2025 will be F1's 'super season' - but not in the way you might expect

2025 will be F1's 'super season' - but not in the way you might expect

You might think this column’s title relates to Formula 1 having an epic championship fight in store in 2025. It could, but more on that laterโ€ฆ

The โ€˜super seasonโ€™ Iโ€™m talking about is not actually about 2025. Itโ€™s bigger than that, but it is about to start.

I canโ€™t claim to be the person who worked this out, either. It took a team member โ€“ a team coordinator, no less โ€“ to highlight it, such is their thought process when it comes to planning, logistics, and the way a race team is going to need to operate.

Assuming the 2026 calendar follows the same rough schedule as the two years that have gone before it and runs from March to December, then we are just a few weeks away from current F1 cars likely running every month for 23 months straight.

Thatโ€™s because 2025 testing will take place in February, the final race will be held on December 7 (and the post-season test follows it), and then the first test of 2026 is provisionally expected to be held in late January. That follows the same timeline as 2014โ€™s major technical regulation changes, when the opening pre-season test took place from January 28-31 in Jerez to allow initial power unit assessments.

Even if that opening test does end up taking place in February, teams were able to use the 2021 car for testing of previous car (TPC) running in 2022 due to the significant change in regulations. Given 2026 offers a similar situation, this yearโ€™s cars could well keep running next January, too.

It highlights what a major challenge all of the teams are facing when it comes to the new cars, as they grapple with not only a new set of aerodynamics but also fresh power unit rules. Although not quite as complex as the 2014 changes, they still mark a significant shift, as the first new engines since the hybrids were introduced a decade ago.

So they are now faced with juggling the delivery of their new cars for this coming season, their ongoing upgrades throughout 2025, development of the 2026 designs โ€“ aerodynamic work only being allowed to start on January 1 of this year โ€“ and TPC running, as well as testing of mule cars if the FIA requires it.

While all of that might sounds relatively similar to what teams were able to do with massive testing programs in the past, they are now limited in many areas by the cost cap, and also facing another 24-race season.

And itโ€™s a season that looks set to be as competitive as any in recent history.

As I admitted in my โ€˜2025 Wish Listโ€™, the way this coming year is shaping up at the front of the field is actually a source of anxiety for me. From the Miami Grand Prix onwards, it was a remarkably competitive season last year, across multiple different teams. The unprecedented number of one-two finishes from four different constructors, and seven winners who also all had multiple victories, was in some ways scuppered by Max Verstappenโ€™s blistering start that moved him out of reach of the chasing pack.

But there was a biggest weakness in that pack in the form of Mercedes. As a team it was a long way off at the start of the year, and while there were some extremely competitive weekends, there were others that were just as poor as when the year began. Unlike McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull, it couldnโ€™t arrive at any given track with any real form of confidence that it would be fighting with the others, but it did at least have the high points to try and learn from.

For teams like Aston Martin, a disappointing start to 2025 might mean a very fast pivot to preparations for 2026.ย  Steven Tee/Motorsport Images

So the added knowledge, and a full off-season to produce a new car that might take advantage of that understanding, could put Mercedes in the frame to join the top three on a more regular basis.

It could be argued that Ferrari was the most consistently strong team by the end of the season โ€“ Charles Leclerc scored the most points of any single driver from the summer break onwards, and the team itself outscored McLaren by seven during that same span. But the mid-season errors were costly, and represent the main area that needs addressing this year.

McLaren managed to maintain the better form from Miami onwards despite a title coming when it was clearly still in learning mode, so thereโ€™s definitely room for improvement there too, and we saw Red Bull recover from the most alarming spell of its season around Monza and Baku to be competitive again in the final rounds.

So Mercedes has the biggest headroom, but all can do better, and in a perfect world all four will do so, leading to a championship that could be won by any one of four teams, and any one of seven drivers (given Red Bullโ€™s admittance that Liam Lawsonโ€™s role is to play second fiddle to Max Verstappen).

The anxiety I spoke of earlier is about what if 2025 doesnโ€™t deliver – if one of those four teams does make the progress outlined above but none of the others do and thereโ€™s a clear leader early on, much as there was at the start of last season.

In that case, the impact of the โ€˜super seasonโ€™ could really take hold. Teams will be less likely to continue developing their 2025 cars for long if they donโ€™t start the year with a realistic chance of fighting for a championship.

The same can be said of the midfield, where teams are even more likely to write off the coming year when their potential returns are so limited to try and take advantage of 2026. Assuming the top four remains the clear top four โ€“ and thatโ€™s perhaps being cautious when the small gaps across the field could see a fifth join the party โ€“ then at best the rest are generally fighting for ninth and 10th each weekend.

But donโ€™t worry, Iโ€™m not getting pessimistic. Nor am I necessarily expecting any of the above to happen, because itโ€™s so rare for the entire field to feel that it was within striking distance of a big result.

At the final round of 2024, eight of the 10 teams were within 0.609s of pole position, and that included Stake Sauber that had made strides through the year and was represented in Q3. Of the other two teams, one of them โ€“ RB โ€“ qualified 11th and 12th, and a little over 0.4s off the fastest Q2 time.

Wins and podiums might remain unrealistic for the majority, but small gains can move a team a long way in such a competitive field. That makes the coming season all the more enticing for all 10 constructorsโ€™, knowing that significant progress is not out of reach.

Itโ€™s all set up to be an epic year in terms of competitiveness, but even more so as the sport transitions towards the new regulations, when Audi and Cadillac will join the fray to try and upset the status quo.

Get ready. The super season is going to be some ride.