What a distinction 12 months could make.
Previous to the 2024 season, for the primary time in historical past, not one workforce modified their driver line-up within the low season. It seemed like a sport in stagnation, notably amid Max Verstappen’s , with recent blood and intrigue nowhere to be seen.
The place was the following technology? Properly, they have been really only a 12 months behind.
This 12 months sees six full-time rookies (classed as rookies, regardless of three having race begins to their title, given their first full-time seat in F1) enter the fray, with eight groups in whole altering their driver line-up.
So forward of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix , who’re the rookies who’ve been thrown into the limelight on the top-tier of world motorsport?
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
It was the large query emanating all through the vast majority of final 12 months – who could be able to changing seven-time world champion and at Mercedes?
Carlos Sainz? No. Fernando Alonso? No. As an alternative, Toto Wolff has turned to Mercedes’s hottest academy product, with a staggeringly spectacular junior resume.
Antonelli – who sarcastically hails from Bologna, near Ferrari’s Maranello HQ – joined Mercedes’s junior programme on the age of 11 and rapidly rose to prominence as he steamrolled to success in karting and junior single-seaters.
He received the European Karting Championship in 2020 and 2021, Italian F4 in 2022 and Components Regional championships in Europe and the Center-East in 2023. As such, he skipped F3 to race in F2 final 12 months for Prema, ending a formidable sixth for a workforce whose automotive didn’t meet the heights anticipated.
As final 12 months developed, it quickly turned clear that Antonelli was the person (or ought to I say, teenager) Wolff had plumped for. There was an preliminary setback: a day earlier than his promotion was confirmed, Antonelli at Monza, spinning into the wall at Tamburello nook.
At 18, he’s uncooked. However his pure pace is horrifying.
Wolff has had Antonelli earmarked as his personal model of Max Verstappen for a while. Ought to the Italian safe a shock victory within the first three races this 12 months, Antonelli will break the Dutchman’s report for the youngest driver to win an F1 race.
Over the course of a season, can he problem George Russell? We’ll quickly discover out.
Liam Lawson (Pink Bull)
Lawson has featured in 11 F1 races to date (5 in 2023, six in 2024) however the first foray was as a stand-in, whereas the second was an audition for the mothership.
In what has been an unbelievable ascension, the Kiwi will now associate Max Verstappen at Pink Bull in 2025, taking his place within the hardest seat in F1.
The 23-year-old has impressed together with his on-track pace and angle, regardless of lower than a dozen begins. Singapore in 2023 was when individuals first took notice, the place he navigated essentially the most humid race of the season to complete ninth.
He replicated that lead to Austin a 12 months later, earlier than to Sergio Perez throughout a contentious second in Mexico per week later.
Lawson has hearth in his stomach. Christian Horner has praised his “versatility and racecraft” – he’ll want each attributes to be firing to problem Verstappen frequently.
For Lawson himself, he described the call-up as a “lifelong dream”. However Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon will inform you {that a} Pink Bull dream can rapidly flip right into a catastrophe. Their skillset was not doubtful. However their expertise was missing.
It’s a large alternative, however Lawson must hit the bottom operating.
Ollie Bearman (Haas)
The rookie story of 2024, Bearman will drive for American-owned, Ferrari-powered Haas this 12 months consequently, largely, of a final March.
Stepping in for the unwell Carlos Sainz, Bearman certified a decent eleventh and completed seventh – forward of Hamilton and Lando Norris – at one of the crucial feared avenue circuits on the calendar in Jeddah.
From that second, a spot on the 20-man grid appeared inevitable. His 2025 spot was confirmed at Silverstone, and one other stand-in second in Azerbaijan for Haas introduced one other top-10 end, displaying that Bearman (raised in Chelmsford, Essex) is prepared for his F1 promotion at 19.
He has a two-year contract at Haas, racing alongside skilled race winner Esteban Ocon in what needs to be a captivating intra-team battle this 12 months. And if he continues to shine, a spot at Ferrari (maybe changing Hamilton) isn’t out of the query sooner or later, given his Ferrari hyperlinks.
Jack Doohan (Alpine)
The son of five-time bike world champion Mick, has waited patiently for his likelihood at Alpine.
He has now received it, however will already be feeling the warmth.
Doohan will compete in his residence race in Melbourne with reserve driver Franco Colapinto – signed from Williams within the low season – respiration down his neck for his seat. It’s hardly preferrred circumstances for the 22-year-old, who has handled it admirably to date.
A 3rd-place end in F2 in 2023 reveals his potential, however Doohan can ill-afford an acclimatisation interval. Whether or not he can stave off Colapinto taking his spot might be one of many early season tales to regulate.
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
Nicknamed “le petit Prost” in French media, Hadjar has been handed his F1 alternative at Pink Bull’s sister workforce on the age of 20.
The Frenchman has a one-year contract and Pink Bull’s historical past – apart from Perez – reveals persistence is never afforded to their drivers, irrespective of the age.
He impressed together with his F2 runner-up spot final 12 months, regardless of a with the title on the road on the remaining race in Abu Dhabi.
Can Hadjar compete with Yuki Tsunoda, who’s heading into his fifth season? It stays to be seen whether or not RB’s automotive might be aggressive sufficient to problem for the factors.
Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
What an increase for the 20-year-old Brazilian.
Bortoleto was heading into his rookie F2 season in 2024 off the again of an F3 title win, and shocked onlookers as he claimed the title with a string of constant performances, turning into simply the second driver to win F3 after which F2 as a rookie.
The opposite one goes by the title of Oscar Piastri.
It pressured Mattia Binotto’s hand at Sauber, soon-to-be Audi. He swooped for Bortoleto – beforehand a member of McLaren’s academy – to finish his driver line-up this 12 months alongside Nico Hulkenberg.
One for the longer term, Bortoleto might be pressured to compete in the back of the pack this 12 months.
