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The 2025 Formula 1 season is almost upon us and it gets under way with the Australian Grand Prix from 14-16 March.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is targeting a fifth consecutive drivers ‘ title, while McLaren’s Lando Norris is hoping to go one better after finishing second to the Dutchman in 2024.

However, the main talking point before Melbourne is Lewis Hamilton getting set for his Ferrari debut.

His former team, Mercedes, have replaced him with 18-year-old Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is set to become the third-youngest driver in F1 history this weekend.

Antonelli, who is George Russell’s new team-mate, is one of six rookies on the grid this season. Three of them already have F1 race experience, but have not completed a full season.

Briton Oliver Bearman, 19, replaces Kevin Magnussen at Haas, having impressed during three race starts last year, including stepping in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari in Saudi Arabia.

New Zealand’s Liam Lawson is Verstappen’s new partner at Red Bull, after competing in 11 races for their junior team in 2023 and 2024.

Australian Jack Doohan, son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick Doohan, made his debut for Alpine in Abu Dhabi in December after being signed up for a full campaign this year.

Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto, 20, joins Sauber while the man he beat to the title, Isack Hadjar, is with Racing Bulls, who were known as RB last season.

Commentary will be available across BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.

You can also listen via most smart speakers. All you need to do is say “ask BBC Sounds to play the Australian Grand Prix”, followed by the current session.

Make sure to download the Chequered Flag podcast, which previews and reviews every race of the season.

All times GMT.

Friday, 14 March

First practice: 01: 30-02: 30 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Second practice: 05: 00-06: 00 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Saturday, 15 March

Third practice: 01: 30-02: 30 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Qualifying: 05: 00-06: 00 (BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds and smart speakers)

Sunday, 16 March

Melbourne, back as the opening race of the season for the first time since 2019, can have changeable weather in mid-March. The early forecast is mostly glorious across the weekend but with rain for the race.

Sunshine and a high of 31C is forecast on Friday, the temperature rising to 34C for qualifying on Saturday.

McLaren, the 2024 constructors ‘ champions, are considered the team to beat after pre-season testing in Bahrain at the end of February.

Mercedes ‘ Russell told BBC Sport that McLaren “look by far the strongest”.

Worryingly for their rivals, Albert Park’s medium-speed corners and low-grip surface is expected to favour the characteristics of the McLaren.

After testing, Hamilton said Ferrari “definitely have some work to do”, while Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache said they had some concerns about their car “but it is going in the right direction”.

As for Mercedes, Russell said “definitely the car’s feeling a bit more together”.

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari is the single biggest storyline of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The sport’s biggest star – the only driver who truly transcends the sport – has joined its most iconic team, and interest in how their partnership develops is stratospheric.

Hamilton signed with Ferrari in January 2024, just over six months after sealing a new contract with Mercedes.

It was the talks over that new Mercedes deal that led to the Ferrari move.

Mercedes wanted to offer Hamilton only a one-year contract – team boss Toto Wolff was planning for the future. The seven-time world champion knew he wanted to stay in F1 longer.

They compromised on what is known as a “one-plus-one” contract – a firm deal for 2024 with an option for 2025.

But Mercedes ‘ reticence to commit to him led Hamilton to consider his future. He had always had a hankering after driving for Ferrari and he has a close relationship with their team boss Frederic Vasseur, which dates back 20 years to their time in the junior categories together.

Hamilton’s single biggest ambition is to win the record eighth title of which he feels he was robbed by race director Michael Masi making up the rules and mishandling a late safety-car period in the 2021 title decider in Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes had not furnished him with a car in which he could do that since, so he had plenty of doubts on that front, too.

Hamilton approached Ferrari and the team were keen to do a deal. So when they offered him a longer contract – at least to the end of 2026 – and a close to 50% pay rise to a reputed salary of 65m euros (£55m), it was a no-brainer.

In 2024, Hamilton was comprehensively out-qualified by a team-mate for the first time in his career, ending the season 19-5 down to George Russell in their one-lap head-to-head, at an average deficit of 0.171 seconds.

Although both won two races, Hamilton finished 22 points adrift in the championship.

It was a confusing situation, because in 2022 and 2023, the two had been closely matched in qualifying, and one of them finished ahead in the championship one year and the other the other.

The bottom line is that Hamilton struggled with the characteristics of the 2024 Mercedes more than Russell.

The car had slow-corner understeer. The way to counteract this was to slide the rear on entry to promote turn-in. But doing that generates rear tyre temperature, which reduces grip, a problem that increases over time. Hamilton was less able to deal with this than Russell.

On top of this, there is no question that, frustrated by his qualifying deficit, Hamilton would sometimes push too hard when it mattered right at the end of qualifying. That led to mistakes, which further harmed his performance.

The Mercedes engineers felt that there was something about the general characteristics of the current generation of cars and their ground-effect design philosophy that does not marry as well with Hamilton’s style as the previous generations of cars.

But just because that was the case last year does not mean it will be the same this year at Ferrari. It may depend on how the car behaves.

Equally, it’s impossible to know how much of an effect psychology had – Hamilton had to do a whole year with Mercedes, the longest season in history, knowing he was leaving at the end of the season, and with his heart effectively already elsewhere.

Hamilton turned 40 in January and is the second oldest driver in F1.

Of course, athletic performance declines over time, but Fernando Alonso – who is three and a half years older than Hamilton – insists his age is not a problem, and there is no evidence in his case that it is.

Alonso is still performing at an extremely high level, and produced some outstanding drives last year – as he did in 2023, when again he was older than Hamilton is now.

Hamilton does not speak Italian. He is trying to learn, but it is unlikely the fact he cannot speak the language will have a serious effect on him.

For a start, all technical debriefs in Ferrari are conducted in English. Vasseur also does not speak Italian.

Michael Schumacher could not speak Italian – and he won five world titles with Ferrari and is their most successful driver. Neither could Nigel Mansell. He won on his debut with Ferrari, at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix. He became a folk hero in his two years with the team and is still idolised as ‘ Il Leone ‘ (the Lion) now.

Hamilton’s partner/rival in the other Ferrari is Charles Leclerc, a 27-year-old from Monaco who has won eight grands prix and set 26 pole positions since joining the team in 2019.

Leclerc is a Ferrari protege – he has been nurtured by the team since he was a teenager. He is richly talented and regarded as possibly the fastest driver over one lap in F1 at the moment, and his career statistics back that up.

Leclerc does not have such a big offset between his qualifying and race success stats because he is bad at racing. He has it because his ability and raw speed has often meant he has qualified the car higher than its competitive level can sustain over a race distance.

Hamilton is also a brilliant qualifier – he holds the all-time record for pole positions. And in many ways the two drivers are very similar. Both of them have an ability to produce ‘ wow ‘ performances in qualifying – laps that leave people open-mouthed, thinking, ‘ where did that come from? ‘

Hamilton might have to accept that there is a strong chance he will be out-qualified by Leclerc over the season. But he will be confident that what he probably considers his greater race-craft and experience will see him through over a season.

He says: “Charles is very professional, very embedded in this team. He is very fast and I am completely aware of that. You have seen his qualifying laps.

Hamilton cannot control whether Ferrari build him a competitive car. And if they don’t, the minimum that could be considered success would be to come out on top against Leclerc.

But Hamilton has not gone to Ferrari to score a few podium finishes. He wants an eighth world title. He’s confident he and the team can do it. And given his level of career success, and Ferrari’s history in F1, nothing less than a championship will suffice.

He says:” This team already has an insane legacy and are not short of championships they have won. They have a winning mentality in their DNA.

“The competition is fierce. It is going to be close. but I have a great team-mate, the energy I have seen from the team, there is magic here.

” It is going to take a lot of hard work and everyone is putting that in. But it is also about belief. Everyone in this team dreams of winning with Ferrari.

Former Newcastle United and Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic missed training with Al-Hilal because of an abnormal heart rhythm.

Local media have reported that the 30-year-old was taken to hospital after scoring for the Saudi Pro League champions in a 2-0 win at Al-Fayha on 7 March.

Mitrovic had just returned from a hamstring injury that had kept him out of action since January.

“The medical staff has decided to rest Aleksandar Mitrovic from Sunday’s training, due to feeling fatigue and arrhythmias”, Al-Hilal said in a statement.

“He will be observed by specialists, as his case will be monitored constantly”.

The Serbia striker joined Al-Hilal from Fulham in August 2023 for what the Premier League side said was a “club record transfer fee”.

Mitrovic made 205 appearances for Fulham and scored 111 goals after signing from Newcastle in 2018.

He broke the Championship scoring record with 43 goals in 44 games during their promotion-winning season of 2021-22. In total he scored 38 goals in 129 Premier League appearances for Fulham and Newcastle.

Al-Hilal face Pakhtakorin from Uzbekistan in the second leg of their AFC Champions League Elite last-16 tie on Tuesday.

You would never say Arsenal and Manchester United are having similar seasons, but Sunday’s Premier League stalemate at Old Trafford was a reminder that they have something in common – a problem to solve up front.

While the Gunners ‘ attacking flaw appears to be a glaring one, in that they have played much of this campaign without a recognised centre-forward, United do have some strikers, but their regular failure to find the net has left people questioning whether they are good enough to help Ruben Amorim’s side climb the table.

Wayne Rooney had sympathy for Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund when he analysed their display for his former club on Match of the Day 2, but felt Arsenal’s issue again proved costly after watching them lose even more ground to Liverpool in an increasingly one-sided title race.

“I always feel the teams with the best number nines have the best chance of winning things”, United’s all-time record goalscorer, who won five Premier League titles, told BBC Sport.

“Liverpool are probably an exception to that, with the way they rotate the player they use through the middle, rather than having a regular number nine that the team is built around.

Liverpool have scored 17 more league goals than Arsenal this season – a simple statistic but a telling one, even taking into account the leaders have played one game more.

While the Gunners controlled the game for long periods, goalscorer Declan Rice conceded afterwards that they did not have the cutting edge needed.

” A proper number nine – a forward who has played there his whole life – brings something different to any team, “said Rooney.

” I am talking about that natural goalscoring instinct, which a player who is trying to learn the position probably doesn’t have.

“A midfielder playing forward like Merino can get hold of the ball and bring others into play, but what a goalscorer brings is that selfishness of wanting to be in the penalty area to finish chances.

Merino may be a midfielder, but he has scored three Premier League goals this year. Hojland and Zirkzee have none.

” Before they scored at the end of the first half, United had managed one shot at goal and none on target, “Rooney said.

” Their problem was their lack of movement in midfield, because they could not make the passes to get up the pitch. Instead, they were forced to play balls up to Zirkzee and it was very hard for him to do anything with them.

“The best centre-halves, like Arsenal’s are, force you under the ball in that situation or nick balls off you.

” If the ball is getting chipped in to you around the halfway line, which is what Zirkzee was getting, and you haven’t got the support in and around you, then it is very difficult and you have to work extremely hard.

“Firstly, you are fighting the centre-half and holding him off you. Then you’ve got to get the ball under control and try to bring someone into play.

” If the quality of the pass up to you is not great, especially when it is coming to you around your neck like some of United’s passes were.

“A lot of the time Zirkzee was getting given a 50-50 ball, the kind where you have to work wonders to win it. Ideally, what you want is your team to make a few passes and play out of the pressure, then as the striker you are getting the ball to feet, which makes it a lot easier, and you are closer to the opposition goal too.

” For a centre-half, if you are facing your own goal and in your own half, then it makes their job a lot easier, but if you are higher up the pitch the striker has lots more options. The defender cannot be all over you because they are afraid of giving free-kicks away.

While Zirkzee had few sights of goal in the first half, replacement Hojlund got a couple of good opportunities to end his drought when the game opened up late on – but was unable to take them.

“There was one chance where his shot was blocked after he had shown fantastic movement to get to the near post”, Rooney said.

“The one that will be highlighted, though, is the one where Rice gets back and tackles him after the ball breaks for him in the area, and that was purely down to a lack of confidence.

” You see Hojlund take a touch and then he is looking up to see where he wants to put his shot when he doesn’t have the time for that.

“That’s the kind of scenario where, as a striker, if you are scoring goals you don’t even have to look up – you know where the goal is.

” That really showed how much he needs a goal.

“I’ve got faith in him. He’s a good player who works hard, which is really important. He needs that bit of luck as well, but once he gets a break then more goals will follow.

” As a striker for Manchester United, when you are not scoring goals there is a lot of pressure and a lot of people questioning if you can do it for United.

“The best thing for Hojlund to do is simplify it. Making runs into the penalty box is as easy at it comes. There was an attack late on against Arsenal I highlighted on Match of the Day 2 where Alejandro Garnacho is about to put in a cross and Hojlund needs to have that desire to get in the box.

” He goes to go, then for some reason he stops. If he carries on his run then he is in the right place around about the six yard box to get a tap-in for the winner when Bruno Fernandes ‘ shot is saved.

” We are still waiting to see Hojlund find his feet for United, but it’s important to point out that the whole team have not been at their best.

“I feel for him from that point of view because, nine times out of 10, forwards rely on their team-mates for service.

One way for both clubs to solve their attacking issues will be in the summer transfer window, but it is not just United and Arsenal who seemingly need a new striker.

Chelsea are also being linked with a string of number nines, and even Liverpool are supposedly lining up a goalscorer as a potential replacement for Salah, whose contract is up at the end of the season.

Ipswich’s Liam Delap is reportedly being targeted by several clubs. The 22-year-old is a player Rooney considered signing in the past, when he was a teenager available on loan from Manchester City in 2021.

” Liam is someone I looked at for the clubs I’ve been at, and he is a fantastic player, “Rooney said”. He is a powerful lad and has a great physique to play the role he does.

“He probably surprised a few people by going to Ipswich, but he has scored some great goals.

” Ipswich are struggling in the league, so it is not always that easy for him, and I have seen a few games where he can get frustrated because he is not getting the service – exactly the problem I was talking about with United.

“But Liam has a massive amount of potential and I am sure he is going to have a fantastic career.

It does seem like the same strikers are on the summer shortlist of several clubs.

Arsenal failed with a January bid for Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins, while Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta has been talked about as a target for the Gunners and United.

” Mateta is a big, strong lad who scores a lot of goals, “Rooney said”. From watching Arsenal over the past few games in the Premier League, they have put a lot of balls into the box without having anyone to get on the end of them. I am sure he would help from that point of view. “

As well as finding someone who suits your playing style, availability is another obstacle.

Newcastle’s Alexander Isak is often viewed as the answer to Arsenal’s lack of strikers, and he has also been touted as a potential Salah replacement.

” Isak would fit into any team, “Rooney said”. He has been fantastic over the past couple of years and scored a lot of goals. His link-up play and movement is brilliant too.