Formula 1: A Blagger's Guide

Tomorrow, the first practice session for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix kicks off, which means only one thing: we all have an excuse to avoid human contact for half the weekends between now and Christmas so we can sit around on our sofas, watching some fast cars drive around and maybe occasionally pull off an overtake.

It’s no secret that in the last few years, F1 has grown from a slightly nerdy interest that would make people quickly finish their drink and leave if you tried to bring it up in the pub to a bona fide global sensation. If 2025 is the year you’ve decided to join the thronging masses and start following it, then we’ve outlined all the basics here, so you know your Alonso from your Antonelli and your Monaco from your Miami.

What is Formula 1?

Wow, you really are new to this, huh? Put simply, it’s the biggest form of motorsport in the world. It has the fastest cars, the biggest following, the most famous drivers, and some of the richest history (and people, for that matter) in all of racing. It’s where pretty much any up-and-coming racing driver, whether they’re working their way through the ranks or just starting out in karting, wants to end up.

It’s called Formula 1 because all the cars have to be built to a certain formula, and of all of them, this is the number one formula. Geddit?

The cars are single-seater, open-wheeled racers, and currently 10 teams field two cars each of their own design. Those teams compete for the World Constructors’ Championship, whereas the people who strap themselves into these ludicrously fast cars are scrapping it out over the World Drivers’ Championship.

It’s a sport that’s defined in equal parts by money, excitement, politics, engineering, money, danger, glamour, money, controversy, and money. And once you’re on board as a fan, you’re kind of in it for life, so we hope this handy guide will help introduce you.

Can I have a history lesson?

Yes, as long as you promise to pay attention. The Formula 1 World Championship has been happening annually since 1950, although various non-championship Formula 1 races were being held for a few years before this, and before the Second World War, there were separate World Manufacturers’ and European Drivers’ championships for the fastest racing cars of the period.

That first 1950 season featured only seven races – Grands Prix, as they’re known (and yes, we are using the pretentious French plural form. Get over it) – and the cars were very different to today – front-engined, and designed with very little focus on aerodynamics and even less on safety.

We’d be here until the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix if we were to chart every little bit of technical development in the intervening 75 years, so we’ll just briefly run through a potted history.

At the tail end of the 1950s, mid-engined cars began to get a real competitive advantage, with this soon becoming the standard configuration. Experimentations with downforce began in the late 1960s as the cars started sprouting enormous front and rear wings, although they were still very raw, analogue and dangerous machines throughout the 1970s.

The ’80s heralded the first turbo era, as engine manufacturers turned to turbochargers to get massive power out of their motors. Turbos were outlawed at the end of the ’80s, replaced by a series of ear-piercing V12s, V10s and V8s that produced that distinctive high-pitched F1 engine note.

The ’90s also saw a renewed focus on safety, especially following the particularly tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a focus that’s only gotten stronger as time’s gone on. In 2014, the cars switched over to turbocharged V6 hybrid powertrains, and with a few other less major regulation changes, that pretty much brings us up to today.

Throughout that time, the championship has expanded into more and more new countries and venues, and while F1’s popularity has gone in peaks and troughs, it currently enjoys an almost unprecedented level of popularity.

What makes the cars special?

Like we said, they’re faster than any other racing cars on earth. The 2025-spec cars all feature 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 powertrains which, in combination with the hybrid components of the drivetrain, can produce upwards of 1000bhp. That’s rather a lot in something that has a minimum weight of just 800kg including its driver, which means most modern F1 cars can hit 62mph in around two seconds and tend to max out between 210 and 220mph.

That’s impressive, but it’s the way they go around corners that really makes the difference. Their bodywork is specifically shaped to produce downforce – as its name suggests, a force that pushes the car into the ground – which allows them to take corners at speeds that would cause even the most capable road cars to have a simply enormous crash. One oft-touted factoid that demonstrates just how well F1 cars stick to the ground is that, theoretically, they could drive upside down in a tunnel. Nobody’s ever tried it, though. Cowards.

Where does Formula 1 race?

Oh, lots of places. The 2025 season will see 24 races taking place in 21 countries, across every continent except Africa. Okay, yes, and Antarctica, you pedant.

The tracks it visits are a mixture of purpose-built racing venues and street circuits using closed public roads, the latter becoming an increasingly popular addition to the calendar (much to the chagrin of old-school fans). The sport’s seen a surge in popularity in North America in recent years, meaning there are now three races in the US – Miami, Austin and Las Vegas – plus one each in Canada and Mexico. The only other country with more than one race is Italy, with the series’ visits to Imola and Monza.

Not yet ready to become one of those people who religiously clears their schedule for every moment of every race weekend? We can recommend a few races to get you started. The Japanese, Canadian, Austrian, British, Belgian, Italian, Azerbaijan, United States and Brazilian Grands Prix all tend to be entertaining with either great racing, lots of unpredictability or both.

There’s always a fun atmosphere at the opening round of the season, which this year is back in Australia where it belongs (although that does mean getting up painfully early if you’re in Europe). Likewise, the season-closing race at Abu Dhabi has a bit of an end-of-term party vibe, even if the race itself is usually Dullsville.

There’s the curious case of Monaco, too – probably the most snooze-inducing race on the calendar because the current cars have massively outgrown the track’s narrow, twisty confines, but also so steeped in history, tradition and glamour that you kind of have to put up with it every year.

How do the race weekends work?

Mostly like this: on Friday, the drivers will head out for two practice sessions, getting themselves acquainted with the car and track ahead of the competitive sessions. These practices are timed, but have no bearing on points or race position.

On Saturday, there’ll be another practice session in the morning, then it’s time for qualifying. This too is split into three sessions. In Q1, all 20 drivers will head out on track and set the fastest laps they possibly can. The five slowest drivers are eliminated, with their grid positions for the race set. For Q2, rinse and repeat, and eliminate the next five slowest drivers. Finally, those left will do it all again for Q3 to determine the top 10 grid positions for the race.

Sunday is race day. All 20 drivers line up on the grid in the positions determined by qualifying, the five lights go out, and a race happens over a set number of laps, usually lasting 90-ish minutes. Objective: finish as high as possible in order to score championship points, which are awarded to the top 10 drivers and their respective teams. It’s not just a case of driving as fast as possible, though – pit stop strategy and tyre management play into it. And, y’know, not crashing.

For decades, this was pretty much how all race weekends went, but in 2021, in an effort to shake things up a bit, F1 made certain weekends ‘sprint’ events, which feature a shorter race on the Saturday as a prelude to the main event.

In 2025, sprint weekends work like this: on a Friday, the first practice session happens as normal, but instead of the second practice, there’s a dedicated sprint qualifying. These work the same way as normal qualifying, but with shorter sessions, and set the grid for the sprint race.

Said sprint race happens on the Saturday, with championship points awarded to the top eight finishers, and it’s only after that that a normal qualifying session is held for the main Grand Prix on Sunday. This year the Chinese, Miami, Belgian, US, Brazilian and Qatar Grands Prix will all be sprint weekends.

Oh, one more thing: for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, all the sessions happen a day earlier, with the race happening on the Saturday night local time. This is because it’s Vegas, and it would be a terrible idea trying to host a motor race when everyone involved would rather find some aspirin, a large greasy breakfast and possibly a bucket.

What teams race in F1?

Well, there are only 10, so let’s briefly get to know each one, in descending order of where they finished in the 2024 championship.

McLaren has been in F1 non-stop since 1966, and is one of the sport’s most successful teams, having racked up nine constructors’ championships. After a fairly disastrous spell around a decade ago, the team’s been steadily returning to form, culminating in last year’s championship win. It’s part of the same group that builds McLaren supercars, the car company having been spun off the racing team.

Ferrari is the only team that’s been on the grid non-stop since 1950 (well, save for two races at the end of 1964, but we don’t have time for that right now). Unsurprisingly, it’s the most successful team of all, having won 16 constructors’ championships, the last of which came in 2008. It’s also the reason all those lovely Ferrari road cars exist – team founder Enzo Ferrari started building them purely to fund his racing activities.

Red Bull is a team that serves as a giant rolling advert for fizzy liquid anxiety, but despite that, it’s rather good at F1. It’s been in the sport since 2005, although it can trace its origins back to the Stewart team that first entered in 1997. In its 20 years in the sport, it’s claimed an impressive six constructors’ championships, most recently in 2023.

Mercedes-Benz was involved in F1 in the 1950s, but it wasn’t technically the same team that races today. This one’s been in the sport since 2010, having bought out the Brawn operation which itself had risen from the ashes of Honda’s F1 team in 2009. In its current guise, it’s claimed eight constructors’ championships, all of them coming in a row between 2014 and 2021.

Aston Martin was, like Mercedes, briefly involved in F1 in the sport’s early days, but the current team is once again a separate entity. In 2021, the British car maker took over a team that had gone through many incarnations, but can trace its roots to the Jordan team that ran in the ’90s and early ’00s. In its time back in the sport, its best championship finish has been fifth, which it achieved in 2023 and 2024.

Alpine is a rebrand of Renault, a marketing exercise to shed more light on the French car manufacturer’s performance spin-off brand. Renault itself has had an on-again, off-again works team since the ’70s, but has been in the sport in its current guise since 2002, except between 2012 and 2015 when it was Lotus. Look, we never said this wasn’t complicated. The upshot is that Renault (now known as Alpine, remember) has two world constructors’ championships, clinched in 2005 and 2006.

Haas is the youngest team in F1, having first entered in 2014 as a brand new team rather than a rebrand or buyout of an existing outfit. It touts itself as an American team, and while its headquarters are indeed in North Carolina, most of its racing operations happen from a base in Oxfordshire. In 10 years and 190 races, Haas has achieved no championships, no wins, and no podium finishes. But hey, in F1 terms, it’s still early days.

Racing Bulls, or Visa Cash App Racing Bulls to give it its much-ridiculed full name, is a team that’s undergone numerous rebrands in recent years, having previously been known as AlphaTauri and Toro Rosso, and before it became part of the Red Bull empire in 2006, Minardi. Long used as a proving/dumping ground for drivers hoping to join/demoted from the main Red Bull team, its best championship position in the past has been sixth.

Williams is one of the old guard teams, having first entered F1 in 1977. In its heyday, the team saw spectacular success, racking up nine World Constructors’ Championships between 1980 and 1997. The last decade or so has been a period of struggle for the team, with ownership transferring from the Williams family that founded it to an American conglomerate a couple of years ago, but it’s been showing steady signs of improvement.

Sauber, like Williams, has been in F1 for a long while, first entering in 1993, but hasn’t seen nearly as much success. In 32 years in the sport, it’s managed just a single race win in 2008, when it was the factory team for BMW (it did finish second in the championship in 2007, mind you). 2025 is its last year (for now) as Sauber – next year, it’ll once again become a car company’s factory team, with Audi taking over.

2026 will also see Cadillac join the grid as an 11th team – the first time since 2016 there’ll have been more than 10 teams racing. But we’re talking about 2025 here, so come back in a years’ time for more on that.

What about the drivers?

Time for some quick maths. 10 teams with two drivers each means you’ve got 20 names to get familiar with. Once again, let’s run through them based on their 2024 finishing positions.

Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull) – Undoubtedly the man to beat in 2025, Max Verstappen arrived in F1 in 2015 as a fresh-faced 17-year-old. The following year, he was bumped up from Toro Rosso to Red Bull mid-way through the season, winning on his debut with the team to become the youngest race winner ever. He’s won every World Drivers’ Championship on the bounce since 2021, including the most dominant season ever seen in 2023.

Lando Norris (United Kingdom, McLaren) – The driver who gave Verstappen the biggest headache in 2024, Lando Norris has been in the sport since 2019, spending that entire time with McLaren. If McLaren’s car is as competitive off the bat this year as it became during 2024, then he could be in with a very real shot at a 2025 world championship.

Charles Leclerc (Monaco, Ferrari) – Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc is widely regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid, but has never quite had the car or the strategy to truly challenge for a championship. He joined the sport in 2018 with Sauber, and was quickly snapped up by Ferrari the following season. If Ferrari has pace and decent strategy this season, he could also be a real championship contender.

Oscar Piastri (Australia, McLaren) – The other half of McLaren’s notably young driver lineup, Piastri was signed by the team at the start of 2023 after some strange legal wrangling with Alpine. He took advantage of McLaren’s strong 2024 pace to claim two wins, contributing to the team’s Constructors’ Championship win, and there’s nothing to suggest he won’t be just as on form this year.

Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spain, Williams) – Son of two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, Sainz Jr. has been in F1 since 2015, moving from Toro Rosso to Renault to McLaren and finally, in 2021, to Ferrari. He racked up four wins with the Italian squad, most recently in Mexico last year, but for 2025, moves over to Williams to make way for Lewis Hamilton.

George Russell (United Kingdom, Mercedes) – Russell began his F1 career in 2019 at Williams, and made a real impact in 2020 when, subbing in at Mercedes for a Covid-stricken Lewis Hamilton at the Sakhir Grand Prix, he damn near won the race, stopped only by a puncture. He joined Mercedes full time in 2022, and has won three races since, with a best championship finish of fourth coming in 2022.

Lewis Hamilton (United Kingdom, Ferrari) – Statistically speaking the most successful F1 driver of all time, Lewis Hamilton is also the one you’re most likely to have heard of in Britain, even if you know literally nothing else about F1. He’s won seven world championships and 105 races since joining the sport in 2007. Six of those championships came with Mercedes, the team with whom he raced between 2013 and 2024, but for this year, he’s making a seismic move to Ferrari. Given that his old success has eluded him for the last few years, he’ll be hoping Ferrari’s 2025 car is capable of helping him return to his past glories.

Fernando Alonso (Spain, Aston Martin) – The oldest and most experienced driver on the 2025 grid, 43-year-old Alonso made his F1 debut way back in 2001, although he’s had a few seasons out to race in other motorsports in the interim. He has two world championships to his name, both claimed back-to-back with Renault in 2005 and 2006, but has narrowly missed out on several other occasions.

Pierre Gasly (France, Alpine) – Gasly joined Alpine in 2023, having bounced around the Red Bull teams since his debut in 2017. Though his best championship finish was seventh in 2019, he’s had five podium finishes, including a surprise win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.

Nico Hülkenberg (Germany, Sauber) – Hülkenberg holds the unenviable record for the most F1 race starts without a top-three finish – since 2010, he’s raced 227 times and hasn’t stood on the podium for a single one of them. Still, he has a reputation for being a safe, consistent and experienced pair of hands, which is why Sauber has hired him from Haas for 2025, ahead of its big rebrand as Audi next year.

Yuki Tsunoda (Japan, Racing Bulls) – After a promising career in various feeder series, Yuki Tsunoda made his F1 debut with what was then known as AlphaTauri in 2021. He’s been a solid and loyal if occasionally inconsistent midfield contender since then, although he’s not had the chance to prove himself in more competitive machinery, so his best championship finish is 12th, achieved in 2024.

Lance Stroll (Canada, Aston Martin) – Lance Stroll delivered some impressive results in feeder series, winning the 2016 European Formula 3 Championship, but his F1 career has been decidedly more mixed. He’s finished on the podium three times and claimed pole position at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix, but has never finished higher than 10th in the championship. His seat at Aston Martin seems fairly secure for now, though, because his dad, Lawrence Stroll, owns the team.

Esteban Ocon (France, Haas) – Esteban Ocon made his F1 debut in 2016 with the now-defunct Manor team, and has sort of become part of the furniture since, despite a year out in 2020. His highest championship finish is eighth, achieved in both 2017 and 2022, and he has one win to his name, at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. For 2025, he moves over from Alpine to Haas.

Alex Albon (Thailand, Williams) – Debuting in 2019, Thai-British driver Alex Albon was sort of fed to the Red Bull machine for the first couple of years of his career, starting out at Toro Rosso, then being promoted to Red Bull, before losing his seat altogether for 2021. He returned in 2022 with Williams, where he’s been since, consistently putting in performances that exceed expectations of his machinery. His highest championship finish so far is seventh in 2020.

Oliver Bearman (United Kingdom, Haas) – Although 2025 will be his first full season, 19-year-old Briton Oliver Bearman appeared in three races in 2024 as substitutes for drivers who were either ill or saddled with a race ban – once for Ferrari, and twice for Haas. A graduate of Ferrari’s young driver programme, his impressive performance with the Italian team at last year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – finishing seventh on a tricky circuit – undoubtedly contributed to him getting a full seat this year.

Liam Lawson (New Zealand, Red Bull) – After several years delivering promising results in various feeder series, New Zealander Liam Lawson got his break in F1 in 2023, subbing in at AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls) for the injured Daniel Ricciardo for five races. During 2024, he became a full-time replacement for a struggling Ricciardo, and for 2025, gets another promotion, joining reigning champion Max Verstappen at Red Bull as a replacement for the departing Sergio Pérez.

Jack Doohan (Australia, Alpine) – Technically not a rookie, Jack Doohan made his F1 debut a race earlier than planned, replacing Esteban Ocon at Alpine for the final round of 2024. The son of legendary motorbike racer Mick Doohan, the Australian driver will have plenty to prove in his first full season, especially as rumours are swirling that Alpine’s already looking to replace him with 2024 Williams super-sub, Franco Colapinto.

The remaining three grid spots in 2025 are all filled by rookies, who are being promoted up from the second-tier Formula 2 championship.

Kimi Antonelli (Italy, Mercedes) – Replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli has some very big shoes to fill. The 18-year-old Italian has a pretty stellar record in various feeder series, and finished sixth in the 2024 F2 championship.

Isack Hadjar (France, Racing Bulls) – Pairing up with Yuki Tsunoda at RB this year will be French-Algerian driver Isack Hadjar. Like Antonelli, he delivered consistent results on the ladder to F1, culminating with finishing runner-up in F2 last year.

Gabriel Bortoleto (Brazil, Sauber) – Gabriel Bortoleto was the F2 champion in 2024. Given that that precludes him from competing in the series again, it’s a good thing he’s found an F1 seat for 2025. That seat is with Sauber, where he’ll be the talented newcomer to complement Nico Hülkenberg’s experience ahead of the team’s 2026 Audi rebrand.

How can I watch Formula 1?

So, you’ve learned all the basics, and now you actually want to sit down and watch some races. Here in the UK, the only (legitimate) means to watch every session live across a race weekend, as well as all the build-up and post-race stuff, is Sky Sports’ dedicated F1 channel.

To access it, you’ll need either a Sky TV subscription, to which the F1 channel can be added for £15 a month, or a Now TV sports membership, which opens up all of Sky’s sports channels for £34.99 a month. You can also get Now TV day passes for £14.99 if you only want to watch certain races.

If you don’t want to splash out on Sky or Now, you’re a bit out of luck if you want to watch races live. However, Channel 4 shows packaged-up highlights both on terrestrial TV and through its free online streaming service. The one exception is the British Grand Prix, which Channel 4 airs live in its entirety in addition to Sky.

Oh, and if you’re a bit old-school, or you’re driving, the BBC offers live audio-only coverage on its Radio 5 sports channels – typically Radio 5 Sports Extra – and on its BBC Sounds audio streaming platform.

Want to go see a race in person? That’ll depend on how much you’re willing to spend, and how far you want to travel. You’d think the British Grand Prix at Silverstone would be the best option for Brits, but it’s become notoriously expensive to attend – if you want a race day grandstand ticket, for instance, that’ll be an eye-watering £459.

As a result, increasing numbers of British fans are choosing to attend races in Europe, with the Spanish, Austrian, Belgian, Hungarian, Dutch and either of the two Italian races all proving fairly popular. It’s always worth jumping on SkyScanner and Airbnb, then, to see what sort of price you can visit an overseas race for, before committing to Silverstone. If you can make the British Grand Prix, though, we’re told the atmosphere is like no other. Not that we’d know – do you think we’re made of money?