The 2025 F1 season is one of the most anticipated years of Formula 1 racing. With Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari and Kimi Antonelli’s ascension to the pinnacle of motor racing, there are many storylines to follow. However, former Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner isn’t too hopeful about the car concepts and philosophies changing in 2025.
With the regulations set to change in 2026, Steiner is aware that the teams have already started working on those cars. That means that the 2025 challengers will only be an evolution of the cars run this season.
“I think there will be evolutions of the car but no revolutions,” said the American-Italian on the Red Flags podcast when asked how different the cars are going to be in 2025 than we have seen this season. This means that the 2025 season, like 2024, could also be a closely contested campaign with multiple race winners.
Considering the way McLaren ended the 2024 season and ended up as Constructors’ Championships, they are likely to be slight favorites heading into 2025. However, come 2026, it could all change.
Who will come out on top with the 2026 F1 regulations?
2026 will see a massive overhaul in the F1 regulations. With new power units and active aerodynamics, the complexion of the competition is going to have a massive shift — with teams like Williams and Sauber/Audi looking for a big move up the grid.
Naturally, with so much at stake for the season after 2025, the teams will be looking to focus most of their resources and ideas on the latest regulations rather than next year. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of active aerodynamics which would require teams to dig deep into their chassis R&D.
But the power units will also go through a massive overhaul with the 50-50 split between the internal combustion engine and the battery pack. Many in the paddock believe that Mercedes are placed the best to ace these new regulations — as they did with the turbo-hybrid power units back in 2014.
