The season begins on Sunday in Australia with changes aplenty, but the dominance of defending champion Max Verstappen still looms large over the grid. Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 F1 season.

This weekend Max Verstappen begins his quest for a fifth consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, a feat that has happened just once in the sport, when Michael Schumacher secured five titles from 2000 to 2004. But ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen reiterated that he is not the current favorite as the season begins.

Mercedes team principal and chief executive Toto Wolff has denied rumors on the eve of the Australian Grand Prix weekend that he’s still seeking to sign reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen for 2026.

The 24-race, 2025 Formula One season begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne this weekend. McLaren and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen start their respective defences of the constructors’ and drivers’ championships, with two free-practice sessions today ahead of qualifying tomorrow. Today: FP1 (9:30pm ET), FP2 (1am ET).

Max Verstappen says he was “not surprised” to see a doctored clip of him appearing on the latest season of Drive to Survive. The popular F1 docu-series has previously been boycotted by Verstappen, who refused to appear in his first title-winning season,

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen looked as uncomfortable in his Red Bull as he did in pre-season testing in Bahrain, and was beaten by both Racing Bulls in FP2 after finishing fifth on the timesheets in FP1.