I am going to start with the amazing @Purple88's last post in the 2024 thread and add some testing results.  They sure don't mess around in F1.  Season over, right to the next season the next day, lol.

From 88:

F1 quickly moved to driver test runs at Abu Dhabi track just a few days after the end of the 2024 season last Sunday.  And true to form Carlos Sainz rose up the leaderboards earned a second place entry just 1 tenth behind his former teammate Charles LeClerc and 2 tenths higher than his new teammate Alex Albon.

The Spaniard can flat out drive and Red Bull missed BIG time on him IMO.

Going to be interesting how this plays out.  Sainz is still in a Williams when is a mid-pack car at best right now.  No doubt.  Plus Abu Dhabi suits their current car really well right now.  BUT, Williams finished 11th (Albon) and Franco Colapinto didn't finish the race after poor luck getting hit from behind by Piastri.  What I'm saying is Sainz being second and competing at the sharp end of the grid is A LOT better than they were just a few days ago.

It's similar to Verstappen at Red Bull.  He pulls all the energy out of the car that is possible in it IMO.  Compared to Sergio Perez who honestly is a decent driver it is Competing for Wins vs a mid-pack car and the driver makes ALL that difference.

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And the results:

LOVE getting right back on the horse @theguru!  As you mentioned, F1 surely doesn't mess around.  I suppose I knew the testing would be quick, but MAN the first part of the week following!!!  I don't think I remember THAT expedient zeal before.  But it does go to show just how great I feel this upcoming 2025 season is going to be!  SO Excited about it.  Why?

Well, all 4 of the top teams (Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes) showed great promise the latter half of the season and each have strengths that suit certain tracks better than the others.  So that sets up for great strategy, team support even though they try to beat each other, and outright drama at the highest speeds your going to find!  I love it!

And that doesn't even speak if the mid-pack battle between Alpine, Haas, RB and I'm going to throw Williams in there now too with Carlos Sainz leading that team now.

Going to be great!  

From Motorsport.com

From FI Insider on Facebook:

The F1 2024 prize money pool stood at a colossal USD 1 billion.

Formula One group and the 10 partaking constructor sides-signed in 2021 states that the prize money pool will be 50 per cent of the profit made from the commercial rights in a season. 

Here is a complete breakdown of the payouts:

From Sky Sports F1 and pretty much everywhere:

BREAKING: Sergio Perez announces his departure from Red Bull ?

From F1 on Facebook:

The 2025 F1 grid finally falls into place ?

Red Bull Has Bad News About Its 2025 RB21 F1 Car - A First Without Adrian Newey

 

Above is a link to an interesting article about the Red Bull Team and their path without legendary car designer Adrian Newey, who very interestingly enough is slated to start with Astin Martin in March as Managing Technical Director and Shareholder.  Interesting.

I look for 2 things to happen here that have already started to happen on one end for sure:

1.  Astin Martin will start to climb the leaderboard, especially Fernando Alonso.  Look for this about the middle of the next F1 season.

2.  Red Bull will start to struggle.  This has already started to happen.  When Newey officially departed last season from Red Bull, their clear advantage started to dwindle.  It took all of Verstappens talent to pull out that last drivers championship, but even he couldn't pull the team to the Constructor's Championship, which showed Red Bull was an upper level mid-pack car with Sergio Perez driving without Newey's updated designs.

2025 is going to be a fascinating season for F1; so many story angles:

1.  Ferrari with LeClerc and Hamilton.  Both great drivers, but both expect to get #1 service.  What happens when the other doesn't get that in the race?  Likely pent-up anger.

2.  Red Bull - Verstappen will hold Red Bull near the top by his own driving talent, but what of his new partner Liam Lawson?  While I think he's a pretty good driver, I don't think the car will allow him to be at the top of the leaderboard.  Will this create tension from the get-go?  I think it will.

3.  McLaren - have the most cohesive team IMO.  Could they challenge for the 2025 drivers championship?  I think they are the favorites IMO.  BUT it will take some special efforts to get that done.  For as good as Lando Norris is, he has let several golden opportunities slip through his fingers.  Can't do that to win and F1 World Championship.

4.  Mercedes - It's finally George Russell's time!  He will be the new lead guy for the Silver Arrows as they welcome "the kid" Antonelli to the stable, who was a star driver for them on the F2 circuit.  Honestly, it's a lot to ask from an 18 year old kid.  BUT, IMO Mercedes did what Red Bull should have done once they screwed the pooch and didn't sign Carlos Sainz.  Hadjar is the Red Bull heir.  And he has more talent than anyone other than Verstappen, why not give him a chance?  Oh well.

5.  Mid Pack - This is for the likes of Alpine, Astin Martin, Haas, and Williams.  ALL have interesting storylines.  And when the money is a big as it is above; all teams want to be racing at the sharp end of the grid.  But realistically until the new regs come into play for the 2026 F1 season, this teams are playing for 5th place IMO.  But hey 79 million pounds (British currency and the amount the 5th place constructor received in 2024) is a lot of dough.  

Going to be a fun season!  Only 3 months away!

Why today is a crucial day for the 2026 F1 season

Great article above!  It goes into details about how today (New Years Day 2025) is the first day teams are allowed to work on their 2026 cars.  Why is that important?  Well, there will be new regulations in 2026 for how the cars are to be set up (the technical specifications of the cars).  Additionally, for the first time since 2014, this will also include technical specs for the new engine specifications.  Engine design companies/teams were allowed to get going on the engines earlier however.

The thing is now with the tight reigns bridled on the teams funding amounts (I.e. all teams technically have the same amounts of money to use - although there are always a little wiggle room around this, but overall it is generally true) are now really tight for their research and development funds.  

SO, for the upcoming season 2025, teams will have to strategize where to allocate their funding:  1.  Toward upgrades to their current 2025 cars or  2. Try to get your new car ready for 2026 when all teams will be running new cars with new car specifications.  Mercedes did this in the Turbo-Hybrid years and it took Ferrari and Red Bull nearly 5 years to catch up.  So, if you're a mid-pack team do you tank the later half of next season in hopes of allocating funds and design time into your new 2026 car hoping to just into the top teams?  

It's really a fascinating strategy component really that I don't see other racing circuit get into much and why IMO F1 is so fun to follow.

17 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

Why today is a crucial day for the 2026 F1 season

Great article above!  It goes into details about how today (New Years Day 2025) is the first day teams are allowed to work on their 2026 cars.  Why is that important?  Well, there will be new regulations in 2026 for how the cars are to be set up (the technical specifications of the cars).  Additionally, for the first time since 2014, this will also include technical specs for the new engine specifications.  Engine design companies/teams were allowed to get going on the engines earlier however.

The thing is now with the tight reigns bridled on the teams funding amounts (I.e. all teams technically have the same amounts of money to use - although there are always a little wiggle room around this, but overall it is generally true) are now really tight for their research and development funds.  

SO, for the upcoming season 2025, teams will have to strategize where to allocate their funding:  1.  Toward upgrades to their current 2025 cars or  2. Try to get your new car ready for 2026 when all teams will be running new cars with new car specifications.  Mercedes did this in the Turbo-Hybrid years and it took Ferrari and Red Bull nearly 5 years to catch up.  So, if you're a mid-pack team do you tank the later half of next season in hopes of allocating funds and design time into your new 2026 car hoping to just into the top teams?  

It's really a fascinating strategy component really that I don't see other racing circuit get into much and why IMO F1 is so fun to follow.

I didn't know any of that, thanks 88.

And if my team was mid-pack or below I would be all in for 2026.

8 minutes ago, theguru said:

I didn't know any of that, thanks 88.

And if my team was mid-pack or below I would be all in for 2026.

Absolutely!  I think towards the end of 2025 you are going to see some really BAD cars on the track.  And those will be teams that have thrown in the towel on the old regs and are full steam ahead for the new regs.  And who knows, a current mid-pack team could jump to the front.  Wouldn't that be something!

Makes for great future racing IMO and keeps it new and developing!

When you're already excited for 2 seasons out then you are doing something right!