2029 Formula One season

The  is the 18th Formula One championship. It is being contested over 16 Grands Prix between 9 teams, 18 drivers and 6 engine manufacturers. The season begun at the Australian Grand Prix and will culminate at the British Grand Prix with three championships available for grabs. Ferrari have won four of the four opening Grands Prix and lead all of the Constructors', Engines', and Drivers' championships. They appear to have the fastest car, just as they did last season, only this time Kulmala looks to have the edge over Vergne and they both have reliability.

Calendar
Following the third round of the 2028 season, the Cairo Grand Prix Circuit announced it would not hold a Formula One race in the foreseeable future due to financial reasons. France took its place, but will be the fifth round instead of the fourth. The mid-season test will also be at the Nürburgring straight after the Grand Prix there instead of the originally-planned Catalunya, to make the financial impact smaller on the teams.

As per last season, there were eight days of pre-season testing over two tests, a two-day mid-season test, and each team was allocated four days of private testing to organize themselves.

Signed team and drivers
* The contract is provisional and may change before the start of the season.

Driver changes
Sauber re-signed their all-American lineup quite early in 2028, a 2 year deal for each with reasonably lean exit clauses between seasons.

Vergne began a two year contract with a very lenient mid-season exit clause. Tapani Kulmala signed with Ferrari for the first 8 rounds of the season. Test driver Dudley became a full driver at North McLaren but will step in to a Ferrari seat should one become available for whatever reason. Another Ferrari Academy driver Tor Horn was promoted to the second test driver seat.

Santander had a provisional contract with Hussain for the Saudi Arabian to drive for the team this season, but after impressing in his first season, Toyota, who had a say in both seats in the new team, took him for their own. Tore Notaro, Toyota test driver, was placed in his seat instead. Gorou Kurosawa, before joining Santander last season, announced he would retire following his first year with the new outfit to allow it to become a young driver development team, however after an impressive show against his highly-regarded team mate and Santander's own impressive season, he was signed on for at least 5 races in the team. Kurosawa will share the seat with countryman and Toyota test driver/YDP protege Yasu Himura, who is contracted to race at least 3 races. The team will decide on short notice which driver will race which race, though it was announced Himura would test whereas Kurosawa would drive the first race.

Marcus Ericsson announced he would retire following 2028, leaving a top-tier seat up for grabs. Their two current test drivers were deemed unsuitable – Maria Michelakakis was past her best (and was in fact let go before pre-season testing) and Steen still has a while to go in lower formulae. Williams originally wanted Badr Hussain but Toyota pinched him. They settled with ex-Toyota driver Darnell Salvage. Later on Tarou Wakahisa was announced which completed their driver lineup and left Philbert Rome without a drive.

Glock was confirmed to complete his two-year contract with Toyota, meanwhile Badr Hussain was signed as their second driver, which put Salvage's status in limbo, however the Frenchman signed for Williams soon enough. Godfrey Bush was snagged from a different racing series as test driver, having proved his worth there. Glock was injured in the last race of 2028, and shortly before the opening round, it was confirmed he would not be fit to race. Test driver Bush was put in his seat for the first two rounds before Glock recovered.

Reier was signed to complete the final part of his two-year contract South McLaren. Despite a difficult start to 2028, the team stated they had faith in the rookie that he will develop. Sudarshan Bachchan was also signed, to replace one-time champ Wakahisa, who moved on to Williams. McLaren poached Russian Leonty Mihaylov from WEC to be their test driver for the year.

North Mclaren agreed to extend their partnership with Ferrari by two years following last season. Ferrari decided that Cordell Dudley would replace Abner Ashley as Ferrari's full driver choice this season; Abner was signed to fill the test driver seat. They signed Guatier Faure on for another 2 years, and Tomek Bernard as test driver for another season. Abner replaced Dudley for the French Grand Prix thanks to an injury following the South African GP. Tor Horn was temporarily contracted to replace Ashley's reserve seat.

Sotiris Dimitriou was confirmed to complete the second and final year of his contract. Last year's test driver Raleigh Huddleson was promoted for a year to Ford's second driver, and long-serving Renault Sport Academy driver Isidor Falkenrath was given Huddleson's test driver seat.

Aaldenberg was contracted to spend his third and final year, as per usual, with the Minardi team. Minardi announced Royal Beck would rejoin the team for some reason, probably related to money. McLaren also elected to continue with Octavio Peredes in their test seat this season. Minardi also announced another McLaren YDDP participant, Fester Maus, would fill the second seat.

Team changes
Lockheed Martin's title sponsorship of Ford and Nvidia's of Sauber were up for renewal for this season. Nvidia quickly extended the deal by 4 years, whereas Lockheed were more cautious and only signed on for another 3 quite late last season.

Before the 2028 season, Michelin announced an interest in becoming tyre suppliers for 2029. Ferrari immediately signed an independent deal with Pirelli, stating that if tyre competition is introduced, Ferrari will operate Pirelli tyres for the first season. Michelin did likewise with Williams–BMW. Talks did take place between the FIA and Michelin but the two agreed to postpone proceedings indefinitely.

Following the Thai Grand Prix last season, Renault announced an interest in becoming an engine supplier. Sauber were quickly announced as partners – they were operating an old Toyota engine Coba were developing, but it was always a temporary measure until a proper engine partner could be acquired.

Last season Ferrari had a one-year contract with North McLaren to supply an engine as well as full driver and test driver seats in the form of Abner Ashley and Zak Henry. The deal was set to come to an end for 2029 – North had the choice of continuing their deal with Ferrari, with one of the most powerful engines on the grid, or going with a wildcard in Renault. Eventually following a good season of progress for the Ferrari engine, they chose to sign on for another 2 years.

Young driver programmes
This table lists driver development programmes. * Years served in the programme as of the beginning of this season.

Opening rounds
Pre-season testing suggested a status quo compared to the 2028 season, and the first race of the season confirmed this. Kulmala took a comfortable pole from a closely-matching fight for second by Wakahisa, Vergne, and Hussain, followed by a fairly-distant Abraham – that's the four big-name constructors in the top five. All of those bar the pole man retired from the race, allowing Kulmala a comfortable victory from an impressive Godfrey Bush on his debut for Toyota, filling in for an injured Glock. Ford looked best of the rest with a fourth and sixth place, and Minardi looked the slowest.

Once again in the second round, Kulmala looked quicker than Vergne throughout the weekend with a pole and victory. The Saubers impressed with a second and third place in qualifying, but both retired from the race.

For the first time since the 2027 season, a non-Ferrari took pole: Kesley Martinson put his car on the top spot while the Ferraris were struggling (well, struggling, they got 2nd and 3rd) to find grip in the unusually-hot Hungaroring. His glory run was short lived as the two Ferraris sailed passed him in the race, taking their second consecutive one-two, again with Kulmala showing Vergne how it's done. Sauber got their first poitns of the season with Martinson's podium, but again Abraham's car failed him. Ford looked like the Santander of last season by consistently bringing home points, putting themselves fourth in the Chamionship thanks to Sauber's struggle with reliability.

Vergne beat Kulmala to pole for the first time this season, with Martinson splitting the two Ferraris followed by his team mate Abraham – Ferrari, Sauber, Ferrari, Sauber. Wakahisa looked very racey behind, close in qualifying and apparently with more pace to come in the race. Himura, sharing a seat with Kurosawa impressed on his debut to qualify best of the teams not in the big four. Come the race, Ferraris struggling with grip once again. Vergne retired with reliability, while Martinson and Wakahisa came together, ending the former's race and putting an end to the latter's hopes of a good finishing positon. The promotions were fairly grid-esque after this: Hussain from 6th on the grid to 3rd, followed by the ever-present Salvage then newbie Himura. Huddleson stole the last point for Ford. Sauber retook their rightful position in the top four of the Constructors', and in the Engines' Renault managed to achieve in 2 finishes more than Williams had in 6 and almost as much as Toyota had in 8, meanwhile Kulmala's lead was closed to 23 points.

European rounds
Kulmala took pole the weekend after Ferrari agreed to his services for the remainder of the season, as he was originally only contracted for eight rounds. This was also the eve of the announcement that ATR were to continue their title sponsorship of Ferrari for a further three years. This time both Saubers got between the Ferraris. Ferrari phantomed their reliability problems from last year over to Sauber, as both retired from the race. Kulmala also retired from the lead to gift Vergne an easy win, though Wakahisa kept him honest towards the end, bringing home his second podium in as many trouble-free races. In the battle of the consistently reliable, Hussain beat Salvage to the podium of the race and therefore the Drivers' Championship thus far; Salvage had retired for the first time this season. Himura once again impressed with a fourth place for Santander, with Ford struggling with their best-of-the-rest battle this round. Substitute Ashley had an anonymous weekend - qualified 13th, raced 8th, not much to expect from a North McLaren this year though.

Results and standings

 * See also: Results sheet