{"id":380997,"date":"2026-01-01T06:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T06:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/380997\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T06:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T06:51:15","slug":"the-key-storylines-of-f1-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/380997\/","title":{"rendered":"The key storylines of F1 in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

From rumours about Max Verstappen<\/a> leaving to papaya rules, there were plenty of exciting storylines in the 2025 Formula 1<\/a> season. Recap the best ones below!Hamilton joins Ferrari: dream China Sprint, then struggles<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s first day in Maranello took the Formula 1 world by storm in February, after his blockbuster transfer from Mercedes was completed<\/p>\n

During the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton could already show what he is capable of on his best days: after taking Sprint pole on Friday, he led from start to finish. Since the format was introduced, the only Ferrari<\/a> driver to win a Sprint is Lewis Hamilton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The season did not continue like that, as he failed to record a single Grand Prix podium despite finishing fourth on a couple of occasions.<\/p>\n

At the Hungaroring, the British driver possibly experienced his worst moment of the season. After his Q2 exit, the seven-time world champion said that he is ‘useless,’<\/a> and maybe the team should ‘replace the driver.’\"lewis-hamilton-ferrari-mexicogp-f1-2\"\/<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton had a difficult year in 2025 – Photo: Race Pictures<\/p>\n

Verstappen’s Mercedes rumours<\/p>\n

Will Verstappen end up joining Mercedes? That was another question people were trying to answer up until the Hungarian Grand Prix, when the Dutchman confirmed that he will stay with the Austrian team for 2026.<\/p>\n

Amid constant rumours, Verstappen was at one point pictured on a yacht with Toto Wolff in Italy as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the end, Mercedes will also continue with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli next year.<\/p>\n

As they were the only team making changes ahead of 2026, Red Bull still continued to dominate transfer rumours until after the Qatar Grand Prix. Isack Hadjar will join Verstappen at Red Bull Racing<\/a> next year, and Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad will drive for Racing Bulls.Papaya Rules take overMcLaren<\/a>‘s so-called papaya rules became notorious during the 2025 season. Many did not appreciate the team’s decision to swap back Lando Norris<\/a> and Oscar Piastri<\/a> after the McLaren crew made a mistake during the Briton’s pit stop.<\/p>\n

As a result, with Verstappen also being in the picture for the world title, Zak Brown, Andrea Stella, Norris and Piastri all had to answer questions about Papaya Rules week in, week out.<\/p>\n

\"verstappen-norris-abu-dhabi\"\/<\/p>\n

Verstappen and Norris after the Abu Dhabi GP – Photo: Red Bull Content Pool<\/p>\n

Verstappen’s stunning comeback<\/p>\n

Verstappen and Red Bull Racing managed to make the championship exciting this year.<\/p>\n

The F1<\/a> world continue to watch how the gap shrank throughout the year with excitement. McLaren CEO Brown, for example, called the Red Bull driver a ‘guy from a horror movie,’ to which Verstappen said that he could call him ‘Chucky’.<\/p>\n

After trailing the championship leader by 104 points, the four-time world champion finished just two points behind Norris in the standings.<\/p>\n

The latest episode of GPblog’s F1 Paddock Update<\/p>\n

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog’s F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog’s YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Follow us on Spotify as well!<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From rumours about Max Verstappen leaving to papaya rules, there were plenty of exciting storylines in the 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,28673,5105,930,576,577,591,932,1885,590,592,2190,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-380997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-f1-news","12":"tag-features","13":"tag-ferrari","14":"tag-formula-1","15":"tag-formula1","16":"tag-lando-norris","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-max-verstappen","19":"tag-mclaren","20":"tag-oscar-piastri","21":"tag-red-bull-racing","22":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}