Could Verstappen become the second driver to win five titles in a row? Can Antonelli become the sport’s youngest-ever winner? And will Hamilton set more records as he begins his Ferrari era? Here are some of the biggest F1 records on offer in 2025!
2025 is Formula 1’s 75th anniversary season. It’s a year of change, with six drivers embarking on their first full season in the sport and some of F1’s biggest names heading to new teams. Some of them have the opportunity to equal or surpass some of the sport’s biggest records over the course of the season. Below are some of the drivers who could be reaching big milestones in 2025.
Five In A Row For Max Verstappen?
Max Verstappen heads into 2025 having been crowned champion in all of the last four seasons. Given how competitive the second half of 2024 was, the new season looks set to be a closely-fought affair. If Verstappen can prevail and successfully defend his title once again, he would become the sport’s fourth five-time World Champion, after Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.
Furthermore, Verstappen would become only the second driver in the sport’s history to win five Drivers’ Championships in a row. Schumacher is the only other driver to have done so, at the height of Ferrari’s success from 2000 to 2004. Verstappen would be the first driver to win his first five titles consecutively.
Verstappen is set to make his 200th start with Red Bull later this year, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, which would make him only the second driver to have made so many starts with a single team, after Lewis Hamilton who made 246 starts with Mercedes from 2013 to 2024. Verstappen could equal Hamilton’s record for most wins with the same constructor this year – but it’s a tall order. He would need to win 21 of this year’s 24 races to do so.
Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari Era Begins
Over one year on from the shock announcement, Lewis Hamilton will make his first appearance as a Ferrari driver at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. Should he win at Albert Park, he’ll be the first driver to win on his Ferrari debut since Fernando Alonso at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix.
If Hamilton has a very successful first year with the team, he could see himself become only the second driver – after Juan Manuel Fangio – to have won titles with as many as three different teams. Fangio picked up the championship trophy with four different teams in the 1950s.
Also this year, Hamilton could become the first driver to reach 5,000 career points and could become the first driver to finish on the podium 100 times in races which he has not won. Meanwhile, a top three finish in the championship would see Hamilton equal Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher for the most top three finishes in the end of year standings. Schumacher currently holds the record with 12.
Hamilton could extend his record for most wins and podium finishes at a single circuit should he win or finish in the top three at Silverstone in July. A win at the Hungaroring in August would see him equal the win record which he set at last year’s British Grand Prix. A pole in Hungary would make him the first driver to secure ten pole positions at a single track. If Hamilton sets the fastest lap at Monza – on his first Italian Grand Prix appearance with Ferrari – he would set a new record for the most fastest laps at a single track.
F1’s Youngest-Ever Grand Prix Winner?
The average age of this year’s grid on the first race day of the season will be 27 years, 3 months and 18 days. The youngest of this year’s 20 drivers is Kimi Antonelli, who will be making his F1 debut with Mercedes in Melbourne at the age of 18 years, 6 months and 19 days. He’ll become the third youngest driver to start a Grand Prix in F1 history.
Antonelli could break Max Verstappen’s record as the youngest-ever winner in Formula 1 history. Verstappen shattered the existing record at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, winning on his first Red Bull appearance at the age of 18 years, 7 months and 15 days. Antonelli can only become the new record holder if he wins one of the first three races of the 2025 season – in Australia, China or Japan.
Winning within your first three races in the sport is a very rare feat. In the sport’s 75-season history, only four drivers have won within their first three Grand Prix appearances. If Antonelli – or Isack Hadjar or Gabriel Bortoleto – were to win at Albert Park, he would become the first driver to win on debut in F1 since Giancarlo Baghetti at the 1961 French Grand Prix.
Other similar records on offer for Antonelli this year include becoming F1’s youngest-ever polesitter, the youngest podium finisher (if he finishes in the top three before the Bahrain Grand Prix), the youngest driver to lead a lap (before the Bahrain Grand Prix), the youngest driver to set the fastest lap (if he does so before the United States Grand Prix) and the second-youngest points-scorer in F1 history (if he scores before the Bahrain Grand Prix),
Will The Old Guard Shine?
If Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were not on the 2025 grid, this year’s driver line-up would be by far the youngest average age grid in F1 history. By the time the season starts, both Hamilton and Alonso will be in their forties, with Alonso set to turn 44 near the end of July.
2025 is the 24th Formula 1 season in which Alonso will compete. With Aston Martin focussing on grand ambitions for 2026, the teams’ chances of success this year seem relatively low.
Nevertheless, a victory for the Spaniard would make him the sport’s sixth-oldest winner and the oldest since Jack Brabham at the 1970 South African Grand Prix, while a podium finish for Alonso from the Las Vegas Grand Prix onwards would see him move into the top ten of oldest podium finishers in F1 history. It would make him the oldest driver to finish in the top three since Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1957 Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s chances of success this year appear higher, given the way in which the Scuderia closed out their 2024 campaign. If Hamilton wins a race or takes pole position this year, he’ll become the oldest Grand Prix winner or polesitter since Nigel Mansell at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix, who remains the last driver to have had such successes above the age of 40.
Meanwhile, if Hamilton were to win the title this year, he would become the oldest driver to be crowned World Champion since Jack Brabham in 1966 and only the fourth driver to win the title in his forties.
Staying Faithful to Their Teams
Along with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris have long affinities with their current teams which will see them set records in 2025.
Norris will become the driver to have started the most races with McLaren before the end of the season. At the Qatar Grand Prix, Norris will make his 151st start with the British team, overtaking David Coulthard as the driver with the most starts with McLaren in the team’s long history.
Meanwhile, Leclerc will also reach 150 starts with Ferrari at the last race of the season, all being well. Only Michael Schumacher (180) and Kimi Raikkonen (151) will sit ahead of Leclerc in the list of most starts with the team by that point.
Ten points for Leclerc this year will see him overtake Sebastian Vettel as the driver who has scored the most points with Ferrari in F1 history, while he needs to secure 13 podium finishes to rise to second on the list of most top three finishes with the Scuderia.
