The Formula 1 2025 season is sure to give us plenty of surprises thanks to so many shock moves and big shake-ups giving new shape to the grid. But are we set to have any shock winners this year?

Ted Kravitz, longtime Formula 1 presenter and pundit, has a few ideas about the drivers that will surprise in 2025.

Ted Kravitz’s new winners and surprise winners

There’s no shortage of storylines heading into the 2025 Formula 1 season.

From Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari to Liam Lawson’s sudden promotion to Red Bull Racing; from Carlos Sainz’s swap to Williams to McLaren’s allegedly daring take on its car design; from plenty of rookies to a handful of veterans; it’s going to be nigh on impossible to make any correct predictions about what we can expect.

Pre-season testing in Bahrain gave us our first indication of the season, but we won’t know anything for certain until cars hit the track in Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix.

Nevertheless, Ted Kravitz has given his perspective on a few of the biggest surprises we may see this year, particularly as it pertains to surprising and first-time race winners.

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During Sky Sports‘ pre-season preview, Kravitz was asked who he expected to provide some surprising wins in 2025.

First, he was asked to predict a new winner in Formula 1, and Kravtiz’s answer was simple: “Kimi Antonelli, the rookie for Mercedes.”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff would almost certainly agree with that sentiment; the German has expressed a lot of hope for Antonelli, treating the young driver as the most promising rookie since Max Verstappen.

But Kravitz had some interesting predictions for 2025’s surprise winner: “Either of these two: Carlos Sainz… or Alex Albon.”

“Carlos Sainz had to move aside from Ferrari when they signed Lewis Hamilton has found a good berth in Williams,” Kravitz explained.

“Yes, it’s not the quickest car out there, but it’s probably potentially the front of the midfield.

So on a crazy day, maybe some rain, maybe some accidents involved, either Carlos Sainz or Alex Albon could win a race.”

Williams has made some strong progress in the past few years, progressing from a bottom-of-the-field team to a contender for the midfield under the leadership of team boss James Vowles.

The signing of Sainz has been hailed as a potential turnaround for the team. Part of Williams’ problem these past few years has come from the fact that its lineup has generally been composed of one quality racer and one pay driver.

In 2025, the combo of Sainz and Albon is expected to make a strong impact.

As far as other drivers he’ll be watching, Kravitz has pinpointed new Red Bull driver Liam Lawson as a potentially compelling case study, both for his performance on the team and for how his role will impact the scope of the World Championship.

“[Lawson is] clearly going to be the number two to Max Verstappen,” Kravitz said.

“Max Verstappen [has] a great chance of winning a fifth Drivers’ Championship with Red Bull.

“It’s considering that they’re going to make sure he scores the majority of the points for Red Bull Racing, whereas Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes have to be equal, at least at first, between all of their drivers.”

Will we see a Williams win? An Antonelli victory? The jury is still out, but we’re getting ever closer to finding out what will happen.

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