The 2024 Formula One world championship has been hailed as a modern classic; delivering an enthralling season that had initially under-promised but ultimately over-delivered. Now on the precipice of 2025, a worthy sequel is in the works.

Seven different race winners, four teams on any day in contention for race victory made unpredictable for the bumper 24-event schedule and that ought to be no different in 2025 – with the caveat that everyone starts from scratch.

Can title favourites McLaren, who after claiming their first constructor’s championship of the 21st century hit the ground running and be bonafide contenders for the driver’s title? How will seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fare in the scarlet red of Ferrari against Charles Leclerc?

Will the newest crop of young talent in Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman, Gabriel Bortoletto and co upset the apple cart and establish themselves in Formula One as rookies? As well as whether reigning world champion Max Verstappen outperforms not only the field, but his Red Bull machinery again.

All tantalising questions ahead of the collective season launch event on February 18 in London at the iconic O2 Arena, prior to a single pre-season test in Bahrain and the championship’s curtain-raiser at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16.

Oscar Piastri with the winners trophy. (Photo by Peter Fox – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

McLaren’s resurgence from cellar dwellers to constructor champions has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Bewildering is the fact that both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were Q1 eliminants in the 2023 season opener and the slowest of the field – while now they’re the class of the field.

Falling well short of stopping an almighty Verstappen, despite having the best car – Norris’ form from the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix demonstrated that starting from zero, he has the potential to be up there.

“I made my mistakes this year but I’ve learnt a lot – I’ve learnt a lot from Max and my competitors around me. We want to win the drivers’ next year,” said the 25-year-old after winning in Abu Dhabi.

Whether he’ll spearhead McLaren’s efforts or not, remains to be seen. Naturally it is expected for Piastri in his third F1 season to make another step up. The Aussie showed that he could be that internal headache for Norris – sparking comparisons to fierce teammate rivalries such as Senna and Prost or Hamilton and Rosberg. Though the troughs, when he wasn’t on Norris’ levels were alarming and qualifying remains as Piastri’s Achillies heel.

Even though Leclerc’s under-the-radar 2024 season is regarded as the young Monegasque’s best in F1, highlighted too by the strides made by Ferrari under the leadership of Fred Vasseur – the spotlight in the stables of the Scuderia will be very much on his teammate.

Forty-year old Hamilton posed with such poise and steel, in his vintage Ferragamo coat and suit in front of the fabled house of Enzo Ferrari on his first day with the marque in January. An image that is iconic in many ways, if not just seeing the Mercedes stalwart stand ready for a new challenge and still in the hunt for that elusive eighth title.

On the opposite side of the age spectrum to Hamilton, will be the likes of Antonelli, Bortoletto, Bearman, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson and Jack Doohan bringing an exuberance of youth to the grid, which has said goodbye to the veteran hands of Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

None come with more hype than Antonelli, whom Mercedes Toto Wolff is very much nurturing to be the next Verstappen. Intriguingly, the Italian rookie sits as a prospect to become F1’s youngest race winner if he can win one of the first three races in 2025. The record currently held by the reigning world champion at 18 years and 228 days old.

Jack (R) and father Mick Doohan (L) of Australia during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix March 23, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia.(Photo by Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images)

Then there’s the precarious position that Doohan finds himself at Alpine, with the boutique French marque having signed Franco Colapinto to a long-term deal from Williams as a Test and Reserve Driver. The expectation being that the popular Argentine will oust the Aussie within the first half-dozen events.

“It’s been a little bit harsh on Jack [Doohan], some of the stuff that was written by the keyboard warriors there, and he’s getting his fair crack at it next year,” Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes remarked on the James Allen on F1 podcast.

Back at the top of the tree, 27-year-old Verstappen faces the possibility of being the first driver since the legendary Michael Schumacher’s run at Ferrari to win five consecutive championships in 2025. Though while the Dutchman’s individual prowess last year papered the cracks forming at Red Bull – will the losses of key personnel such as Adrian Newey, Johnathan Wheatley and Will Courtenay shift the energy drinks giant into decline?

Time will tell, as we prepare for a much-anticipated sequel to 2024’s epic. And whilst the challenge is present of the next major overhaul in technical regulations next year, the hope of witnessing further convergence under the current rules remains strong.