2025 appears to be the year of the rookies in Formula 1. With six drivers in total having made their full debuts in F1 this season, including the teenager Kimi Antonelli, there is without a doubt a surge of young talent within the sport.
In a year dominated by fresh faces in the paddock, let’s review the F1 2025 rookies’ first-half performances, exploring the highs and the lows in the first chapters of their F1 careers.
F1 Rookies: Class of 2025
On Sunday 16th March, the 2025 season got underway at Albert Park in Australia, in which six drivers with lots to prove made their full F1 debuts. The drivers in question are:
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
- Jack Doohan – BWT Alpine F1 Team
- Ollie Bearman – Haas F1 Team
- Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
- Gabriel Bortoleto – Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
- Liam Lawson – Oracle Red Bull Racing
The “Veteran” Rookies
Lawson, Bearman and Doohan, perhaps considered familiar faces after their brief stints in F1 in previous seasons, have finally been deemed worthy of earning their own seats in F1 for 2025.
Liam Lawson
Lawson – arguably the most experienced rookie – was selected as Sergio Pérez’s successor at Red Bull. He has had to cope with the immense pressure which comes with being Red Bull’s second driver, competing alongside the four-time world champion of Max Verstappen. The driver from New Zealand made his first appearance in F1 in 2023, when he was subbed in for Daniel Ricciardo who sustained a broken metacarpal in his left hand in a crash during practice. Lawson continued to race for AlphaTauri until Ricciardo made his return. However, he permanently replaced the Aussie after the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix. Lawson was promoted to Red Bull for 2025, but after just two races he was demoted to Racing Bulls, immediately replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. Disappointing results in both Qualifying and the races didn’t meet Red Bull’s expectations of their second driver.
Ollie Bearman
Bearman – a Ferrari Academy graduate – has made his full debut for Haas alongside Esteban Ocon in the American team’s completely new lineup for 2025. The young Brit earned his seat in F1 after two mighty results for both Ferrari and Haas in 2024. At just eighteen, he became the youngest to ever drive for Ferrari, replacing Carlos Sainz who was ruled out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend with appendicitis. With only one practice session to prepare, Bearman qualified an impressive P11.
He went on to better this in the race by finishing P7, earning the team six points. Later in the season, Bearman scored a single point with a P10 finish in Baku, this time racing for Haas while Kevin Magnussen served a race ban.
Jack Doohan
Alpine’s 2024 reserve driver, Doohan, was promoted for 2025 replacing Ocon. Doohan debuted for the team in Abu Dhabi, as Flavio Briatore harshly dropped Ocon with just one race weekend left of the 2024 season. Franco Colapinto entered the team as their new reserve driver. With the young Argentine already having multiple races under his belt in 2024 as Logan Sargeant’s replacement at Williams, along with Briatore’s reputation of dropping drivers in an instant, Doohan’s seat wasn’t completely comfortable. Before the Emilia-Romagna race weekend began, Briatore lived up to his reputation by swapping Doohan with Colapinto, after Doohan failed to score in the first six races of the 2025 season.
The New Kids on the Block
Antonelli, Hadjar and Bortoleto are all F2 2024 graduates, achieving promotion to F1 at just eighteen and twenty years of age after their successes in the feeder series.
The youngsters are proving that age is not a defining factor of performance. They are in their prime and only just getting started in their careers, competing with the best in the world.
Kimi Antonelli
Antonelli might be the most highly anticipated and spotlighted rookie of the 2025 season. He is the chosen one to take Hamilton’s seat at Mercedes, as the seven-time world champion revealed he was to begin a new chapter of his career with Ferrari in 2025. At only eighteen years of age, Antonelli has already been compared to the likes of Verstappen. The Italian skipped F3 altogether due to his insane amount of success at such a young age, being entered into F2 instead and finishing his rookie season in P6. Already part of Mercedes’ Junior Programme, Toto Wolff ultimately decided that Antonelli was ready to compete for the team in F1 alongside Russell.
Isack Hadjar
The Frenchman – part of Red Bull’s Junior Team since 2022 – finished runner up in the F2 2024 season. In a season in which he fought with all his might for the F2 championship against fellow F1 rookie Bortoleto, Hadjar earned himself a seat at Racing Bulls for 2025 alongside Tsunoda. Although this partnership was short-lived, with Tsunoda and Lawson being swapped two races into the season. It’s a win in two ways for Isack, as not only does he get to fulfil his dream of racing in F1, but he also gets to compete alongside his idol: the seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Gabriel Bortoleto
Bortoleto is the reigning F2 champion, managed by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. The Brazilian won back-to-back championships in his rookie seasons in F3 and F2 in 2023 and 2024, proving his potential and landing him a seat in F1 at Kick Sauber for 2025. Interestingly, Leclerc, Russell and Piastri were the last three drivers before Bortoleto to achieve back-to-back victories in F3 and F2, and they have all gone on to become F1 race winners. Bortoleto is definitely one to keep a close eye on.
Mid-Season Driver Reviews
Before diving into an analysis of the first half performances of each rookie in their inaugural F1 seasons, let’s take a look at how the rookie leaderboard is shaping up ahead of the restart in the Netherlands.
It is Antonelli who leads the rookie line-up, sitting P7 in the Drivers’ standings. He has a forty-two point buffer to the next best rookie: Hadjar in P13. Lawson sits P15, but after two consecutive points scoring weekends, he is now only two points behind Hadjar on the other side of the garage.
Bortoleto is currently P17, just six points separating him and Lawson after last time out in Hungary. The Sauber driver earned himself eight points with a P6 finish – over half of his total points for the season so far.
Bearman is P19 with eight points; he would’ve hoped for more after a promising start to the season with three consecutive top ten finishes in China, Japan and Bahrain.
Colapinto remains on zero points, and joint last place with the man he replaced at Alpine. A lot of work to do after the summer break for the team based in Enstone.
Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
- Position: 7th
- Total points: 64
- Best finish: P3
Standout moment
There are two standout moments for Antonelli in the first half of the season alone. The first being his Miami Sprint pole position, making him the youngest ever pole-sitter in F1 history at 18 years and 251 days old.
The second is his P3 finish in Canada, achieving his first ever podium in F1 in his rookie season. This also made him the third youngest podium finisher in F1 history, behind Verstappen and Stroll. His teammate Russell was the race winner, resulting in the Silver Arrows achieving their first and only race win and double podium of the season so far.
How Antonelli can improve in the second half of the season
The young Italian showed signs of his true pace and brilliance in the beginning stages of the season. He scored in every race (except Bahrain) up until achieving Sprint pole position in Miami. Since Miami, however, he has failed to score in every race apart from Canada and Hungary. This includes DNFs in Italy, Spain, Austria and Britain. Gaining a single point in Budapest last time out after three consecutive non-scoring weekends may be a boost for Antonelli’s confidence going into Zandvoort after the break. Consistency and erasing errors will prove to be key if he wants to assist his teammate in chasing Ferrari for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship.
Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls
- Position: 13th
- Total points: 22
- Best finish: P6
Standout moment
Hadjar’s one-lap pace is highly impressive. He is the only rookie to not be eliminated in Q1 so far this season, with eight Q3 appearances to his name.
He has also proved that he is the most consistent and faster of the two Racing Bulls, out-qualifying his teammate more often than not and possessing the larger points haul at this stage. Is Hadjar in contention for “Rookie of the Year” if he continues with this form?
How Hadjar can improve in the second half of the season
With his outstanding Qualifying stats, but only one point in the last five races to show for it, Hadjar needs to start taking full advantage of his strong grid positions in the races. The Racing Bulls team need to find an answer for their lack of performance and pace on Sundays. Post-summer break upgrades may just be the solution. Hadjar has proved he is more than capable of finishing in the top ten – he just needs the car to consistently play ball.
Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls
- Position: 15th
- Total points: 20
- Best finish: P6
Standout moment
Lawson drove impeccably to produce a career-best finish of P6 in Austria, after starting on the grid in the same position. He proved why he was offered the Red Bull second seat in the first place. This was the first weekend in which he outperformed his teammate in all aspects, emphasising Qualifying in which he has struggled this season. Including Austria, Lawson has positioned himself in the points in three of the last four races.
How Lawson can improve in the second half of the season
Lawson himself recognises that his Qualifying performances have got to improve if he wants any chance of out-scoring his teammate in the Drivers’ standings. In head-to-heads with Hadjar, he is currently 9-3 down. Leading up to the break, however, signs of improvement have began to appear – both in Qualifying and the races. The battle between the Racing Bulls drivers might be one to watch when racing resumes.
Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber
- Position: 17th
- Total points: 14
- Best finish: P6
Standout moment
Last time out in Hungary, he achieved both his career-best Qualifying and race results in F1. He made it into Q3 for the third time this season, lining up P7 for Sunday’s race. He then converted this into an incredible P6 finish, adding eight points to Sauber’s total. The gap to Aston Martin in P6 in the Constructors’ standings has now closed to just one point.
How Bortoleto can improve in the second half of the season
Similar to Hadjar, Bortoleto has the one-lap pace to put his ever-improving Sauber car into Q3. He has proven this by leading his teammate Hulkenberg 8-6 in Qualifying. It is important to recognise that this is highly impressive for a young rookie competing against one of the most experienced drivers on the grid. Bortoleto has scored all fourteen of his points in three of the last four races. If he can continue his Qualifying form and maximise points-scoring opportunities in a currently competitive car, Bortoleto won’t struggle in the second half.
Ollie Bearman – Haas
- Position: 19th
- Total points: 8
- Best finish: P8
Standout moment
In Shanghai, Bearman showed why he deserves to be in F1. He made a mega comeback, completing multiple overtakes with confidence to get him from his Qualifying position of P17 to a P8 finish in the race – his best of the season so far for Haas.
How Bearman can improve in the second half of the season
The young Brit has admitted to struggling with the Haas car in the latter stages of the first half of the season. Level in Qualifying with his teammate, it is the lack of race pace in the car which has been most costly for Bearman’s season. However, a penalty for a red flag infringement at Silverstone cost him a potential P8 start.
Without this error, a podium finish could have been on the cards for Bearman. Erasing these kinds of mistakes may just boost his chances of gaining points for the team, who are desperate to finish higher than their current position of P9 in the Constructors’ standings.
Jack Doohan / Franco Colapinto – Alpine
- Position: 20th
- Total points: 0
- Best finish: Doohan P13 / Colapinto P13
Standout moment
Both drivers in their spells in F1 this season have managed to out-qualify the other Alpine, Pierre Gasly. Although Gasly has been mightily impressive this year – especially in Qualifying – in what is currently the tenth fastest car on the grid. Gasly has made it into Q3 in half of the Qualifying sessions so far this season. On the other hand, Doohan and Colapinto have both failed to make it into Q3.
How Colapinto can improve in the second half of the season
It is pretty self-explanatory how Colapinto can improve: by scoring points. It is a second incomplete season for the Argentine, and with no points scored in eight races, his confidence will be at a low. This won’t be helped by the fact that Alpine’s second seat driver for 2026 is yet to be confirmed.
With Alpine currently rock bottom of the Constructors’ standings, the team need to bring successful upgrades post-summer break to have any chance of competing with the others.
The Battle of the Rookies: Who Will Come Out On Top?
Last time out in Budapest, Antonelli placed his Mercedes in P10, adding a single point to his season’s tally of sixty-four, and denying Hadjar of a first points finish since the Spanish Grand Prix. Can he grab another podium this season, or even climb two steps higher and achieve his first victory for the Silver Arrows?
Lawson has found some form in recent races, finishing P8 for Racing Bulls in both Belgium and Hungary. The next race in the Netherlands holds sentimental value for the Kiwi driver, with it being at the track where he made his F1 debut in 2023. Can he continue his run of form and make it three points scoring weekends in a row, and establish himself as the number one driver for Racing Bulls in doing so?
Bortoleto has also found some recent form, with a first points finish in his F1 career in Austria, followed by a remarkable P6 in Hungary which earned him eight points. With his experienced teammate Hulkenberg finally stepping foot on the podium at Silverstone, can the reigning F2 champion make it two out of two for Sauber this season by achieving his first podium in F1? Or, is this too much to ask of a rookie in his first season? Antonelli would argue not.
Bearman has only scored eight points for Haas so far, compared to his teammate Ocon who has delivered some mega results in a struggling car, achieving twenty-seven points and a place in the top ten. Narrowly missing out on top ten finishes in Canada, Austria, Britain and Belgium, can the young Brit rediscover performance in the car which brought him success at the beginning of the season?
Finally, will Colapinto score his first points of the 2025 season, or will Alpine boss Flavio Briatore regret his decision to swap the Argentine with Jack Doohan so early on?
Next Stop: Zandvoort
The rookies resume their debut seasons in F1 after the summer break, with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort kicking off the second leg.
Who will continue to impress, getting your vote for “Rookie of the Year”, and can those struggling find solutions to their woes? Get ready for part 2 of F1 2025, which is just round the corner.
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Feature Image Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team