What Motorsports Is Looking Forward To In 2025

The Dakar Rally has claimed its first high-profile fatalities, while the chequered flag has dropped on the Dubai 24 Hours with victory taken by the Al Manar Racing by WRT BMW. After a brief respite while gravy-soaked turkey and pigs-in-blankets were devoured, racing is well and well back.

The year ahead provides multiple discussion topics throughout the gamut of categories. From Formula 1's most successful driver partnering up with its most storied team, to the return of a giant to the top class of the Le Mans 24 Hours and another shake-up to the World Rally Championship's points system in the offing, here are our correspondents’ nominations for what to look out for in 2025.

Entries by Haydn Cobb, Stuart Codling, Ewan Gale, Tom Howard, Oleg Karpov, James Newbold and Ben Vinel

Lewis Hamilton At Ferrari

More significant even than the atypical (in this age) presence of six rookies on the grid, Lewis Hamilton’s high-profile switch to Ferrari is F1’s major new storyline of 2025. Few other sportspeople get to begin such big new chapters in their careers at the age of 40.

You could argue that after seven world titles and 105 grand prix wins, Hamilton has nothing more to show – and that the dangers of joining Ferrari outweigh the possible rewards. However, embracing that assumption implies disregarding what makes Hamilton what he is. Ask him about prior races, even his best victory, and he’ll concede to a fairly murky remember of them; he is a man always looking forwards, not back.

Hamilton has also spent a great number of his 40 years on this world proving naysayers incorrect. Like any great sportsperson, he has incredible self-belief but this is reinforced not just by true skill but by a powerful work ethic. And he wants people around him to fill their efforts with the same fervour as him.

So, even though Hamilton now puts ‘racing driver’ as the third of his professional vocations on his LinkedIn page, this isn’t a cynical attempt at milking a few more salary-paying years. Neither is his objective of winning more races and titles at Ferrari some foolish fantasy.

Marc Marquez To Run Riot In Red

Just 12 months ago Marc Marquez was the story coming into the 2024 MotoGP season when he hopped off the dying ship Honda for Gresini Ducati. From the onset, it was considered a risk, but as the campaign went it proved a masterstroke for rider and team.

Despite year-old gear, the eight-time world champion was the only rider to continuously take the battle to championship challengers Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia. Notably, a 1,000-day wait for triumph represented an emotional finale to a redemption narrative following years of career-threatening ailments and ill-tempered equipment. But Marquez’s voracious drive on contending for championships again meant his ascension up the MotoGP hierarchy needed to soar a fresh height for 2025.

A contract saga secured Marquez a berth at the factory Ducati squad, muscling out a place that was planned for Martin, placing the greatest name in MotoGP onto the dominating package. To highlight Marquez’s emphasis, he has, temporarily at least, placed on hold long-time sponsors Red Bull and Oakley owing to Ducati partner disputes — focusing on a championship campaign ahead of lucrative personal partnerships – while portraying a favourable early integration into the team.

How long it may survive within the Ducati fold is anyone’s guess. But to give respect to the Italian manufacturer it did handle the delicate position of Bagnaia versus departing and eventual champion Martin excellently in the key weeks of 2024. Marquez and an intra-factory Ducati battle might generate more issues, particularly if Martin on the Aprilia can be a disruptive force against the all-dominating Ducati stable of recent seasons.

A First Glance At What Antonelli Can Achieve In F1

No Formula 1 debut has been as exciting to me as Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s since Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen joined the world championship in 2007 – probably because, like them, he will race for a top team in his maiden season (though Kovalainen’s Renault R27 ended up being way off the pace throughout that campaign, but the Enstone-based squad still was the reigning constructors’ champion).

Antonelli was worth keeping an eye on as soon as he entered the Mercedes academy in 2019, which he showed worthy of by winning back-to-back titles in the CIK-FIA European Championship’s OK category in 2020 and 2021. He went on to claim four additional titles in his debut two full campaigns in single-seaters, hammering the opposition in Formula 4’s most competitive championship in Italy — he collected 12 pole positions and 13 victories.

Last season was perhaps moderately lackluster, but one must not forget the Italian leaped into F2 at 17 from the Formula Regional European Championship, avoiding a typically unmissable F3 step. In that sense, his sixth position overall was commendable – especially when the pecking order was occasionally eyebrow-raising.

Antonelli had ups and downs, but he still took two wins. His highly-rated, more experienced team-mate Oliver Bearman was outqualified (6-5, omitting Monaco owing to split qualifying groups) and outscored (113 points to 75, with two less races for the Briton).

Read Also: How Red Bull Turned Around Its Disconnected Rally Car

Newgarden's Effort For A Three Peat

Team Penske's Josef Newgarden may not have had the 2024 he was looking for at the start of the IndyCar Series season, but he did create history by becoming only the sixth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 in back-to-back years.

The American did it in just as spectacular a way as he had while won in 2023, disposing of Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward around the outside at Turn 3 on the final lap, only a few hundred yards down the road from where he past Marcus Ericsson 12 months ago.

With the thrilling finale came the first driver to defend the Indy 500 since Helio Castroneves completed the feat in 2002 and now affords Newgarden the chance to become the first to manage three on the bounce.

It is hard to see why he wouldn't be in the mix considering his history at the superspeedway in the previous two years - Penske able to precisely tune his machinery over the 'Month of May' to guarantee it was in tip-top shape for the main event. Although the introduction of hybrid engines at the Brickyard will bring a new obstacle, Penske drivers won five of the seven races played on ovals following its mid-season adoption at Mid-Ohio last year, so the possibility for the hat-trick truly is on.

Verstappen Coping With Third-fastest Vehicle All Year

By the conclusion of last season, Red Bull had essentially straightened out its car, which Max Verstappen hailed as a "monster" in Monza. The Dutchman nonetheless managed to win in Brazil and, more crucially, in Qatar on a dry track. And while the second half of the season has been hard for both the team and the champion, the championship was never truly in doubt because to the distance Verstappen managed to establish at the start of the year.

It was nonetheless impressive to see how he managed to keep Lando Norris at bay as McLaren went quicker and quicker, accumulating points systematically and squeezing out most of his opportunities - at least more often than not. But that same distance allowed him to dictate his own terms to Norris, and the Briton was never in a position to push his competitor as hard as he may have desired.

This year might be different, though, and it's not too hard to assume that Verstappen could wind up with the third-fastest car on most circuits, albeit by a very tiny margin. And if that's the case, he'll definitely give lots of amusement.

The most fascinating issue is what shape it will take: can he continue to produce the best possible outcome week in and week out, capitalising on his opponents' mistakes, or will he ultimately allow his displeasure seep in? Verstappen is terrific with a dominant vehicle, as 2023 demonstrated, but he doesn't really hold back when he's upset. Hungary last year was the latest indication that he's not always cool and collected when things don't go his way.