F1 ROOKIES LOWDOWN: Your comprehensive guide to the young drivers joining the Formula 1 grid in 2025

A host of rookies are joining the Formula 1 grid this season as all but two teams shake-up their driver pairing from last year.

All the young drivers stepping up to the sport have impressive junior careers behind them – but Formula 1 is the toughest prospect any of them will ever have faced. So who are these youngsters looking to impress against more experienced hands this year? We asked F1 TV commentator Alex Jacques for the lowdown…

READ MORE: 5 things to be excited about as F1 gears up for the 2025 season

Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes

Record

• 2024: 6th in Formula 2, two wins
• 2023: 1st in FRECA, 1st
• 2022: 1st in German F4; 1st in Italian F4

Who is he?

Antonelli is Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's golden boy. Signed as a junior in go-karts and elevated to the F1 race team at just 18 years of age, there are signs from his junior racing days that he possesses incredible talent and skill – notably commanding wet weather performances at Silverstone in F2 and Zandvoort in FRECA.

Sixth in F2 may not seem hugely impressive given Wolff’s belief in him, but if you consider the shake-up effect of the new F2 car on the 2024 competitive order – which left F2 team mate Ollie Bearman 12th in the final standings – it’s perhaps not as representative as it would have been in previous years.

Strengths

Antonelli’s stunning raw speed and wet weather prowess have impressed in the junior categories. At Silverstone – in the rain – he was a second a lap faster than the rest.

What does he need to work on?

Finding the workable limit. FP1 in Monza last year showed the promise and the risk for Antonelli. His first push lap was very strong, on the second he ended up in the wall (see the clip below). He has also suffered other testing crashes, which is to be expected in the early stages of a career – but it would hurt both team and driver if they continued to happen deep into the season.

READ MORE: Wolff aware of ‘risk’ with Antonelli as he says eye-catching raw pace needs to be ‘conditioned’

Verdict

Antonelli is being asked to replace an icon at Mercedes, and he will need a faster start than previous junior seasons in order to keep the pressure at bay. But the Silver Arrows have rushed him through the junior ladder for a reason – they believe they have an Italian Verstappen on their books.

Going up against George Russell will be a key test, and even being close to Russell early on would be a hugely encouraging sign given the Brit’s record against Hamilton in 2024.

The team will publicly say this is a transitional year but after 9,000 testing kilometres in preparation, there will be expectations of a competitive start to the season ahead of Melbourne.

Oliver Bearman – Haas

Record

• 2024: 12th in Formula 2; 18th in Formula 1 from three starts
• 2023: 6th in Formula 2, four wins
• 2022: 3rd in Formula 3

Who is he?

Oliver Bearman is the driver who started this new influx of rookies. That Fred Vasseur put his faith in him to replace Carlos Sainz in Jeddah 2024 spoke volumes. That he backed up the Ferrari Team Principal’s belief in him by delivering points on debut was even more remarkable.

The British driver, originally from Chelmsford, Essex, has long been highly-rated by Ferrari yet his Formula 1 promotion with Haas can be attributed to the fortuitous timing of Jeddah and Sainz’s appendix bursting.

A new car in Formula 2 for 2024 upended the traditional front running teams meaning Bearman finished outside of the top 10 in a championship year where a top-three finish was seen as a given.

Strengths

As later 2024 Formula 1 substitute appearances for Haas showed, Bearman has extremely quick qualifying pace – as proved when he out-qualified the super-quick Nico Hulkenberg twice in Brazil – and impressive race craft to score points in Baku when others found themselves caught up in race accidents.

BEYOND THE GRID: Ollie Bearman on his flying start to F1 and how he's just getting started

What does he need to work on?

Whether fair or not, eyebrows were raised at Bearman’s outstanding Formula 1 performances versus his somewhat lacklustre Formula 2 campaign.

Verdict

If Bearman is to continue to satisfy Ferrari’s expectations of him, he must work with and not be phased by Esteban Ocon, a notoriously tricky team mate to have in Formula 1 terms – especially for a rookie. Bearman has the speed and adaptability to regularly score points in Formula 1 if the Haas equipment in 2025 is similarly competitive to 2024.

Gabriel Bortoleto – Sauber

Record

• 2024: Formula 2 Champion
• 2023: Formula 3 Champion

Who is he?

Gabriel Bortoleto arrives on the F1 grid as the F2 reigning champion after a season where the traditional front running teams and other highly-rated Formula 1 prospects faltered.

Bortoleto showed a brilliant racing mentality and capacity behind the wheel which allowed him to triumph in the championship’s most unpredictable season. To be a back-to-back rookie F3 and F2 champion puts the Brazilian in a rare club with George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.

READ MORE: Who is Gabriel Bortoleto? Everything you need to know about Kick Sauber’s new recruit

Strengths

He simply does not know when he is beaten. After a rookie error in Monza qualifying he turned around his championship hopes with an extraordinary last-to-first race performance (see the video below). That he went into the race believing that this was possible tells you everything you need to know about his mentality.

What does he need to work on?

Bortoleto will need to work on his overall race pace. Two race victories across the entire F2 season is a lower return than other members of the F3 and F2 back-to-back title club.

That the two wins were scored after the pole-sitter stalled in Austria and the a crucial Safety Car intervention in Monza also throws up something of a question mark. Formula 1 will not be as consistently unpredictable.

Verdict

Given his pedigree as back-to-back F3 and F2 champion, Bortoleto should have the race craft to be effective in the middle of the pack but his core pace will be instantly tested by the experienced qualifying master Nico Hulkenberg across the other side of the garage.

Out-qualifying the vastly experienced German would give Bortoleto a shot of confidence in what could be a difficult rookie season if Sauber are unable to find their competitiveness. It is incredibly challenging for a rookie to extract performance from a bad car.

Jack Doohan – Alpine

Record

• 2024: Alpine reserve driver
• 2023: 3rd in Formula 2, three wins
• 2022: 6th in Formula 2, three wins
• 2021: 2nd in Formula 3

Who is he?

Jack Doohan is the first Alpine academy driver to be promoted to the F1 team – or at least the first one who took them up on the offer. The son of five-time motorcycle champion Mick Doohan, the 21-year-old from the Gold Coast in Australia received his first go-kart from Michael Schumacher and has grown up around motor racing circles his entire life.

His family made a key move to switch him from the Red Bull junior set-up to the Alpine junior academy, ensuring he was able to secure his F1 seat.

Strengths

Jack has shown strong pace in all the machinery he’s ever raced and has been given this opportunity primarily on the back of superb private testing form with the team across the last two seasons. This has allowed Alpine to directly compare him to F1 race drivers in fairly contemporary F1 machinery.

What does he need to work on?

At the circuits at which Jack was comfortable, he would often dominate when taking victory in his junior career. The aim will have to be to raise the ceiling at circuits which do not naturally suit his driving style.

Verdict

Jack has shown more than enough across his junior career and reserve running for Alpine to merit this chance but he will start his season already under pressure. The signing of Franco Colapinto as reserve driver on a multiple year deal with Alpine points to virtually no room to fail.

If Doohan is to see out the season he'll have to be close to Gasly in qualifying and score points early. Disappointingly for the Aussie, it appears Doohan’s future may have already been decided at Enstone before he has even begun his first full Formula 1 season.

READ MORE > ANALYSIS: Why Alpine have opted for youth in signing Doohan as their rebuild phase gears up

Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls

Record

• 2024: 2nd in Formula 2, four wins
• 2023: 14th in Formula 2
• 2022: 4th in Formula 3

Who is he?

Isack Hadjar won the most races in Formula 2 last season and for many parts of the campaign looked to be the championship's fastest driver. However, mid-season across four key races he failed to score a single point and allowed Gabriel Bortoletto back into contention.

Despite losing the title at the final race, he became the final name to be confirmed on the 2025 grid when he signed for Racing Bulls in a seat he deserved based on the speed shown in both F2 and F3.

Strengths

His raw pace is superb and he impressively continues to show this in every car he progresses to – including the Red Bull in the post-season test where he impressed Christian Horner by outpacing new team mate Yuki Tsunoda.

What does he need to work on?

Hadjar’s radio manner will have to be dampened down – some of his F2 outbursts made Tsunoda’s previous efforts look tame and measured. While it might be entertaining for us, if early results don’t materialise, this will be used as a criticism against him.

READ MORE: The key factor that saw ‘raw talent’ Hadjar handed his shot with RB – and what it means for ‘bridesmaid’ Tsunoda

Verdict

Isack Hadjar has the the core speed to cause Tsunoda trouble on occasion and he’ll be aiming to forge a close knit bond with his engineers like he had with Campos in F2.

If he can build that camaraderie quickly and keep the number of accidents he has in his rookie year to a minimum he may be able to thrive in the most unforgiving of driving stables.

Liam Lawson – Red Bull Racing

Record

• 2024: 21st in Formula 1 from six starts
• 2023: 2nd in Super Formula, 20th in F1 from five starts
• 2022: 3rd in Formula 2
• 2021: 9th in Formula 2, 2nd in DTM

Who is he?

Lawson makes this list because, despite just 11 races under his belt, the Kiwi is still a full season rookie – and the fact he will be with the senior Red Bull team at the start of that year is remarkable.

Lawson was well deserving of his permanent promotion to Formula 1 but now he is being asked to succeed in potentially the hardest role in the championship: being Max Verstappen’s team mate.

Strengths

Lawson has already displayed a fearless mentality going wheel-to-wheel with many of the sport's big hitters, including attracting the wrath of two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso back in Austin.

His all-round adaptability behind the wheel could help him when trying to locate the specific driving style required for Red Bull’s recent cars.

Things to work on

His qualifying pace will need a step forward. Lawson was out-qualified 6-0 by Yuki Tsunoda in their time as team mates, the margin to Verstappen over one lap is always a metric Red Bull look for.

IN NUMBERS: How Verstappen’s team mates fared against him with Lawson the latest to step up

Verdict

Lawson is trying to succeed where proven quality drivers Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez have failed. If he can hold his own against one of the greatest drivers in F1 history he will ensure he has a long Formula 1 career.

His naturally strong mentality will be a massive advantage but ultimately his first season will be judged on results and whether he can help Red Bull back into constructors championship contention again.

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