Liveries launched in London, multiple pit stops in Monaco and more
Fans got their first peak of the 2025 season as all teams showed off their liveries in London. FIA will mandate multiple pit stops in Monaco. Carlos Sainz replaces Sebastian Vettel as GPDA director.
History was made this week with the first-ever livery reveal event held at the O2 Arena in London. The two-hour event, which can be viewed on the F1 YouTube channel, brought all 10 teams under the same roof to kick off the 2025 season. Hosted by comedian Jack Whitehall, the event brought a fair share of laughs and awkward moments. One such awkward moment was went fans booed Christian Horner and Red Bull multiple times during their livery launch. But they shouldn’t feel left out, as the FIA also received their share of booing during the event as well. As it was a livery reveal, most teams opted to use the older cars painted in the new paint scheme, but it did show us as sneak peak as what the 2025 challengers will look like this year. It’s as follows:
Alpine: No longer struggling with an overweight car, the team was able to take their car off its diet and add a splash of colour. They made up for last year by turning their blue and pink colour scheme to the max. This year’s car features blue side pods and an engine cover, with a pink halo, nose, and front wing.
Aston Martin: One of my favourite paint schemes last year, the team retains its British racing green car. The lower half of the car is now black, resulting in mostly black side pods and making the yellow trim more noticeable. The air intake above the driver’s head has been made white to accommodate a new sponsorship placement.
Ferrari: Betting Ferrari would go with anything other than red would almost always lose you money and this year is no different. The team has kept with tradition, using a predominantly red car. However, both wings are now white and there’s a large vertical white stripe over the engine cover to signify the team’s title sponsorship with HP.
Haas: The team’s new livery was leaked a few days before the event, making it no real surprise when the Haas car will wear for 2025. Sticking with their black, white, and red colour palette, the Haas car features a black engine cover and nose, but the side pods and front half of the nose are now white. The car retains its red wings and trim.
McLaren: If you were to hold photos of the 2024 and 2025 McLaren liveries side-by-side, even the most trained eye would have trouble pointing out which is which. There’s slightly less papaya orange this year, as the halo and front wing have been turned black to make room for Mastercard logos. The blue wing mirrors are a welcome change, but the rest of the car remains virtually untouched.
Mercedes: The team has stuck with their black car and silver nose aesthetic again this year, although the silver is spreading. The air intake, which was previously red with a sponsorship, is now silver. The team has also shrunk the Mercedes stars that litter the rear, which is a design choice I was not fond of when they did something similar a few years ago.
Racing Bulls: It’s a new name and yet another new livery for the Red Bull junior team this year. This time, the team is running a white Red Bull livery, akin to the one run by the actual Red Bull team at the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix. The rear of the car is painted blue with some tiny Red Bull bulls charging forward.
Red Bull: To write this article, I have opened a picture of the new livery and a picture of the old livery for each team. After 15 minutes of trying to find a difference in the Red Bull livery, I had to double-check that I hadn’t accidentally downloaded two 2024 images. Turns out I haven’t. So after now 30 minutes of looking, my final answer is that the yellow on the nose may be slightly smaller. But I can’t be certain that’s not just a perspective difference in the two images I’m using, so I’m just going to move on. It’s a Red Bull; It was only ever going to look one way.
Sauber: With Audi set to take over the team next year, this is likely the final time that this will be seen in lime green. The team went for a much simpler design this season, taking a plain black car and painting the nose and cockpit green. Although I’m not a fan of patterns on the wheel covers, I do like that the team opted for black covers on the back tyres and green on the front. They are the first team to use painted covers only on two of the tyres.
Williams: The only word that can describe the Williams car is “blue”. The team opted for a simplistic plain blue livery, removing the patterns that were present on the car last year. It’s not entirely plain, as the nose fades from blue to darker blue. But for me, the biggest disappointment is the Duracell sponsorship. This has always been my favourite part about the modern Williams liveries, but this year the logo has been moved slightly higher, ruining the illusion that the air intake as an actual Duracell battery.
Drivers will now be forced to make multiple required pit stops at the Monaco Grand Prix. The new rule, which requires an undisclosed number of mandatory pit stops at the Monaco race, is aimed at improving the quality of racing at the venue. Being extremely difficult to overtake, drivers typically only make one pit stop to avoid losing track position. However, this reduces overtaking opportunities.
Teams will no longer have a limited number of gearboxes per season, with the rules being removed by the FIA. Previously, each car was allowed only five gearboxes per season. As with other power unit components, allocating more gearboxes would result in a grid penalty. However, the FIA has agreed to remove this restriction, allowing teams a theoretically unlimited number per season. With gearboxes now much more reliable than before, the FIA no longer feels this issue needs to be monitored. It will take effect ahead of the 2025 season.
In addition to starting a new role at Williams, Carlos Sainz has also agreed to become a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association. He will replace Sebastian Vettel, who has held the role since 2010. Vettel retired from F1 in 2022, making George Russell the organization’s only active driver director. Reformed after the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994, the GPDA helps provide a voice for the drivers, essentially serving as a drivers’ union, advocating for numerous safety and non-racing matters. Sainz joins Russell, lawyer Anastasia Fowle, and chairman Alexander Wurz in leading the organization.
Former team principal Guenther Steiner has dropped his lawsuit against his former employer after reaching an agreement with the team. Steiner sued Haas last year for allegedly failing to pay him commissions owed under his contract. Additional complaints were made about the team continuing to use Steiner’s likeness without his permission. Both parties agreed to voluntary mediation, reaching an undisclosed settlement.
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