2029 Formula One season

The  was the 18th Formula One championship, contested over 16 Grands Prix between 9 teams, 18 drivers and 6 engine manufacturers. The season began at the Australian Grand Prix and culminated at the British Grand Prix with three championships available for grabs. Tiger Abraham, Sauber and Renault won their respective championships in similar style to last year, seemingly stealing it from the quick but unreliable Ferraris. Kulmala scored second in the Drivers' after leading for the first half of the season, and Ferrari took second in the Constructors' and Engines' championships.

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 was the fifth round instead of the fourth. The mid-season test was also to be held 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.

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 at Indianapolis, 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.

Next in Hungary, 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.

Sauber beat Ferrari to pole for the first time since 2027 around the streets of Valencia, Martinson from Kulmala and Vergne then Abraham. The Italians got PTSD as both Ferraris retired from the race, leaving Abraham to take the fight to Martinson, which he did, and went on to win in one of his more solid races. A similar story behind, as both Toyotas were out and Williams finished third and fourth. Spain apparently suited the Honda engine, as they finished 5-6-7; Bachchan, Aaldenberg, Beck; South McLaren, Minardi, Minardi. Shortly after the race, Martinson sustained an injury that left him unable to drive at the Hockenheimring. Hong Kongese Hong Hou was announced as the reserve driver to take the American's place.

Big upgrades were due at Germany for Ferrari, Sauber and BMW. It seemed status quo at the top, with Kulmala taking pole from Abraham. Super-sub Hou impressed to outqualify Vergne for third, but Sauber were quietly very confident for their race pace. Rightly so – Sauber simply outpaced Ferrari in the race on a very similar strategy and took a victory from Kulmala, while Vergne and Hou both retired with reliability problems leaving Hussain once again to bring it home third. BMW and Ferrari's upgrades didn't appear to have worked, leaving them to question their correlations between simulated and actual track performance. Kurosawa's Santander actually outraced Salvage's Williams to fourth.

Contrary to speculation that the low-on-power Ferrari would have the advantage around the streets of Monte Carlo, the power-dependent Saubers dominated Monaco. They qualified and raced 1-2, Martinson from Abraham. Ferrari locked out the second row but both retired with suspension problems, related to the issue that showed up on Vergne's car in Germany – not only were their big upgrades from Germany slow, they were car-breaking. Wakahisa, Hussain, Kurosawa, Faure, and Glock finished out the points; Williams, Toyota, Santander, North McLaren, Toyota. Dudley continued his dreadful streak of retirements, sixth in a row.

Brazil apparently suited the Toyota engines, as Hussain put his works car second and Himura put his Santander fifth, both ahead of a struggling Vergne in 6th. The Saubers both beat the Ferraris to pole and third, with the clean side of the grid to their advantage. Little did that matter as the top three stagnantly finished in the same positions which they qualified, not to take anything away from Hussain's performance against his team mate Glock who could only manage 11th in both qualifying and the race. Kulmala retired, Vergne overtook Himura, Salvage and Reier, for once, topped out the points. Sauber's 1-3 gave Abraham and Sauber–Renault the lead in their respective championships, though Ferrari still had a 7 point lead thanks to their pole positions and North McLaren.

Ferrari came to Belgium with some much-needed upgrades to their chassis and engine, though both Ferrari-powered teams looked even more down on power based on speed trap figures. Despite this, Ferrari were running very skinny wings but still had the grip in the corners, continuing the seemingly-nonsensical trend of the under-powered Ferraris being quick on low-downforce tracks and the well-powered Saubers suiting higher-downforce tracks more. A spectacular lap upset the normal and put Badr Hussain's Toyota on pole from with the two Ferraris then the two Saubers behind. Vergne took the lead at the first corner, but it was quickly snatched back by Hussain down the kemmel straight, during which the two Ferraris were demontsrably slower down the long straight than Hussain and the Saubers. Kulmala dropped out, Sauber outstrategised Toyota and put Abraham in the lead, then Vergne also had suspension issues and had to retire. Abraham seemed in a world of his own on pace, while Martinson couldn't even make an impression on the struggling Hussain. They finished in that order, followed by a solid fourth for Huddleson's Ford. Dudley's car finally held together for a race and he scored a fifth place. Toyota's impressive performance scored them the same points as Renault who finished 1-3, and with Ferrari's problems this put the Abraham-Sauber-Renault combination in the lead of all championships. Faure sustained a series back injury when crashing out of the Grand Prix, putting McLaren YDDP driver Tomek Bernard in the seat until Faure could return for the final race of the season. Glock also agreed to step down to let Bush have a few races following a poor showing and the announcement that he would be retiring next season. Bush qualified 8th and retired in the race, struggling all weekend.

The post-Belgium tests proved fairly useless for all involved but Minardi, and even then the progress was slim. Ferrari struggled to get it together at their home race and were beat to pole by both Saubers (Abraham first) and Hussain's Toyota. Kulmala made it up to second thanks to Abraham's retirement, giving Martinson his second win of the season, much to the Tifosi's "delight". Vergne slipped to sixth with a wounded car, meanwhile supersub Godfrey Bush scored his second podium for Toyota on his fourth race and second finish. Status quo in the championship. It was a race of attrition as only eight cars got to the finish.

Closing rounds
In Putinland, the Saubers looked devilishly quick. Martinson took pole from Abraham, followed by Wakahisa's best position since the opening round in Australia. Kulmala was down in fourth, then Vergne. Martinson retired with car issues, leaving Abraham an easy win and an extension of his lead in the championship; with Kulmala down in third it was now 11 points. The story of the race, however, was Badr Hussain's insane drive from the back row of the grid up to the runner-up position. Dudley was finally stringing together some good finishes with a fourth place around Sochi, putting North above South McLaren in the constructors'.

The top four looked very close from the practice sesisons in Malaysia, and this came to fruition in qualifying. Hussain continued to impress and took his second pole of the season, being the only non-Ferrari and non-Sauber driver to do so. Then it was Abraham, Wakahisa, Martinson, Bush, Vergne, Kulmala, and Salvage: Toyota, Sauber, Williams, Sauber, Toyota, Ferrari, Ferrari, Williams. In the race, this fell apart to attrition, as has become the norm. Salvage retired first, then Kulmala, Hussain, Martinson, and finally Vergne. The race between the remaining three was feirce though: Wakahisa overtook Abraham brilliantly, who was then hassled and outstrategised by Bush, giving the Englishman second. There were then big points hauls Huddleson and Dimitriou's Fords with fourth and sixth, some rare points for the Minardi of Aaldenberg, and Bachchan's talents could only be recognised with a solitary point. New winners were in all three spots: Tarou Wakahisa, his Williams–BMW, and the Toyota engine thanks to their pole and podium. With Ferrari unable to score any meaningful results, Abraham–Sauber's lead was extended slightly.

Shortly before the race, Himura was snatched from Toyota by Williams for next season thanks to a large contract termination payment, being a strong contender for rookie-of-the-season. Malaysia was his last round before giving Kurosawa his seat for their shared drive. Coincidentally, Salvage sustained an injury during the break between Malaysia and Korea that would make him unable to participate. After a brief contract dispute, Toyota agreed to allow Himura to replace the injured Frenchman, on the condition he be released to Toyota if necessary, including mid-race weekend.

The Saubers looked quicker by a large margin in the next round at Yeongam, Korea. They comfortably secured the front, followed by the Ferraris. None of them could make it to the finishline however, except Vergne, the Frenchman taking a commanding victory from Hussain, who had a suspension failure in qualifying and so had done another charge from the back of the grid, followed by Hussain and an impressive Himura on his debut for Williams. There were no signficiant changes in the championship standings' positions, however it was now mathematically impossible for anyone but Abraham or Kulmala to win the drivers', guaranteeing a first-time champion. Kulamla trailed by 16 points so had a lot of work to do, with perhaps a pinch of good luck.

The two Saubers took the first row of the grid with a large gap behind them to the Ferraris, Martinson from Abraham, Vergne from Kulmala. They had apparently been masking their pace during free practice as they lead away well from the Ferraris and pulled a large gap. Kulmala retired before the half-way point, securing Abraham's first title, Sauber's fifth in six years, and Renault's first since 2017. Team orders were in place should the Ferraris have been leading, but were never required. Abraham kept Martinson honest to the finish line, the two finishing less than a second apart and celebrating with Wakahisa on the podium. Lower down South scored some good points with a sixth and seventh, though there were no position changes in the championship.

At the final round in Silverstone, the Saubers signed off the season with a dominant front-row lockout, meanwhile the Ferraris were showing signs of their development focus on next year down in 6th and 7th. The started off well enough, the Saubers looking close, but it soon became a one-horse race as Martinson dropped out with car problems. Kulmala had an exceptional race from the back up to second, seemingly a trend of this season, followed by Bush. Next were Kurosawa and Notaro, allowing Santander to nip fifth spot in the constructors' from Ford.

Results and standings

 * See also: Results sheet