F1 Today | 2025 sprint races confirmed; Hamilton to Ferrari 'makes sense'

2025 sprint races confirmed 

The breaking news of today is that we know the six tracks that will host sprint races next season. These are China, Miami, Spa, Austin, Brazil and Qatar. This sees one change from this season's sprint calendar with Spa replacing Austria. It will be the first time the Austrian Grand Prix has returned to F1's traditional format since the introduction of sprint races in 2021.  It is not the first time a sprint race will take place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Max Verstappen won the 100km dash at Spa in 2023.

Three of the final six rounds of the World Championship will host sprint races, including the penultimate round at Qatar. Whether this year's sprint format will be maintained is still unknown. Earlier this year, the F1 Commission meeting did discuss what exactly is the best format, but those discussions have not yet led to any immediate changes. The possibility of that happening at a later date cannot be ruled out.

Hamilton to Ferrari is still right for the 7-time champion 

Speaking exclusively to GPblog, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestly believes that Hamilton's surprise move to Ferrari still makes sense, despite Ferrari struggling in recent weeks, whilst Hamilton's current team Mercedes have won back-to-back races. Hamilton worked with Priestly during his McLaren days, which included his famous 2008 world championship win. Hamilton left McLaren to join Mercedes in 2013, where he has won a further six world titles and broke several records. 

Since Leclerc's home win at Monaco, Ferrari have scored one podium finish. In the same period, Mercedes have had one car on the podium at every race, including wins at Austria and Silverstone. Despite this, Priestly still believes Hamilton and Ferrari could be a winning combination, and believes there is a "romantic element to his Ferrari story". 

You can read Priestly's thoughts on Hamilton's move in full here, exclusively on GPblog!

Can McLaren win with Piastri?

McLaren have arguably been the quickest and most consistent team since Lando Norris' maiden win in Miami. Despite this, they have failed to take another victory. A mistake at last weekend's British Grand Prix potentially cost Oscar Piastri his first F1 win. Despite this, Piastri remains calm and believes his team have already done the hardest part. They now sit third in the Constructors, just seven points behind Ferrari. However, Mercedes, who sit in fourth, are closing the gap between their customer, as just 74 points split the two.

Nevertheless, this season McLaren have made some costly mistakes. In Canada, if Norris had not stayed out for an extra lap, he could have potentially won instead of Max Verstappen.  at the British Grand Prix, McLaren had led the race 1-2 until it lost this position as a result of their pit stops. The first error they made was not double-stacking Norris and Piastri at the first stops. They then used soft tyres on Norris' car, instead of mediums and stopped one lap too late which allowed Lewis Hamilton to get back ahead.

You can read Piastri's thoughts about McLaren's mistakes here! 

Mercedes delivers ominous warning to title rivals

Mercedes are on their way back to the top of the F1 grid. They have now taken back-to-back wins, but the Silver Arrows aren't satisfied with just two wins. Mercedes were the dominant team since 2014, that was until the 2022 regulations. Since then, they have only won three races but have improved drastically in recent weeks. 

Speaking in the team's debrief, technical director Andrew Sholvin admits the team isn't done yet. " Two wins in a row is brilliant. There's a lot of energy in the team at the moment. We've been working hard for months, but now you can start to see the fruits of that work, and there's more to do."

Brundle defends Sergio Perez

It is undeniable that Sergio Perez has underperformed since his contract extension. However, Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle believes that the Mexican is the right man to be alongside the reigning world champion Max Verstappen, despite team principal Christian Horner admitting the team needs both cars challenging at the front of the grid if they want to retain their world constructors championship. 

The reason as to why Brundle believes the Austrian team should stick with the experience of Perez is simple. "Verstappen just breaks [a young driver's] head because he's so fast". Despite this, Brundle believes Red Bull have the perfect replacement waiting in the wings in Liam Lawson, confident that the young New Zealander would be able to cope with being Verstappen's teammate. 

You can read Brundle's comments here!