F1 news LIVE: Lewis Hamilton warned over Ferrari honeymoon and Lando Norris ‘ready to win title’

Lewis Hamilton has been warned that getting used to how things are done at Ferrari after 11 years with Mercedes may take a little time, even though he has made a promising start to life in Maranello.

Writing in his season preview for Sky Sports, F1 pundit and commentator Martin Brundle gave his thoughts on Hamilton’s switch.

“The Ferrari move does seem to be working for Lewis. I’ve never seen him smile so much,” wrote Brundle.

“He seems really energised and invigorated by this new opportunity. Lewis has been very smart too. Obviously, he knows team boss Fred Vasseur very well from times of old, but he’s had an advance party at Ferrari to integrate as quickly as he can into the team. Angela Cullen has returned, while Marc Hynes has been back in the fold for a year or two now already.

“He’s got a new race engineer, Riccardo Adami, and has got to understand how Ferrari works, which will be diametrically opposed to how Mercedes works in terms of culture I suspect, in terms of procedures. Lewis is going to have to find out where all the green buttons are and I expect it will take him a little bit of time to get used to that, along with speaking some Italian.”

The dispute between four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell shows no sign of abating as the new season gets underway.

The pair memorably clashed after the Qatar Grand Prix last season, when Verstappen, the eventual winner, was penalised for impeding the Brit.

Russell claimed that afterwards Verstappen threatened to “purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my head in the wall'”, while his Dutch counterpart said he had “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver.

A group of prominent Formula 1 figures showed their support for Michael Schumacher at the Race of Champions in Sydney as they urged the seven-time world champion to “keep fighting”.

Schumacher suffered a traumatic brain injury in a skiing accident in 2013 and has not since been seen in public, with few updates provided by his family about his health as he rehabilitates privately.

Max Verstappen does not have “a chance” of a fifth straight F1 Drivers’ Championship win in 2025, according to former driver Ralf Schumacher.

Schumacher believes Verstappen delivered a “rescue” effort in a struggling Red Bull car last year but he won’t be able to do the same again.

McLaren’s Lando Norris is the favourite to win the title this season and Schumacher is adamant Verstappen will be powerless to stop the Brit and others at the front of the grid.

Speaking on the Sky Germany podcast, Schumacher said: “Last year it was clear. Red Bull was very strong at the start of the season, but then they couldn’t handle the car. Verstappen was the rescue.

“However, he will have to get used to everything coming to an end. I don’t think he has a chance.”

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that incidents of black footballers being racially abused in Italy did make him think twice when deciding to move to Ferrari this year.

The seven-time F1 world champion has switched to Ferrari after 12 years and six world titles at Mercedes. His first race in Scuderia red is at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 16 March.

Hamilton is also F1’s first and only black driver and has detailed in the past the “traumatising” racial abuse he has suffered, detailing in 2023 that he had bananas thrown at him and was repeatedly called the “n-word” at school. He was also racially abused at F1 testing in Barcelona in 2008.

Serie A footballers such as Mike Maignan and Moise Kean have been subject to racial abuse in the past and Hamilton did admit that racist chanting at Italian matches “crossed his mind” when making the decision to move to Ferrari last winter.

As foolish as it sounds, Ollie Bearman’s manager was actually cut off from the call which changed the life of his most precious client. Fortunately, the British teenager himself was not short of credit on his phone.

Ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last March, Ferrari suddenly needed a driver after Carlos Sainz fell ill. Relaxing idyllically off the shores of the Red Sea fresh from securing pole position in F2, 18-year-old Bearman spotted Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur’s name on his phone and, right then, knew he was about to be given the opportunity of a lifetime.

Kieran Jackson chats exclusively to the British F1 rookie sensation:

For the second year running, there will be no new races on the schedule. 2026 is set to be different, though, with Madrid already confirmed as the new home of the Spanish Grand Prix, meaning 2025 could be the last year Barcelona hosts an F1 race.

Other calendar alterations include a triple-header in April between Japan-Bahrain-Saudi, while Spain has moved forward three weeks to the end of May/start of June.

Belgium and Hungary have swapped weekends too, with Budapest now hosting the final race before the customary summer break.

This year sees a four-week gap in autumn but there will be no such space in the calendar next year, with just one week’s rest in-between Singapore and Austin in October.

Here’s the calendar for 2025:

• ROUND 1 – AUSTRALIA – Albert Park, Melbourne – 14-16 March
• ROUND 2 – CHINA (sprint weekend) – Shanghai International Circuit – 21-23 March
• ROUND 3 – JAPAN – Suzuka International Racing Course – 4-6 April
• ROUND 4 —BAHRAIN – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir – 11-13 April
• ROUND 5 – SAUDI ARABIA – Jeddah Corniche Circuit – 18-20 April
• ROUND 6 – MIAMI (sprint weekend) – Miami International Autodrome, Hard Rock Stadium – 2-4 May
• ROUND 7 – EMILIA ROMAGNA – Imola Circuit – 16-18 May
• ROUND 8 – MONACO – Circuit de Monaco – 23-25 May
• ROUND 9 – SPAIN – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya – 30 May-1 June
• ROUND 10 – CANADA – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal – 13-15 June
• ROUND 11 – AUSTRIA – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg – 27-29 June
• ROUND 12 – GREAT BRITAIN – Silverstone Circuit – 4-6 July
• ROUND 13 – BELGIUM (sprint weekend) – Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps – 25-27 July
• ROUND 14 – HUNGARY – Hungaroring, Budapest – 1-3 August
• ROUND 15 – NETHERLANDS – Circuit Zandvoort – 29-31 August
• ROUND 16 – ITALY – Monza Circuit – 5-7 September
• ROUND 17 – AZERBAIJAN – Baku City Circuit – 19-21 September
• ROUND 18 – SINGAPORE – Marina Bay Street Circuit – 3-5 October
• ROUND 19 – UNITED STATES (sprint weekend) – Circuit of the Americas, Austin – 17-19 October
• ROUND 20 – MEXICO – Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City – 24-26 October
• ROUND 21 – BRAZIL (sprint weekend) – Interlagos Circuit, Sao Paulo – 7-9 November
• ROUND 22 – LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas Street Circuit – 20-22 November
• ROUND 23 – QATAR (sprint weekend) – Lusail International Circuit, Lusail – 28-30 November
• ROUND 24 – ABU DHABI – Yas Marina Circuit – 5-7 December

Oscar Piastri has signed a multi-year deal with McLaren on the eve of the opening race of the new Formula One season.

Piastri, 23, who was already under contract until 2026, has now secured his long-term future with the British team.

The Australian driver finished fourth in the championship last year. He opened his winning account in Hungary before claiming a second victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

With McLaren expected to carry over their constructors’-winning form into the new season, Piastri is set to battle with team-mate Lando Norris for the world title.

Speaking after his contract extension was announced, Piastri, gearing up for his third season on the F1 grid, said: “It’s a great feeling knowing that I’m part of McLaren’s long-term vision.”

The 2025 F1 season officially kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

We’ll have all the news here and the build-up to the weekend’s action.