New Mercedes team leader George Russell is the cover star for the second Autosport monthly magazine, out today (13 February).
Much of the focus last year was on the title battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari. But Russell also made his presence felt in Formula 1 in 2024. Not only did he win two grands prix, but he beat Hamilton in the championship and clashed with Verstappen off-track at the end of the year in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Now de facto Mercedes team leader, Russell talks to Ben Hunt in this issue about the opportunities for a Mercedes revival, working with rookie team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and how Hamilton’s departure should provide a fresh start for all involved.
There are plenty of other storylines to look forward to in 2025, and F1 pundit Karun Chandhok takes on the big questions in his traditional pre-season piece. See if you agree with his answers!
Haas newcomer Ollie Bearman opens up to Alex Kalinauckas in this month’s other big interview as the Briton prepares for his first full season in F1, but it’s not all about looking forward. In our ‘Now that was a car’ series, Stuart Codling charts the strange story of the final machine to win a world championship GP in private hands, and a book extract recalls the lost talent of 1960s rising star Chris Bristow.
Outside of F1, the biggest motorsport story of 2025 – at least for British and Le Mans fans – is probably Aston Martin’s return to the top flight of endurance racing. Gary Watkins talks to the key players of the Valkyrie LMH programme, which is arguably Aston’s most serious effort to repeat its 1959 Le Mans success, and picks out other things to look forward to in this season’s World Endurance Championship.
The American motorsport season is really kicking off, so Jake Boxall-Legge speaks to Prema Racing boss Rene Rosin about the European powerhouse’s IndyCar challenge, and Nick DeGroot is your guide to the NASCAR Cup ahead of the Daytona 500.
M-Sport and Ford took on the gruelling Dakar Rally last month and Tom Howard picks out what went well – and not so well – in the issue’s rally feature, while Stephen Lickorish investigates where UK club motorsport could be in 10 years’ time as part of our 17-page National section.
We’re also launching our National newsletter this week. If you want to keep up with UK motorsport every week, take a look and sign up.
The next issue will be our F1 season guide, covering all the teams and the big names. It will also include in-depth analysis of Bahrain testing, so please keep an eye out for our April issue from 11 March.
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