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Sport Nation
The six-pack of rookies lining up on 2025 Formula One grid for season start
Sport Nation • March 12th, 2025 9:05 am
Photo: Red Bull Racing
Liam Lawson is not exactly a 'rookie' when it comes to Formula One - but his on-track experience so far has been a bandaid when Red Bull have needed him.
The Kiwi made his debut in 2023 at the Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull's second team Alpha Tauri while Daniel Ricciardo recovered from a broken hand, which saw him in that seat for five races, his best coming in Singapore with a ninth place finish.
The following year, Alpha Tauri rebranded to RB (or VCARB if you want to include the sponsor) and Lawson had replaced the struggling Ricciardo on a full-time basis from last October's United States Grand Prix onwards. After waiting patiently in the wings as Red Bull's reserve driver, that 2024 stint gave the now 23-year-old a further six races in the top flight.
Eleven races into his F1 career and now Lawson is teammates with four-time champion Max Verstappen, replacing Sergio Perez, and will need to perform consistently on race weekends to silence the doubters.
Being in the second seat alongside 'Super Max' brings with it a weight of expectation that has seen others crumble under the pressure, including Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Perez before him.
His 2024 teammate, and former roommate, Yuki Tsunoda had outraced Lawson at times last season but it appears Red Bull team principal Christian Horner saw the kid from Pukekohe as a better fit to return them back to the top of the constructor standings.
Last season saw the 2022-2023 champions leapfrogged by winners McLaren (666) and Ferrari (652), with Red Bull third on 589 points.
This year has seen a drastic shift in what the grid for F1's season opening race will look like, with a number of rookies joining Lawson in the new class of 2025.
Photo: AP
Jack Doohan
The son of legendary motorcycle world champion Mick Doohan enters 2025 with his Formula One career under threat as soon as it has begun. Alpine's decision to sign ex-Williams driver Franco Colapinto as a reserve means a would-be replacement is available if Doohan doesn't impress team management.
"You're always going to have pressure on your shoulders because you're in such a cut-throat sport," Doohan said.
The Australian driver placed third in F2 in 2023 but didn't race at all last year until a surprise entry for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Finishing 15th, he was far off the pace of teammate Pierre Gasly in seventh.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, an 18-year-old Italian, is Lewis Hamilton's successor at Mercedes. Stepping into a seven-time champion's shoes at Mercedes puts the spotlight on Antonelli, who is set to become the third-youngest F1 driver ever.
The Italian wants to be known as just "the next Mercedes driver" because of Hamilton's legacy. The first time Antonelli visited an F1 paddock was age eight in 2014 when his father Marco, who ran a team in a support series, hid him in a stack of tyres under an umbrella to get past security and into the German Grand Prix.
"That was a really cool experience," he said last month.
Antonelli had a stellar record in junior series and was sixth in F2 last year but a heavy crash in practice for Mercedes at Monza in August was a tough introduction to F1.
Oliver Bearman
It's less than a year since Bearman burst onto the scene in F1 with a combative seventh-place finish for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia while Carlos Sainz was sidelined because of surgery - he'd never previously raced in Jeddah and was racing with two days' notice.
Bearman beat experienced teammate Nico Hülkenberg in two races for Haas later that year and is now a full-time Haas driver for 2025.
Bearman remains part of Ferrari's junior program but displacing regular Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc is unlikely any time soon.
Isack Hadjar
Lawson's promotion to Red Bull left an opening at their second team for F2 runner-up Hadjar. The French driver arrives at a team with a history of changing drivers mid-season if they don't perform.
Even Australia's eight-time Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo didn't last a full year there in 2024.
Gabriel Bortoleto
Despite winning the F2 title last season - beating Hadjar, Antonelli and Bearman - Bortoleto's arrival in F1 has been overshadowed by his former rivals.
That's partly because his new team Sauber struggled last year and is biding time before a full rebrand as the Audi works team in 2026.
With a helmet design paying tribute to three-time champion Ayrton Senna, Bortoleto is F1's first full-time Brazilian driver since 2017.
- additional reporting by AP
