F1 cars to see at the 2025 Festival of Speed

Alpine

One of the more modern F1 cars to grace the Hill will be Alpine’s 2023 challenger, the A523. Regular points finishes and trips to the podium for both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly ensured the team finished fifth in the Constructors’ standings that year. At the Festival of Speed, the A523 will race past Goodwood House with the Alpine’s 2025 livery on all four days of the event. F2 driver Kush Maini returns to the Hillclimb on the Thursday, before Paul Aron takes over for runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Benetton

Benetton is just one chapter of the Team Enstone story, and it began in 1986 after the Italian fashion brand purchased the team for £2million. Three Benetton F1 cars will be present at the 2025 Festival of Speed, all from the hugely successful Michael Schumacher era, when the great German won the World Championship in 1994 and ’95. 

The Benetton B191 and B192, which took one victory each, will be joined by the B195, which won 11 races in 1995, nine for Schumacher, and two for Johnny Herbert. Herbert’s victory at the 1995 British Grand Prix will form part of this year’s Summer of ’95 celebration at the Festival of Speed.

Brabham

The team founded by Jack Brabham, who won the last of his three World Championships driving for his own team, competed in F1 for 30 years, winning two Constructors’ and four Drivers’ titles.

Few teams have enjoyed such a lengthy and influential tenure within the sport. Brabham cars were regularly pushing the envelope of engineering, and the BT20 played a substantial part in the team’s first Constructors’ Championship triumph in 1966 as Denny Hulme took four podium finishes while Jack Brabham was busy winning races in the BT19. It’ll be in attendance on the Hill alongside a number of other Brabham machinery, much of which was designed by the subject of this year’s Central Feature, Gordon Murray.

The BT26 and BT44 were moderately successful, but the BT49C of the early 1980s claimed several Grand Prix victories and helped Nelson Piquet to the World Championship in 1981. They’ll be joined in action by the BT52, which Piquet again drove to the title in 1983, which will head up the Hill in the hands of Piquet’s team-mate that season, Ricardo Patrese.

Ferrari

No celebration of F1 would be complete without the only team to have competed in every single World Championship season. Ferrari’s history in the sport is unrivalled, it remains the most successful manufacturer with more Championships and more wins than any other, and will be represented in spectacular fashion at the 2025 Festival of Speed.

The team’s chronology at the event begins with the Ferrari 500/625, the car that Alberto Ascari drove in dominant fashion to 11 Grand Prix victories across 1952 and ’53 to win both Championships at a canter. It’ll be joined on the Hill by the similarly legendary Ferrari 156 ‘Sharknose’, which after Ferrari had finally given into the rear-engined philosophy, won five of the seven races it entered as Phill Hill won the title in 1961.

The Ferrari 312-69 is significant for Ferrari for the wrong reason. It’s the Scuderia’s least successful car having scored only seven World Championship points in the 1969 season. The 1973 Ferrari 312 B3 wasn’t much better. Introduced mid-way through the season (and not to be confused with the 312 B3 Spazzaneve or ‘Snow Plough’), it couldn’t match the pace of its rivals and was unreliable too. 

A change of fortune was heralded by the 312T. It made its debut in 1975 and was raced until 1980 during which time it won 27 races, four Constructors’ Championships and three Drivers’ Championships. The ‘T’ denotes the transverse gearbox, which was instrumental in the car’s handling and followed a precedent set by the March 721X.

Next up is a car that never raced. The Ferrari 639 was a mule for the semi-automatic gearbox that made its competition debut in 1989. It was mostly tested by Roberto Moreno but never developed far enough to be raceworthy. The F1-87 was very much raceworthy and proved competitive from the start of the season. The design was headed by incoming technical director John Bernard who joined following a successful stint at McLaren. Ferrari ended the 1987 as a favourite for the following year’s championship.

Those who like their F1 cars to have high-revving V10 engines will enjoy the F399. Despite having just detail changes to the previous year’s F300, the car was highly capable and secured the Scuderia a Constructors’ Championship.

The Ferrari F2002 was a highly successful F1 car in the hands of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello. They scored nine 1-2 finishes in the 2002 season, five of which were back-to-back. In fact, the F2002 only failed to win one of the races it entered (Monaco); the other race that Ferrari didn’t win that year was in Malaysia where the previous year’s F2001 was entered. Ferrari still very much had its mojo in 2008 with F2008. Between them, Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa took eight wins from 18 races, as well as 19 podiums and eight pole positions. They also set 13 fastest laps throughout the season.

Haas

The four cars that the Haas F1 team is bringing to the Festival of Speed for the team’s first visit to Goodwood will give those in attendance a rare chance to see contemporary machinery in action on the Hill. We don’t often get the chance to see the latest F1 cars running outside of a Grand Prix weekend, such are the strict regulations surrounding testing mileage set by the FIA. 

First on the list is the Haas VF-16, the team’s first F1 car, and the one that saw Haas burst onto the scene with Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez, as Grosjean stormed to an incredible sixth place finish at the team’s first race, following that up with a fifth place in race two. Overall the car scored 28 points in 2016, which was enough for an eighth-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship.

Next we have the Haas VF-23, which is far from the most successful car on this list, but it was driven to the extent of its capabilities throughout the 2023 F1 season by veterans Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen. The pair claimed four top ten finishes between them, scoring 12 points, which was only good enough for tenth in the Championship.

The Haas VF-24 was a more successful entrant for the team. Hulkenberg, Magnussen and team debutant Ollie Bearman brought home 58 points in 2024, as the Hulk took five top ten finishes in the final seven races of the season. When it heads away from the start line for the first time at this year’s Festival of Speed it will become the most modern F1 car to grace the famous Goodwood Hillclimb.

Although not running on the Hill, the Haas VF-25 is the team’s current F1 contender, and a real racing version of that car will be on static display at the 2025 Festival of Speed between the British and Belgian Grands Prix. It has so far proven competitive, with drivers Bearman and Esteban Ocon scoring 20 points to sit sixth in the Constructors’ Championship after seven races. Ocon claimed the team’s best result to date with a fifth-place finish at the Chinese Grand Prix. This will be one of very few opportunities for you to see a current 2025 F1 car in the metal if you aren’t planning to attend a race this year.

Lotus

A true innovator, Team Lotus spent decades at the cutting edge of F1. Take the Lotus 25, for example. It was the first Grand Prix car to have a stressed monocoque construction, a technique that persists with all teams now more than six decades later. Jim Clark made the car his own, taking 14 race wins on the way to claiming the 1963 World Championship.

Clark also steered the Lotus 49 to victory in its debut race, the 1967 Dutch Grand Prix. It was the first F1 car powered by the Ford DFV engine after Colin Chapman persuaded Ford to fund its development. Sadly early reliability problems with the DFV robbed the 49 of a chance of a championship win in its first season, but it went on to claim the title in both 1968 and ’70.

The Lotus 72 was the follow-up to the 49. Like its predecessor, it employed the Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine, but that’s where the similarities ended. Initially the 72 wasn’t loved by drivers, but it was soon developed into a formidable force.

A long-lived one, too. It entered no fewer than 75 Grands Prix over several seasons, chalking up 17 pole positions and 39 podium finishes in that time. It was even brought out of retirement when its Type 76 successor proved inferior. Many drivers competed in the 72 over its long career, but it was Emerson Fittipaldi who made the greatest impact and most captivating spectacle with the agile black and gold car.

Mario Andretti drove to the 1978 World Championship at the wheel of one of the most innovative cars in F1 history, the Lotus 79. Ground effect was a new concept in motorsport, and Lotus was the first team to successfully implement it with the 79. The car was introduced mid-way through the ’78 season, and won six of the 11 races it entered as Andretti stormed to a dominant Championship triumph ahead of his team-mate Ronnie Peterson. Such a distinct shape will be difficult to miss on the Hill, especially when it’s accompanied by the unmistakable roar of its Cosworth DFV.

The DFV engine continued into the 1980s, and was the motive power for the Essex liveried Type 81 that Lotus contested in the first World Championship of the new decade. Its best result was a second place in Brazil with Elio de Angelis at the wheel.

Innovation returned for 1981 with the twin chassis Type 88 designed to circumvent FIA rules around moveable side skirts. Team Lotus brought the car to the practice session of the season-opening US Grand Prix, but it wasn’t allowed to race. Ultimately, the Type 86 was re-engineered for the season.

In 1985, Lotus fielded the 97T which was perhaps the best handling car on the grid that season. It performed best on tighter circuits, whereas faster venues didn’t play into its high fuel consumption. Nonetheless, it claimed eight pole positions, seven of them claimed by new signing Ayrton Senna.

McLaren

In a year of firsts, 1974 saw McLaren have its first taste of Championship success with the M23, which also delivered Emerson Fittipaldi to his second World Title. Fittipaldi’s arrival from Lotus gave McLaren an edge with its ‘74 contender, and four wins that year, three for Fittipaldi and one for Denny Hulme were enough to win both Championships.There were 13 chassis built overall (numbered one-14, missing out the number 13), but it will be a 15^th chassis that will run up the Hill this year, built by apprentices using manufacturing techniques of the era. 

McLaren is bringing five Championship-winning cars to the 2025 Festival of Speed, starting with Alain Prost’s 1985 Championship winner, the MP4/2B. As the name suggests, it was an updated model of the equally successful MP4/2 which Niki Lauda drove to Championship glory a year prior. The MP4/2B sported redesigned wings and cleaner aerodynamics compared to its predecessor, while the Porsche TAG engine was also improved with more power and better fuel consumption. Prost won six Grands Prix that year to achieve his first Drivers’ Title, while McLaren retained its hold on the Constructors’ Championship. This year the car will be driven on the Hill by Bruno Senna and Rob Garofall.

Until very recently, the McLaren MP4/4 was the ultimate F1 car. Nothing had ever proven so dominant as the car that Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost drove to 15 wins from 16 races in 1988. Senna was three laps from completing the clean sweep at Monza, only to be taken out by a backmarker.The MP4/4 was a perfect storm of engineering prowess, the chassis design was faultless and the engine was both powerful and hugely reliable. On paper nothing could touch it, and that fact was only magnified by the two drivers behind the wheel. Senna took the Championship in ’88 with eight wins, but his team-mate Prost, who will drive the car at the Festival of Speed, came a very close second with seven wins.

Adrian Newey impact was clearly demonstrated in his first full year with the Woking team with the MP4/13. Regulations imposed narrower cars and grooved tyres, and it was McLaren that best interpreted the new rules – even after its independent braking system for improved cornering was outlawed.The World Championship went down to the final race, and Mika Häkkinen took the title ahead of Michael Schumacher.

While Constructors’ glory has been joyously received back in Woking, the last McLaren car to win a Drivers’ Championship was the MP4-23, which Lewis Hamilton drove to the first of seven world titles in memorable fashion in 2008.

His final-lap pass on Timo Glock at the Brazilian Grand Prix for fifth place meant he pipped home-hero Felipe Massa to the Championship by a single point to become the sport’s then-youngest World Champion at the age of 23. You can find it at the 2025 Festival of Speed on static display alongside the MCL38, which ended a 26-year drought for a Constructors' Championship in 2024. 

Red Bull

Red Bull returns to the Festival of Speed to run two of its cars up the Hill, the first of which being the RB7 driven to both Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship glory by Sebastian Vettel in 2011. Vettel retained his title with 11 wins over the 19-race season, while team-mate Mark Webber recorded one win and another nine podiums to ensure it was a consecutive Championship double for Red Bull. In the process, the Adrian Newey-designed RB7 became F1’s first KERS-equipped car to win the Constructor’s title.

The RB8 kept the party going in Milton Keynes, matching the success of its predecessor to win another Championship double in 2012. That year saw the RB8 frequently come under scrutiny, the team twice having to make changes to its design concerning a slot in the rear floor and throttle map, but the disruption didn’t stop Vettel from taking five victories to secure a third Drivers’ Title. 

Sauber

Three decades of F1 history is being celebrated at Sauber, starting with the team’s first ever car, the C12, on display at the Festival of Speed. The car was driven in the 1993 season by Karl Wendlinger and JJ Lehto, the latter ensuring it was a points-scoring debut when he finished fifth in South Africa. A best result of fourth was achieved once by both drivers, but 18 retirements between the pair over the year restricted Sauber to seventh in the ’93 Constructors’ Championship.

Twenty years later came the C32, raced in 2013 by Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez. Hülkenberg had the stronger season, achieving ten points-scoring finishes including the car’s best result of fourth at the Korean Grand Prix. Gutiérrez, in his first season with the team, only picked up points once, in Japan. The C32 also took Sauber to seventh in the Championship and will be brought right up to date for its visit to Goodwood, sporting the green livery of 2025’s C45. Current F1 driver Gabriel Bortoleto will be the one to take it up the Hill, a prospect he described as “something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Tyrrell

Ken Tyrrell’s eponymous team made its debut with the 001 in a non-Championship race, and that car formed the basis of the 002 and 003 that followed for its first F1 season in 1971. The later cars differed from the initial design, with longer wheelbase, narrower chassis and revised nose, while power was provided by the venerable Ford-Cosworth DFV engine.

Jackie Stewart won with the 003’s first outing in Spain and went on to be victorious in six of that year’s F1 World Championship fixtures. It was enough to claim a historic title in the car’s debut season. Tyrrell persisted with the 003 in 1972, but by then Lotus was back on form with the Fittipaldi-driven Type 72.

Tyrrell’s decisive response to the Lotus 72 was the 006, which had its first outing at the Canadian Grand Prix in the hands of François Cervert towards the end of the 1972 season. For ’73, Stewart continued with the 005 for the first couple of races before he too adopted the 006. He won five races that year, enough to claim his third and final World Championship.

There is a tragic side to Tyrrell’s 1973 season, however. Cervert lost his life after a crash at Watkins Glen, and it prompted Stewart to walk away from the sport as a driver. Cervert’s car was scrapped subsequent to the crash, but Stewart’s Championship-winning 006/2 will be in action on the Goodwood Hill.

Williams

The Williams FW11 was a hugely successful car that sent Mansell’s career into the stratosphere and introduced him to the big leagues as a title contender for the first time. It won the Constructors’ Championship in 1986 with nine victories shared between Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet courtesy of its superior Honda V6 turbo engine. It also played a substantial role in one of F1’s most heart-breaking moments, as Mansell lost out certain victory in the Drivers’ Championship courtesy of a dramatic tyre failure at the final round of the season in Adelaide. We can’t wait to see him back behind the wheel of this car at the Festival of Speed.

If Mansell was successful in the FW11, we’ll need to think of a different word to describe his performance in the FW14B. Still regarded as one of the most technically advanced F1 cars of all time, the Williams FW14B was a hive of innovation. Among its game-changing features were active suspension, traction control, semi-automatic transmission and anti-lock brakes, while the aerodynamics were penned by Adrian Newey.

It’s hardly surprising that this car absolutely obliterated the opposition in 1992. Overall, the FW14B won ten races, with Mansell taking a then-record nine wins in a single season after claiming five in a row at the start of the year. Second place in Hungary was enough to see the Brit finally crowned Champion, at the wheel of a car that he will once again demonstrate on the Hill at the 2025 Festival of Speed.

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Images courtesy of Getty Images.