The 2024 F1 season began with a bit of history for the sport. For the first time in F1 history, the driver who finished the previous season was the same driver who started the next season.
Now, with 2025 upon us, that is no longer the case.
With several rookies joining the grid full-time, some veterans finding new ground and a living legend making a shocking move to a new team, the grid will be much larger at lights out for the season opener against the Australians. It will look different. Grand Prix.
Therefore, now is the perfect time to sort out the contract status of each driver.
Some contracts are a bit shrouded in mystery, with teams signing drivers to 'multi-year' deals, although it is understood that most are two-season deals. Other contracts, such as Lance Stroll's deal with Aston Martin, are more ambiguous.
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Pierre Gasly — 2026
Alpine signed Pierre Gasly to a two-year contract extension in June last year, which will keep him on the team's grid until the 2026 season.
Jack Doohan — 2025
Last August, Alpine announced that Jack Doohan, reserve driver for the 2024 season, would be called up to a full-time spot in 2025.
However, Doohan enters the season feeling a little pressured. Alpine recently announced the signing of super-sub Franco Colapinto as their reserve driver, but rumors persist that Doohan's contract leaves room for a change early in the season.
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Fernando Alonso — 2026
Fernando Alonso announced in April that he had signed a contract extension with Aston Martin to remain with the team until the 2026 season.
Alonso is due to turn 45 during that season, making him the oldest driver on the grid at the moment. He has not won a race since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, but the addition of Adrian Newey to Aston Martin's management team could be the catalyst for an elusive 33rd grand prix victory.
Lance Stroll — “Multiple Years”
Last June, Aston Martin announced a new contract with Lance Stroll to keep him with the team 'beyond 2025'.
It is widely believed that Aston Martin's second seat will belong to Stroll for as long as he wishes, or as long as Lawrence Stroll remains at the helm of Aston Martin.
ferrari
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
Charles Leclerc — “Multi-years”
Ahead of the 2024 season, Ferrari has announced a new contract with Charles Leclerc.
However, the terms of that contract were not disclosed by the team. Leclerc hinted on social media that his new contract will keep him at the Scuderia for “the next few seasons”.
Lewis Hamilton — 2026, option for 2027
The 2024 F1 “stupid season'' began early with Lewis Hamilton's shocking decision to leave Mercedes and join Ferrari at the end of the season. The move is one of the most surprising decisions in the history of the sport, and may rival Hamilton's decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes for the start of the 2013 season.
Hamilton's contract with Ferrari is considered a “multi-year” contract, meaning it is a two-year deal. Option for third season in 2027. Speaking of last summer Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur revealed that the deal could see Hamilton remain at Ferrari until 2027.
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Haas will start the 2025 season with a completely new driver line-up, making it one of the few F1 teams with a completely new structure for next year. Veteran driver Esteban Ocon joins from Alpine, with super-sub Oliver Bearman taking a full-time grid spot.
Esteban Ocon — 2026
Ocon announced he was leaving Alpine for Haas in July last year, with the driver putting pen to paper on a “multi-year” contract. According to multiple reports, the contract is for two seasons.
Oliver Bearman — 2026
Haas announced ahead of last summer's British Grand Prix that reserve and super-sub Oliver Bearman had secured a full-time seat with the team from 2025. Like Ocon, Bearman's contract was said to be a “multi-year” deal, but reports say it will run until 2026.
mclaren
McLaren have risen to the top of the F1 Constructors' Championship and their young driver duo will remain at Woking for at least a few more years.
Lando Norris — 2027
Ahead of the 2024 F1 season, McLaren announced a contract extension with Norris, whose contract was due to expire at the end of 2025. The new contract will keep Norris at Papaya until at least 2027.
Oscar Piastri — 2026
In the fall of the 2023 season, McLaren signed Oscar Piastri to a multi-year contract extension. The deal, signed with the team during Piastri's rookie season, will keep him with the team through the 2026 season.
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Photo by Sam Bloxham/LAT Images
Andrea Kimi Antonelli — 2025
With Lewis Hamilton leaving for Ferrari, Mercedes have decided to slide young genius Andrea Kimi Antonelli into their seat. Antonelli quickly rose through the single-seater ranks, bypassing the international F3 series and heading straight to the F2 championship, finishing sixth last season.
Mercedes confirmed Antonelli's full-time seat ahead of last season's Italian Grand Prix.
George Russell — 2025
In addition to Antonelli's short-term deal with Mercedes, George Russell enters the 2025 season in the final year of his current contract. He signed a two-year extension with the Silver Arrows in the summer of 2023, remaining with the team until the end of the 2025 season.
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Hiroki Tsunoda — 2025
Hiroki Tsunoda will be spending his fifth year with Red Bull's junior team, driving for the newly renamed Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (VCARB) this season. Tsunoda was one of the candidates to compete for promotion to Red Bull, but instead ended up signing with VCARB on another one-year deal announced ahead of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.
Isaac Hajar — 2025
Isak Hajar has earned promotion after a strong F2 campaign and will join the grid full-time for the 2025 season. Hajjar entered the final race weekend of the F2 season with his chances of winning the F2 Drivers' Championship on the line, ultimately finishing just behind fellow rookie Gabriel Bortleto.
Hajar has a one-year contract with VCARB.
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Max Verstappen — 2028
Max Verstappen's contract with Red Bull runs until the 2028 F1 season.
However, a clause in Verstappen's contract giving the driver a reason to leave the team did not stop rival team principals from trying to poach the driver from Milton Keynes.
These clauses came under scrutiny at the start of the 2024 season when team principal Christian Horner faced an investigation into allegations of misconduct by another Red Bull employee. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, perhaps in an attempt to stir things up a bit, has met with Verstappen's manager and father during the 2024 season with a view to signing the reigning drivers' champion.
Liam Lawson — 2025
Red Bull decided to part ways with veteran Sergio Perez at the end of the team's disappointing 2024 season, slipping super-sub Liam Lawson into the seat full-time. Lawson's contract with Red Bull is for one season only, giving the team options if Lawson fails to fulfill his potential.
Sauber
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2025 will be Sauber's final season in F1, ahead of the team's rebranding as an Audi works operation in 2026.
Looking to the present and the future, the team has announced an all-new driver combination for next season. One of the drivers is a rookie who has just returned from the F2 championship, and the other is a veteran from Germany.
Nico Hulkenberg — 2026
Sauber's 2025 line-up began with the announcement of Nico Hulkenberg, who will join the team from Haas ahead of Audi joining the grid as a works team in 2026. Hulkenberg finished 11th in the F1 Drivers' Championship, completing a strong season with Haas. championship.
According to reports, Audi has signed Hulkenberg to a “multi-year” contract until the 2026 season.
Gabriel Bortleto — 2026
Joining Hulkenberg at Sauber in 2025 will be incoming rookie Gabriel Bortleto, who won the F2 drivers' championship last season. This achievement made him the fourth driver in the FIA F2 era to win consecutive FIA F3 and FIA F2 titles.
The remaining three drivers who achieved this feat will line up on Bortleto's grid this season: Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri.
Bortleto's contract runs through the 2026 season.
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Now, it's time for the last team on the grid, Williams.
James Boules was the biggest free agent signing of last season's driver transfer market, securing the services of Carlos Sainz Jr. The former Ferrari driver started the year looking for a new seat when the team announced the addition of Lewis Hamilton in 2025 along with Charles Leclerc. He signed a contract extension before the 2024 campaign.
Carlos Sainz Jr. — 2026 (with option)
When Williams announced the deal with Sainz in July, the team made it a two-year deal with an “option to extend” beyond the 2026 season.
Alexander Albon — 2026
Williams also announced a new contract with Alexander Albon last May, extending his contract for a “multi-year” period. According to available reports, the deal runs through the 2026 campaign period.
