Of the 10 teams, only McLaren and Ferrari have their full complement of drivers confirmed.

McLaren was the first of those, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri set to continue.

Piastri extended his deal with the Woking squad midway through his rookie season in 2023, while Norris has recently agreed to a multi-year extension on his contract.

Charles Leclerc is in a similar position at Ferrari after he agreed a new deal – his previous contract was set to expire at the end of this season.

It’s believed his new agreement will see him continue donning red overalls until 2028.

He will have a new team-mate, however, after Lewis Hamilton shocked the F1 world.

The 39-year-old ended an 11-year stretch at Mercedes and will join Ferrari in place of Carlos Sainz for 2025 on a multi-year deal.

That puts Sainz on the market and likely marks him out as the key to the F1 silly season.

The Spaniard began his F1 career to Toro Rosso before joining Renault, McLaren, and Ferrari.

He has been linked with a move to Audi, which is set to take over from Sauber for 2026, though having him arrive a year early is not a bad thing.

However, he could also find a home at Red Bull Racing given Sergio Perez is under pressure to retain his seat alongside Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman has a long-term contract, while Perez is in the last year of his current contract.

Suitors for his drive are lining up. Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda in the sister RB operation keen on the position.

Alex Albon has also been linked with a move with some suggestions a three-year deal has been offered to the 27-year-old.

Hamilton’s defection from Mercedes also opens up another front-running seat into which those drivers could potentially step in, with Albon a logical target for that drive, too.

The trouble is, he has a valid contract with Williams through to the end of next season, a point made by team boss James Vowles as he swatted away suggestions he could lose his star driver.

Mercedes has the extremely highly regarded Andrea Kimi Antonelli among its junior ranks.

Antonelli dominated Italian Formula 4 in 2022 and won Formula Regional Europe last year. The 17-year-old Italian is only embarking on his first season of Formula 2 making his immediate graduation to an F1 drive with Mercedes a stretch.

Esteban Ocon has links with Mercedes and Toto Wolff while his Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly is also on the market for next season.

Elsewhere, it’s thought but not confirmed that Valtteri Bottas’ multi-year deal with Sauber extends to next year.

The Finn joined the squad from Mercedes at the end of 2021 but the duration of his contract was never officially confirmed.

It was initially thought to be a 2+1 arrangement, making 2024 the last year of that arrangement, though there have been recent suggestions that it extends further.

All told, it promises to be a dynamic silly season with two key figures already out of the game – one courtesy of arguably the biggest shock move in F1 history.

F1 2025 driver lineup