From no new faces in 2024, Formula 1 had seven eager rookies ready to prove themselves in the brutal F1 school of hard knocks, with fortunes varying from mixed to disastrous.
F1 began the 2024 season with no new names and the same driver line-ups in the teams as 2023. Far from injecting excitement into the F1 driver market, it represented the stalemate that had infiltrated the teams.
Fear seemed to grip the Team Principals, as no drivers were granted opportunities to join the grid. This was despite the dire performances of the likes of Logan Sargeant, acting as an advertisement for much-needed change.
Thankfully, as contracts began to expire, and the need to bring in fresh talent became critical, driver announcements came thick and fast for the 2025 season. This added to the concoction of intrigue and unpredictability this season. This year’s batch of rookies has also fallen victim to the same concoction.
While some have excelled and developed well in F1’s brutal world of sink or swim, others saw their opportunities to make a name for themselves in Motorsport’s top flight evaporate. From politics or poor performance, the 2025 rookies saw it all and ended the year with varying degrees of success.
Jack Doohan – 1
Fans could be forgiven for forgetting Jack Doohan. The Australian faced a near-impossible task in his debut season. Rumours of his supposed six-race probation contract surfaced before the first test, putting pressure on the Australian before he had even turned a wheel.
That kind of pressure-cooker environment rarely brings out the best in athletes. Doohan proved no different. He paled in comparison to team-mate Pierre Gasly, in much the same way discounter supermarket chocolate is no comparison to a premium brand.
His first race ended as his career would: underwhelmingly, and missed by many. The causes were inexperience and a desire to prove doubters wrong. Falling victim to the difficult weather conditions, he crashed out amongst a barrage of criticism.
Critics only doubled down on this view at Suzuka. Taking to the track in Free Practice, Doohan entered the fast first corner with his DRS still open. Spinning out of control, he hit the barriers hard and required a trip to the medical centre. Cleared to race, it was an amateur mistake that Formula 2 drivers avoid out of fear of ending their careers due to its fundamentalism in modern racing.
Things continued to decline after Suzuka, and the spectre of Franco Colapinto constantly loomed over his side of the Alpine garage. Was Doohan ready for F1 in 2025? We will likely never know, but very few drivers could survive the trial by fire Alpine subjected him to. Instead of a full trial, he was brutally burned at the stake.
Franco Colapinto – 2.5
The second driver to take on the other Alpine seat fared little better than Doohan. Thrown in at the deep end into a car that was without question the worst on the grid, the Argentinian was a shadow of his former self compared to the driver who debuted for Williams in 2024.
He crashed out on his first outing for Alpine, unable to keep his car out of the barriers before the race. Destroying his car during qualifying, he broke one of the rules outlined to him by Flavio Briatore: don’t crash, drive fast, score points.
He found the barriers again during qualifying in Baku, Silverstone and the Sao Paulo Sprint. His exact damage bill remains a mystery, but it will likely be in the millions, not helped by his Hungary testing crash as pressure grew about his future. Combined with failing to get out of Q1 13 times, he also failed the instruction to drive fast.
The other goal of scoring points was also not met, Colapinto becoming the only driver, alongside the driver he replaced, to fail to get on the scoresheet in 2025. His first full campaign has almost ended in failure. While not quite helming the Titanic into an iceberg, he stuck to a course that headed for disaster for too long.
The horrifically slow A525 masked improvement from Colapinto, but improvements began to incrementally mount in the latter stages of the season. Enough to secure his F1 drive in 2026, he needs to up his game considerably next year. If he fails, Briatore will not hesitate to swing his axe at Colapinto’s head.
Liam Lawson – 5
In terms of having a bad start to the year, few could argue with Lawson’s complete annihilation of Red Bull’s claim to the top spot. Eyebrows were raised by the decision to promote a driver to Red Bull who had so little time in the team’s car.
Pre-season testing showed the first signs of trouble, Lawson’s feedback and gap to Verstappen becoming apparent to engineers. Concerns came out of Red Bull immediately, with expectations downplayed ahead of the season opener.
Knocked out in Q1, he then crashed in the race, and he spent the Shanghai weekend trailing around at the back. His swift demotion was as inevitable as a teenager answering back to their parents.
Since this disaster, he has clawed back respectability, finishing mid-table in 14th on 38 points, immediately placing him above Colapinto and Doohan in the rankings, albeit barely. However, he still finished 13 points behind his team-mate Isack Hadjar, who had the measure of him all year.
His partial turnaround has kept him at Racing Bulls for another season. Make no mistake, however, he is there as a baseline for 2026 rookie Arvid Lindblad’s evaluation by Red Bull. His future looks as secure as a loose screw in furniture: precarious and at risk of failing at any moment.
Gabriel Bortoleto – 6
Coming fresh from a dominant F2 season, Gabriel Bortoleto arrived in F1 with high expectations surrounding him. Next to the Alpine, the Sauber was equally terrible machinery for a rookie to make their debut in.
When presented with half a year at the back of the grid, answers can be found in team head-to-heads. The qualifying battle proved close, the Brazilian leading Hulkenberg in the opening half of the season. The German clawed this back to beat him 12-11, but this is still very respectable.
Bortoleto also reached Q3 three times in his rookie season, as both he and Sauber continued to develop themselves out of a difficult start to the season, scoring 19 points. Sixth place in Hungary remains his highlight.
But serious rookie mistakes threaten to be a fly in the ointment. His Sprint Race crash in front of his home crowd destroyed his weekend and knocked his confidence. Then his ill-timed first crash into Lance Stroll in Las Vegas showed he still has room for improvement.
But he has impressed in his first season, demonstrating consistency and pushing himself to improve in the face of adversity. He faces a new pressure challenge in 2026, as the demands of Audi will be significantly higher than those of Sauber. Whether he will cope or implode under the pressure remains to be seen.
Kimi Antonelli – 6
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s maiden F1 season started off with a bang. His opening six races were characterised by brilliant performances and points finishes. Taking his first pole position for the Sprint in Miami outlined his credentials.
But his fourth place in the Sunshine State marked a period of rapid decline, one which threatened to envelop him. A welcome maiden trip to the podium in Canada acted as a rest bite, but from here things only got worse.
But Antonelli arrived in Mexico refreshed, and results started flowing once more. His defensive driving has been particularly impressive to watch. Like other rookies, he has lacked consistency.
The Italian made contact with Max Verstappen’s Red Bull twice in 2025. Only Lewis Hamilton can claim to have such feats, particularly as it was the Dutchman who came off worse in both instances. The silence on the radio in Abu Dhabi when his engineer told him he had missed out on the title by two points was palpable. Taking out Charles Leclerc at Zandvoort was also far from his final hour.
Suffering horrific abuse in the wake of losing a place to Verstappen in Qatar, it has been a bruising year for the young Italian. That he has come out of it looking stronger shows a mental fortitude that will serve him well in 2026.
Oliver Bearman – 7.5
Oliver Bearman is fast; this is a fact that is not debated. What is contested is how raw and mouldable it is. Having nailed his appearances for Ferrari and Haas in 2024, his first full season gave F1 a chance to fully evaluate Bearman.
His main weakness throughout the year came down to one issue: consistency. A frequent name in Q3, a good Saturday could often come undone as a result of poor race management or mistakes.
Bearman is hard on himself and always owns up to his mistakes, of which there have been many. His crash in Australia FP3 and embarrassing pitlane spin at Silverstone were his low points.
But when he could bring everything together, the Briton put himself in the shopping window as Lewis Hamilton’s potential replacement at Ferrari. His performance at Mexico City turned many heads; his fourth-place finish was the culmination of efforts to correct his weaknesses. He has also comfortably outpaced experienced team-mate Esteban Ocon.
2026 will be a real test for Bearman. He must cut out the mistakes and deliver consistency to match his high potential. Should Hamilton’s second season at Ferrari end in similar disastrous circumstances, he will want to have a run of momentum to guarantee the seat. As of now, he is too much of a risk.
Isack Hadjar – 7.5
Hadjar’s F1 career started in the barriers in the formation lap in Australia, and ended with promotion to Red Bull for 2026. That statement in itself highlights the immense turnaround undertaken by the French-Algerian.
Visibly distraught following his formation lap faux pas, many wondered if he could survive. Instead, he rose to the challenge, scoring his maiden points at Imola in a run of competitive performances.
Becoming a Q3 regular, he battled with top drivers regularly, comfortably having the edge over Liam Lawson. Unlike the other rookies, Hadjar’s consistency was plain for all to see, including Red Bull.
He may have inherited third place in Zandvoort once Lando Norris retired, but he still held off the faster Mercedes of George Russell to cement his place on the rostrum. A brilliant result, it no doubt played a part in his promotion to Red Bull for next season. His consistency and qualifying pace mark him out as the best rookie performer in 2025.
Emotional radio outbursts remained Hadjar’s main weakness across the year. He will need to stamp this out quickly, as Red Bull will likely not tolerate this. While Verstappen can be emotional, it is usually intertwined with feedback. Hadjar must learn to harness his inner monologue to succeed, in much the same way that Morgan Freeman does in any movie he graces.
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