World Rally Championship First Race: Monte Carlo 23-Jan
Kalle Rovanpera is back for a full season tilt and must be considered the title favourite. In 2024 when only competing on a partial schedule he still won more rallies than anyone else.
IMSA/WEC First Race: Daytona 24hr 25 to 26-Jan
Can Lamborghini turn around its under performing LMDh prototype or will they be the first major manufacturer in this sportscar boom cycle to realise that not everyone can win and walk away? With Cadillac returning to Wayne Taylor Racing the ultra successful Ganassi team is left without a major manufacturer dance partner which inevitably puts pressure on existing under performing partnerships (BMW RLL?).
NASCAR First Race: Bowman Grey 02-Feb
The season starts with the most interesting race of the year and the return of the top level Cup series to the historic (and tiny) Bowman Grey Stadium in Winston-Salem NC where the only thing on the line is money and bragging rights. After that it really is just a case of grinding out another 37 races relentlessly until November.
The real intrigue will taking place in lawyers offices and court rooms as two teams challenge NASCARs authority, accusing it of operating as a monopoly.
MotoGP First Race: Thailand 02-Mar
Is this KTMs final season for the foreseeable future? How does the inevitable delay to the Liberty purchase of the series caused by an EU antitrust investigation play out?
Indycar First Race: St Pete 02-Mar
2024 was a mixed bag for Penske Entertainment owned series. For every two steps forward they made in trying to develop and grow the series they also took one step back. Getting all races onto network TV (Fox) in the US has to be seen as a positive but the flashy Fox presentation style will almost certainly result in loud complaints from long standing fans.
On track the series needs to fix its short oval ruleset and restore the racing on these tracks to how it should be.
F1 First Race: Australia 26-Mar
Hamilton in a Ferrari. How will he stack up against Leclerc?
Can Lando and McLaren take the final step and win the big one?
How far will the relationship between the F1 drivers and FIA President deteriorate?
Really does look that way which is pretty devastating for the sport. Going to be a really tough year for the riders and even more so for the crew who will have a lot less financial stability.
Jack Miller probably delighted by his terrible year now.
Hoping for an epic Bagnaia-Marquez fight going down to the last race. Would be great if Martin could be there too but not optimistic about the Aprilia over the course of a full season.
So many rider/team changes for 2025 - itâs going to be an absolute headache for the first few races
Do think this has the potential to be the most fascinating and open F1 season in years if McLaren can stop the early season underperformances which is really what watered down Landoâs title charge and if Mercedes can actually do what they havenât managed for three seasons with a consistent car. So much has developed in the last few months that Antontelli seems to have gone from the most talked about prospect in all of motorsport to not even the most talked about 2025 Mercedes driver.
Formula 2
Five of last yearâs grid make the jump up to the big leagues. Prema have filled the Antonelli/Bearman-shaped holes with a full-time ride for the exciting Gabriele Mini and the fitfully-fast-but-not-exactly-acclaimed Sebastian Montoya (son of Juan Pablo, the exceptionally-fast-and-pretty-well-decorated). All change at Invicta too as Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli comes in alongside Roman StanÄk, with Kush Maini teaming up with Jak Crawford at DAMS. Other Formula 3 graduates include the lightning-fast trio of Alvid Lindblad, Oliver Goethe and Dino Beganovic. Still four seats left unfilled, and Richard Verschoor in his (record?) 5th consecutive season in the second tier.
Formula 3
New grid for a new generation of chassis. The names will be familiar to anyone whoâs experienced the whiplash of trying to watch a Formula Regional race on YouTube, but the colours have been replaced. At the front, Noel Leon and Ugo Ugochukwu slot in at reigning team champions Prema along with Brando Badoer, FRECA champion Rafael Câmara and FRECA Rookie Champion Noah Strømsted take drives at Trident, and ART field the rookie pair of James Wharton (formerly in the Ferrari Driver Academy), Tuukka Taponen (currently in the Ferrari Driver Academy), plus their mainstay Laurens van Hoepen. Other intrigue comes from the progression of Callum Voisin, the debut of reigning GB3 champ Louis Sharp and when exactly Nikola Tsolov will be an actual menace.
Formula Regional European Championship
Many Formula Regional titles to watch, but the bigger names are usually in the European series. Not a lot of names confirmed, but the big four are under Premaâs banner (arenât they always at this level?), with the dominant Italian F4 champion Freddie Slater, Mercedes Junior and Iron Dame driver Doriane Pin, and hotshots Rashid Al Dhaheri and Jack Beeton. Elsewhere, Van Amersfoort host the intriguing trio of Pedro Clerot (the highest ranking driver of the 2024 season to remain in the championship), Hiyu Yamakoshi and Dion Gowda; the French F4 champion Taito Kato moves up the ranks with ART, and Jin Nakamura debuts in Europe.
Super Formula
Over in the former Formula Nippon, Sho Tsuboi comes in as defending series title holder, as well as the Super GT crown. The line of expected contenders behind him is as per last year in the forms of Tomoki Nojori, Tadasuke Makino and Kakunoshin Ohta. An overseas contingent will be on the grid with former series runner-up Sacha Fennestraz returns for the first time in three years, Zak OâSullivan moves into the series from Formula 2 and Oliver Rasmussen makes the jump from Jota to Japan. At least one of them might make it an entire year this time around. Perennial fan favourite Kamui Kobayashiâs still racing too!
Think it was mentioned in last yearâs thread at some point. Itâs absolutely a bad thing - traditional corruption plus removal of checks and balances - but itâs gonna take quite a lot of nonsense from him to cause a proper rift with motorsport.
If he takes all this too far, itâs gonna get seriously messy though.
It would be a shame if motorsport went the same way as football, where people just accept that the governing body is corrupt. Willing to hand out tournaments/races to whoever has the biggest cheque-book/does the most bribing.
Formula 1 will be fine - because - buts that not to say that there wonât be some awkward and messy moments along the way. Itâs all of the other branches of 4 wheeled motorsport and the circuit sanctioning that fall under the FIAâs jurisdiction that will ultimately suffer.
the seats are fully moulded to their body so itâs as comfy as it can reasonably be made
apart from when youâre a last minute sub and have to use someone elses seat which is brutal
Russell did it with Hamiltonâs seat in the 2020 where the latter got covid, thatâs why nearly winning the race (and being undeniably quicker than Bottas) was such a ridiculous achievement
