesting: They say that with every child you have, you become a tenth of a second slower as a Formula 1 driver. I’m very excited to see how Max Verstappen will drive and act as a father. Whether he will change or whether he will maintain this consistent brutality and this willingness to take risks.
Felix Görner has been an RTL reporter and Formula 1 expert for years
I can remember the last world champions, such as Sebastian Vettel, who never reached the absolute performance limit again after the birth of her children. Of course, growing your family means you live more responsibly and sometimes rethink your willingness to take risks. I’m curious to see if Verstappen will change in any way.
You can’t say that yet because he hasn’t become a father yet. We at sport.de naturally wish Max Verstappen all the best.
These are signs of a fantastic 2025 season, in which there is a clear number one with Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. And with Ferrari and McLaren with two potential number 1 drivers. This is identical for both teams. And the upheaval at Mercedes, where it is not yet clear where the journey is going in year one after Hamilton. It will be interesting to see where the Mercedes star goes, whether it burns out or shines again.
Now we’ll turn off the engine for a few months and look forward to a new Formula 1 season in 2025 with probably even more exciting duels than this year. Abu Dhabi was already a small hint for the future.