F1 GRID SET – FRANCO COLAPINTO MISSES OUT

Sir Lewis Hamilton will race in red and Nico Hulkenberg will drive Sauber into the upcoming Audi era when Formula One racing resumes at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.

The F1 rookies for season 2025 are led by Jack Doohan at Alpine, who is joined by Oliver Bearman at Haas, Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes-AMG, Isack Hadjar at Racing Bulls and Gabriel Bortoletto at Sauber.

Each of the newbies could become the Rookie of the Year, but it's Bearman and Antonelli who will be in the spotlight from race one.

The biggest loser is Franco Colapinto, who exploded into F1 as the speedy replacement for Logan Sargeant at Williams – and then killed his chances with a string of costly crashes.

The season opener is still more than two months away but there are already plenty of questions:

Can Lewis Hamilton re-find his form at Ferrari, after being out-qualified and out-raced by George Russell in his send-off season at Mercedes-AMG?

Can Oscar Piastri (as all of Australia hopes) mount a serious challenge for the F1 drivers' championship?

How will Lando Norris react when Piastri challenges him for team leadership – will it be Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost again?

Will Carlos Sainz snatch the advantage over Alex Albon at Williams?

Will Fernando Alonso re-discover his mojo – as he has often done in the past – or is he just grinding towards retirement?

Will Brad Pitt win the world title in the F1 movie?

There are many, many other questions without answers and that's what should make F1 in 2025 one of the most exciting seasons in recent history.

The cars have never been closer as the regulations run through their final season before another step-change in 2026, there are old drivers and bold drivers everywhere, and Max Verstappen will be going for his fifth straight world title.

And that's without worrying about what we will all see in Drive to Survive . . .

The final field for 2025:

ALPINE - Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan

ASTON MARTIN - Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll

FERRARI - Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton

HAAS - Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman

MCLAREN - Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri

MERCEDES-AMG - George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli

RACING BULLS - Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar

RED BULL - Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson

SAUBER - Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoletto

WILLIAMS - Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz