Caryss Green, '25
Silly season is essentially a massive gossip session between fans, reporters, and teams. Rumors about seats for the upcoming season–which drivers might be making big switches or being dropped from their teams–consume the minds of eager fans. With everyone waiting to learn each driver’s fate, reporters and fans throw out theories for possible driver lineups, while teams begin announcing who they have signed. Silly season has always been chaotic and full of surprises, but the 2024 silly season has turned the world of Formula 1 into a complete circus.
In Formula 1, silly seasons typically occur throughout the last few races of each season. However, Lewis and Ferrari didn’t even wait until the season started to announce that Lewis Hamilton would join Ferrari in 2025. Rumors about the move had been circulating already, though most believed the idea had no merit. It was announced on February 1st that Hamilton who joined Mercedes in 2013 and now, after 12 years and 6 World Drivers’ Championship titles won with the team, had signed a multi-year contract with Ferrari, beginning in the 2025 season. This news shocked fans, especially those of Hamilton and Mercedes. But this announcement also meant that Carlos Sainz, a current Ferrari driver, would be out of a seat for the next season.
Shocked fans went so far as to claim that Ferrari had “fired the wrong driver” after Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix. The drama dragged on as Sainz kept everyone on their toes while deciding where to sign. James Vowels, Team Principal of Williams Racing, made their desire to sign Sainz clear, and after almost 6 months of anticipation, Williams announced Sainz’s contract “for 2025 and beyond.”
The Sainz-Williams announcement confirmed that Logan Sargeant, a Williams driver for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, would not continue his Formula 1 career with the team. Unfortunately for Sargeant, his time with Williams was cut even shorter when the team announced Franco Colapinto would replace him for the remaining 9 races. Colapinto was a part of the Williams Racing Driver Academy. He had been racing in his first season of F2 for MP Motorsport when Williams decided to pull him up to Formula 1. Ironically, what Williams is doing to Colapinto is very similar to what they did to Sargeant. The team brought Sargeant up out of F2 after just one season, which is even more time than Colapinto has had. Sargeant was supposed to be Williams’ success story, and now he’s been kicked to the curb. Hopefully, Colapinto will have a better experience than that.
Another rookie joining the Formula 1 grid in 2025 is Oliver Bearman. Bearman is in his second year of F2 with PREMA Racing and has already proven his promise in Formula 1. Bearman placed P7 during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. After scoring 6 points in his debut race, Bearman signed his first Formula 1 contract with Haas F1 Team. The multi-year contract begins in 2025, but Bearman will be filling in for Kevin Magnussen while he serves his race ban at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Haas’ other driver for 2025 will be Esteban Ocon, a current driver at Alpine. Ocon also signed a multi-year deal with Haas. The vacant Alpine seat will be going to yet another rookie, Jack Doohan. Doohan is serving as a reserve driver for Alpine, was an Alpine Academy Driver from 2022-2023, and finished third in the F2 championship in 2023. Doohan is the last of the confirmed rookies for the 2025 season, making it 3 rookies compared to the 0 rookies for the 2024 season.
With two drivers already signed for 2025, Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg will leave the team at the end of the season to go to Kick Sauber. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu are Sauber’s current drivers; with only one open seat Sauber has stated that Bottas has a good chance of resigning with the team. However, he has not signed an official contract.
The 2024 silly season has been chaotic, to say the least. But with the second RB and Sauber seats still up for grabs, it is certainly not over.