The F1 rookie class of 2025 ranked
- themotorsportguru
- Feb 13
- 19 min read
Next year we will be graced with six rookies entering F1. Amongst them are Italian prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli, British junior Oliver Bearman, Brazilian hotshot Gabriel Brotoletto and Aussie superstar Jack Doohan. We also have revamped aquads with Red Bull and RB which include Liam Lawson joining Red Bull full time and Isack Hadjar making his long anticipated jump to F1 with RB. To those that have been keeping pace with the junior ranks, that is a stellar group of drivers who are all generating their own respective hype. And all for a very good reason. Antonelli is a once in a generation talent, Bearman is a Ferrari prodigy and Bortoleto and Hadjar had an intense title fight in 2024 with both occupying the top of the championship table. You then have Lawson who is an all round superstar that can pedal anything with four wheels and has amassed huge success outside of F1 whilst Jack Doohan is lining up to be Australia’s newest hope for F1 glory against Oscar Piastri.
That is just a summary of what these drivers have achieved but all these drivers collectively are highly acclaimed talents and have all achieved so many outstanding accolades throughout their junior careers that makes 2025 one of the most exciting years for rookies. It naturally brings up the question as to who will perform the best out of the six on offer. Some may take that at face value and base it off of who will finish higher in points but that is far from the main criteria to consider here. Some will have competitive cars and some will not but a good car does not mean an automatic pass for good performance. Drivers with a good car can still accumulate a hefty amount of points but still have a poor season through crashes, a lack of pace, poor wheel to wheel skills and having huge deficits to their teammates. Likewise some drivers could have a bad car which could only generate little to no points. But if they are showing great pace, consistency and remaining close to their teammate, that should be accounted for as a great season. We currently have no indication of where every team will be for 2025 and can only go off of 2024 for deciding the pecking order of F1’s constructors. But heading towards 2026, it can only be assumed that 2025 will have very little evolution for certain teams. Either way, the main point is that teams and teammates will play an equal part alongside driver talent in determining the place of every rookie on this ranking. And with that being said, it is time to dive into our analysis of this years newest set of drivers for 2025.
6: Gabriel Bortoleto - Sauber/Audi
It feels unfortunate to put Gabriel Bortoleto at the bottom of this list but this is by no means a critique of his talent. In fact Bortoleto is arguably coming into his rookie F1 season with the biggest momentum of all the rookie drivers on this list. Bortoleto has been unstoppable since his entrance into the F1 ladder system back in 2023. In only his rookie year in F3, he was crowned the champion and then he went back to back by winning the F2 championship in 2024. That is no small achievement and is a feat that has only ever been achieved by current F1 drivers Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri in its modern guise. In those two campaigns, Bortoleto showed great tenacity and consistency with both Trident and Invicta Racing and never missed a beat in producing quick, clean and consistent performances. There may not have been as many wins as other drivers on this list but those wins he did produce came in exceptional style. And even when he was not winning, he was still placing himself in solid point scoring positions that kept him in the championship hunt. The defining moment that really sums up Bortoleto’s outstanding talent though was in 2024 during the F2 feature race at Monza. It began with a crippling crash in qualifying that relegated him to the back of the grid. But when the feature race began, he came from dead last on the grid to take a stunning victory in one of F2’s greatest drives ever. He will be flying the flag for Brazil who has had an absence on the F1 grid since 2017 but Bortoleto comes in as one of its brightest F1 talents in a very long time.
He clearly has the talent to go far so natural ability is not the problem for Bortoleto. But the reason he is this low is potentially due to the circumstances he is under. By signing for Sauber on a multi-year deal, Bortoleto will spearhead the Audi F1 team into its debut season in 2026 alongside the experienced Nico Hulkenberg. That is an exciting prospect for any young driver to immediately become a factory racer. But before that can happen, he will need to wade through a 2025 season with an uncompetitive Sauber who have just come off the back of one of their worst years in F1 to date. Their car was ill-handling and seriously underpowered and the pit crew constantly failed to produce a clean pit stop to capitalise on race changing scenarios. The total for their 2024 season came to four points and dead last in the constructors standings. It feels safe to assume that Sauber will be placing all of their eggs into the basket of the 2026 regulations and will not be developing this current car or engine any further. That will be a bitter pill to swallow for both Bortoleto and Hulkenberg who will be itching for 2026 to start. But even comparing the two drivers, Bortoleto’s lack of F1 experience stands out as possibly hindering him in his debut season. He has had no real testing or Friday Practice opportunities and has never properly driven an F1 car on a race weekend. When you compare this to Hulkenberg who has driven so many different cars in his career, the comparison between the two during 2025 might heavily favour Hulkenberg. That is not to say Bortoleto will not perform as he has every reason to really stand out. And Hulkenberg is a valuable team player who will be willing to share valuable advice and experience to Bortoleto. But limited F1 experience, a team in transition and an extremely quick and experienced teammate look very likely to limit his rookie year which is why he is placed at the bottom of this list.
5: Isack Hadjar - Racing Bulls
Following up from F2’s champion is the man who came runner up to Bortoleto in F2’s championship; that being France’s Isack Hadjar. To many, that immediately discredits him compared to Bortoleto but that does not diminish his stellar year in 2024 after a troubled and disappointing debut F2 campaign in 2023. The switch from Hitech to Campos Racing looked lackluster in comparison to the rest of his peers who were only moving upwards but this turned out to be an absolute masterstroke for both Hadjar and Campos. In the year of the new regulations, Campos Racing got a major jump on their competition and took an incredible leap forwards; trouncing the once top teams in Prema Racing and ART GP. Even with this, people were still sceptical of Hadjar after an underwhelming 2023. He may have won at Zandvoort but that was far from a victory deemed worthy as only two laps were run before the red flag was shown and the race was cancelled. He only managed one other podium that year at the Red Bull Ring which was his best on track performance from lights to flag so hopes were not nearly as high compared to his F3 debut. But those thoughts were quickly buried as he finally broke through for his debut win in the category at Australia during the feature race. He then went on to take a further three feature race wins and was locked in at the top of the championship after the rounds at Spa. His title battle unfortunately faded in the rounds at both Monza and Baku but it was still a mighty effort given how much he had improved from 2023. He took everything from his stint at Hitech and improved on himself in every single area and that self improvement is now why he has landed himself an F1 seat.
I think that Isack is more than up for the task given his track record, but I also believe that the pressure he is under by Red Bull could also hamper his overall performance. It was only just in 2024 that Daniel Ricciardo was booted for putting together a string of mediocre races, which was preceded by Nyck De Vries in 2023 succumbing to the same fate. Red Bull do not have any patience and the pressure to perform is made worse by the RB car itself. Their car constantly flip flops in performance every single race and gauging where the team is has always been difficult to judge. If they have a good car then Red Bull expects their drivers to utilise it. But if the car has fundamental flaws that even the drivers cannot control, Red Bull do not use that as an excuse. You need to be at your peak immediately or you will be discarded and thrown out; a fate that so many drivers for Red Bull have met. That is a pressure that Hadjar will need to acclimate to immediately compared to his rookie peers but Hadjar’s limited seat time in F1 may also prove to be a disadvantage. He has tested previously for Red Bull and RB (also previously under Alpha Tauri) so he has had experience of an F1 car. But race scenarios will be a new avenue he will need to explore. That is not to say he will not acclimate but it will be an area he needs to be comfortable with instantly given the challenge of his experienced teammate Yuki Tsunoda. He has recently been denied the opportunity of a Red Bull promotion, despite his open feelings of being deserving of it, and looks set to be on a revenge path in 2025. He has taken steps forward every year with 2024 showing even more progression and the feeling of being hard done will linger in Tsunoda’s mind with his first steps being to be a step above Hadjar. That could have the harmful effect of Tusnoda being less of a guiding hand to Hadjar which could in turn leave him out to fend for himself. I do believe Hadjar will have significant flashes of speed but Tsunoda I think will mask the success Hadjar will have and potentially place an unwanted spotlight on Hadjar being the latest victim of Tsunoda’s driving.
4: Andrea Kimi Antonelli - Mercedes AMG Petronas
This looks to be a cruel placement for Antonelli but I cannot help but feel wary over his sudden ascension to one of F1’s most coveted seats. That is not to say it is not earned because Antonelli is one of the greatest talents right now in racing. He has had a meteoric rise up the racing ranks only being in F4 just two years ago in 2023. It was only just in 2021 that he was still racing around in go karts and since then has gone to destroy the junior ladder. After his European Karting Championship in 2021, he progressed to regional F4 series where in 2022 and 2023 he won Italian F4, ADAC F4, FR Middle East, FR Europe and the FIA Motorsport Games. Having this many accolades at the age of 16 is crazy and it already got the paddock talking of a drive in F1 in the years coming. The talent he showed was so high that F3 was completely skipped for 2024 in favour of a seat in F2 with Prema Racing. That was a whole category missed and a huge leap in performance to adapt to. Yet for a driver going from F4 to F2, it was a good campaign but not one without faults. The most notable issue of adaptability was highlighted in the first half of the season but that was mainly in part due to Prema missing the mark with F2’s new regulations. On the whole though, he was matching his teammate Oliver Bearman in nearly every area and, despite Ollie having had more wins, Antonelli had incredibly high moments which included two wet weather masterclasses at Silverstone and the Hungaroring. When the conditions levelled the playing field, Antonelli found ways to perform miracles and proved that despite the leap, he was still a serious contender for F1.
Based on his resume, you cannot deny that Antonelli is a seriously strong driver. But this display of talent, plus the potential he possesses, also makes him the driver under the most pressure of all the rookies. It was only two years ago that he was still driving in F4 and now he has ascended to essentially become the heir to Lewis Hamilton. That is a crazy progression for a driver so young but one that was seen as necessary given past events. Toto losing Max to Red Bull has haunted him and to avoid losing that talent again is to prevent wasting time in promoting Antonelli to Mercedes. He could have had another year in F2 given there were still improvements for him to make but then that would leave Mercedes with a driver headache for one year. This really was the only choice but will this be a jump too far? Expectations are extremely high for him to hit the ground running but I am not sure we should be jumping to such conclusions right now. He has every reason to be one of the best in the sport, which he definitely will, but adaptation is critical in F1. To adapt to a seat where the teams bare minimum is to fight for pole and fight for podiums requires an insane level of learning. Mercedes may be far from their previous peak but that does not mean their standards have followed suit. They are still an extremely competitive team and only seek excellence which they will expect from Antonelli. Then you have the otherside of the garage where George Russell is slowly beginning to reach his prime as a driver. In his three seasons with Lewis Hamilton, he outright beat him in two of them and by an extremely convincing margin. 2024 was no question his best season in the sport yet. He was just oozing so much confidence and professionalism that proves he has the credentials to be a true team leader which could create a huge deficit to Antonelli. It is not to say Russell will not act as a mentor but he knows that Antonelli is special and will do anything in his power to stay ahead and keep his status. This may sound like Antonelli will have a terrible season but make no mistake. Antonelli is and will be a star of the future. We may see flashes of his outstanding talent but I just do not expect him to be the complete picture everyone is envisioning in 2025.
3: Liam Lawson - Red Bull Racing
Can we really call Liam Lawson a rookie? If we are talking full time then this will be his first full season of F1 competition. He has already participated as a driver in numerous grand prix weekends for the past two years. First in 2023 substituting for the injured Daniel Ricciardo and then again in 2024 substituting again for Ricciardo who was ejected from his seat at RB. So technically Lawson has F1 experience and is not a rookie but he has never been in the position of racing a full season of F1 which is why I believe he should apply for this list. But what we have seen so far has been extremely promising from Lawson. His two part time campaigns in an ailing Alpha Tauri and an unpredictable RB have shown that he is more than worthy of being on the F1 grid. And this is where we would then delve into his junior endeavours but Liam Lawson is so much more than that. Arguably his two most significant escapades before F1 came from his stint in DTM and his lone campaign in Japanese Superformula where he showed himself as truly mighty. For DTM, his debut in a GT3, he immediately won the first race at Monza and went on to take two more victories en route to second place in the title race. And then in Superformula, he did the same and blew the doors down immediately to also finish second in that season's championship. Of course you have his many junior accolades including his championship in the Toyota Racing Series and his many successful escapades in F4, F3 and F2. But DTM and Superformula stand out as he was competing against fields of fully fleshed out professional drivers and was on occasion beating them convincingly. Learning from them and gaining that crucial experience will be critical for Lawson adapting to F1.
The shocker here more than anything is him being signed to Red Bull instead of doing a full season in RB. To be signed to such a high calibre team is a huge blessing but it could also prove to be his biggest curse as Lawson could be joining Red Bull at exactly the wrong time for a multitude of reasons. The RB20 was a surprising disappointment given the success of 2023 as the car lost significant performance as the 2024 season progressed. This correlated with the departure of Adrien Newey which now means their cars will no longer have his technical and aerodynamic expertise. The controversy surrounding Horner is also still looming and his position as Team Principal could possibly be under threat. He is the architect of Red Bull's success and losing both him and Newey could be a major blow heading into this new regulation cycle with Ford. You then have Max Verstappen who is the yardstick for every driver competing right now. Brutally quick, incredibly consistent, an aggressive attitude and a fundamental understanding of tuning an F1 car. But another key part to his success is with his mindset. Some may call him selfish but that is what you need to win the biggest prizes in racing. He is not there to mentor or guide anyone else. He is there for himself to win and through this, he has always been victorious in the Red Bull team battle by a comfortable margin. He is simply there to drive and to win and it has such created a curse within the team. That second seat is now riddled with such immense pressure where no one can exceed expectations and to pair that pressure with a declining team, a stagnating car and a brutal teammate could prove costly to Lawson's season. But given Lawson’s run in DTM and Superformula, pressure is something he has dealt with extremely well at a professional level. Of course F1 is a different level of pressure to acclimate to, especially when discussing Red Bull, but Lawson seems to be looking very prepared going into his first full time season. But then Lawson has also been ruffling the feathers of Red Bull management given their blindness towards promoting him to F1 so that could also encourage foul play if team orders are given. He needs to be careful with how he conducts himself this year because any wrong foot could delve into a spiral. He is definitely a quick and mentally strong driver but this will be a test that could put him up against the wall which is why he is placed third on the list.
2: Jack Doohan - Alpine F1
This might seem crazy putting Jack Doohan this high. He is a driver that has been lost in this sea of talent for not holding the same stature as his peers and is only viewed as a stock gap and nothing else. Doohan’s headline achievements are also viewed as insignificant and the public are seeing his lack of titles as an underwhelming achievement. After all, Bortoleto is coming in with back to back titles in F3 and F2 whilst Antonelli enters with titles in Italian F4, ADAC F4, FR Middle East and FR Europe. That immediately puts Doohan away from the spotlight as his lack of achievements compared to his peers will naturally bring down the discussion of his talent as a driver. Even now with the possibility of Franco Colapinto possibly stepping in, it really feels like no one is giving Doohan a chance. And it is a real shame as well as what he has shown on track up to now should put him amongst the best in this rookie class. Being the son of MotoGP legend Mick Doohan, Jack immediately had such a natural ability to race and put it to use in his karting career with multiple titles to his name. People will pick him apart by displaying his only championships being at a karting level but even with his transition into single seaters, he has picked up wins and podiums in almost every series on the ladder. People are forgetting his impressive runs in F3 Asia and FIA F3 where he easily ranked amongst some of the best drivers that season. Even in F2 where, despite only reaching as high as third, Doohan was easily one of the stand out talents in his two years at that level. I believe 2023 stands out as a strong case here despite the results. When his Invicta finally turned their car around, Doohan was comfortably the quickest driver in the whole field. That included title protagonists Theo Pourchaire and Frederick Vesti and made everyone wonder what he could have achieved if he had a truly competitive car all season long. That could be argued for a lot of his junior career but he has all throughout put up a fair fight and reaped the best rewards he could.
Doohan comes into F1 with multiple advantages over his rookie peers and one point comes from his extensive mileage testing with Alpine. He has taken the mantle of chief test and reserve driver that was once held by Oscar Piastri and has tested with Alpine all over the world since 2022. This also carried into his many FP1 outings with the team so his understanding of an F1 car and his relationship with the team is incredibly strong. The new found harmony at Alpine is also a significant factor here for Doohan as putting Pierre Gasly as the team leader means a distinct hierarchy is in place. But Gasly is also a great mentor to junior drivers and a team player. He also has a strong friendship with Doohan through the Alpine family so there is a strong element of team building and team support from both sides of the garage. The end of the Gasly-Ocon rivalry and the arrival of a harmonious driver line up adds a real sense of stability which also applies to the sacking of Bruno Famin in favour of Oliver Oakes as team principal. If we also go off of car performance, Alpine looks to be in a decent place heading to 2025. They finished with impressive form at the end of 2024 and if they continue that momentum, 2025 looks extremely promising for Alpine. Even with the impending Mercedes deal, they will still be working on their Renault power unit to end their campaign on a high. The only real question here comes from if Doohan and Gasly are treated equally. The early axing of Esteban Ocon opened the door for Jack Doohan to make his official F1 race debut in Abu Dhabi so he also has race experience under his belt. But Doohan placing last raised serious questions over the treatment of the second Alpine car. Esteban Ocon commented on the discrepancies between his and Gasly’s car and noticed a real difference which he heavily criticised Alpine for. This did come in the wake of him losing his contract but the question is if 2025 will present an equal playing field for Alpine’s drivers. But given that the inter-team rivalry is gone, I do believe that Doohan will have every opportunity to perform. He has a strong relationship with his team, he knows how Alpine operates, he has had an incredible amount of testing time with Alpine and he looks to have a semi-competitive car underneath him. Whether this translates to 2025 is another question but do not sleep on Jack Doohan because he is the dark horse of all the rookies in this list.
1: Oliver Bearman - HAAS
Do not let the F2 standings fool you in any way. Oliver Bearman is a dead serious talent heading into 2025. And I believe he will be the one to truly perform the best of all the rookies. That mainly comes from what we have seen in F1 but his junior career is another key indicator as to what is in store for Bearman. Five karting titles from a very young age, two single seater championships in ADAC and Italian F4 and a winner in every one of his full time single seater campaigns paved his way to the F1 ladder with strong conviction for an F1 drive. He just had such a natural ability in these years and was quick in almost every scenario thrown at him. And come 2022 and 2023, it would be on full display for the F1 world as he put together a pair of great campaigns to solidify his talent even further. It began with him finishing third in the FIA F3 championship in his rookie year through one victory and seven podiums. That may not have star studded numbers as the one win he had all year was a sprint race at Spa, but it was still incredibly consistent and showed his form clearly translating from F4 to F3. The step up to F2 was almost guaranteed at this point and 2023 would be a standout and key year for why Bearman is where he is now. It may not look like it on the surface as he only went as high as sixth in the driver’s standings. But those four victories he accumulated were done in stellar fashion with the standout coming from his clean sweep of Round 4 in Baku. Not only was it just utter dominance in the race but he achieved a stellar pole position despite bending his steering column. That grit is a rare commodity to be found as where other drivers would call it quits, Bearman soldiered on and it paid huge dividends. But the fact that this promise did not materialise into an F2 title fight is a real shame. It was not even his fault as Prema’s 2024 was disastrous. But when the window opened for an opportunity, Beaman shone brighter than anyone. As said at the start, do not let the F2 standings fool you in any way.
But key to his ranking in this list has to come from his performances during his stand-in drives during 2024. This is always an area of contention since certain stand-in drives are usually under very forgiving circumstances. But for Bearman, being parachuted into a Ferrari at Jeddah could not have been tougher. Yet, despite the odds, he performed at such a high level for his debut in F1. The circuit was extremely tricky, the conditions were less than optimal and his seat time was extremely minimal. But he only missed Q3 by a whisker and soldiered on in the race to make some impressive passes on track. And despite his neck beginning to fail in the later stages of the race, he came home in seventh place to earn a solid points finish on debut. But just when we thought he was done, two more appearances then came for Haas, the team he will be driving for in 2025. First was in Baku where he yet again scored a point in tenth, making that two for two, and the second was in Brazil during a torrential rain filled event where he finished just outside the points in twelfth. It could have been a better result had he not been spun mid race but it was still an incredibly strong effort from Bearman who kept his car on the road despite the conditions. Every time he was parachuted into F1, there was no warning and no time to train and he excelled in every scenario for different reasons. It almost feels like a spoiler for 2025 but there is even more reason to be anticipated for his debut. Haas are looking to be in the best form they have ever been in since its dramatic changes in 2024 and the atmosphere surrounding the team is incredibly supportive. Ayao Komatsu has proven himself as a great team principal and his leadership has put Haas in a very good position for 2025 by securing huge sponsorship deals and reshuffling its engineering team. He also oversaw the agreement for a technical partnership with Toyota so they now have a link with a works team for the future. Plus their long term agreement with MoneyGram will net the team enough income to reach the cost cap limit for development, something they have constantly fallen short of. They also have a great driver in Esteban Ocon arriving into the team for 2025 so they are also stacked with talent and leadership. And Ocon, despite what the internet says, is a hugely supportive figure for young talent. They have never been stronger before and this could be a long overdue breakout year for the team that Ollie could contribute to hugely alongside Ocon. He is the most prepared of every rookie driver on this grid and looks to only grow stronger with time. And with a great team and vital experience under his belt, that is why I believe Oliver Bearman will be the best performing rookie of 2025.
Image Sources:
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FIA_F2_Austria_2022_Nr._5_Lawson_(backfire).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FIA_F2_Austria_2023_Nr._14_Doohan_(2).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2024_FIA_Formula_2_Silverstone_(54042746969).jpg
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