How F1’s 2025 rookies have been the most impressive class since 2019's rookies
- Caitlyn Gordon
- 21 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Meghana Sree
Six rookies took the leap into Formula One for the 2025 season, with Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto jumping up to the pinnacle of motorsport after they each took their own respective success in the 2024 Formula 2 season and other junior series.
Twenty-one rounds of racing later, these rookies have cemented themselves as promising and formidable talents, each recording achievements that mirror the likes of the accomplished 2019 rookie class, one of the most successful rookie cohorts in recent history.
The 2019 class
The 2019 rookie crop is often regarded as one of the most successful cohorts of drivers in the modern era. It included Lando Norris, Alex Albon and George Russell. The three became widely recognised for their consistency and ability to adapt to their respective cars quickly, producing consistent results.
Norris was nurtured by McLaren and officially graduated into the main team after finishing second overall in the 2018 F2 season.
As the season progressed, Norris continued to outperform his more experienced teammate Carlos Sainz in qualifying, with their head-to-head at the end of the season being 11-10. Norris rounded out his first season in F1 11th overall, the highest finishing rookie with 48 points.
The results earned him being voted as the Rookie of the Year by the fans. It was a significant debut campaign for Norris as Sainz was considered one of the best performers in 2019.
Alex Albon was initially a part of the red bull Driver Academy, however was dropped in 2012. After his performances in F2, finishing the season in third, Albon rejoined the Milton-Keynes family as he was promoted to Toro Rosso.
A significant dip in performance from the then occupier of the second seat, Pierre Gasly, opened the doors for Albon to move into the senior team mid-season.
The Thai-British driver secured points in his second race with the team, consistently finishing in the top six for nine races and with only 10 Grands Prix to his name, he narrowly missed out on a podium in Brazil after getting clipped by Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap. Albon’s performances earned himself the official FIA Rookie of the Year award.
The final driver that graduated to F1 with Norris and Albon was F2 champion, George Russell. After joining the Mercedes Driver Academy in 2017, Russell went on to secure the championship by a lengthy 68 points.
Mercedes realised quickly they had a star in their racks, and decided to strategically place the Briton into Williams for his debut season to learn the ropes of an F1 car.
It was a difficult season for Russell, who struggled with an underperforming Williams car, however, he grabbed the experience with open arms - which he later regarded as inexpensive experience as he got to learn a F1 car without the limelight.
Russell was consistently outperforming his experienced teammate, Robert Kubica throughout the season, leading the head-to-head 21-0 come end of the season.
All three drivers are now some of the best drivers on the grid, with Norris currently the favourite for the 2025 Drivers’ title, Russell steadily leading the Silver Arrows during its post-Hamilton era and Albon being an instrumental part of Williams’ inspiring resurgence.
History repeating itself: The 2025 class
Oliver Bearman
Oliver Bearman has been labelled as a promising prospect for Ferrari, after his record-breaking debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, notably becoming the first rookie to debut with Ferrari in 50 years. Bearman placed Sainz’s SF-24 into 11th, before working his way up to ninth, where he became the first Briton since 2011 to score points at their debut race, reaffirming himself as a future star.
An unlucky season with an underperforming PREMA car saw Bearman round out the season in 12th; however, Bearman’s consistency and incredible F1 debut secured himself a seat with Haas for 2025.
Despite fighting with the challenging VF-25, Bearman has made an excellent debut campaign, capturing headlines with a recent string of consistent point finishes, and leading the head-to-head 11-9 to his experienced teammate, Esteban Ocon.
Bearman’s red-letter day came at the Mexican Grand Prix, where a four-way fight on the first lap paved an opening for Bearman who lurched ahead into fourth. The Briton would be in the fight for the podium after Max Verstappen, while having to defend against both George Russell and a hunting Oscar Piastri.
71 laps later, Bearman crossed the line in achieving a remarkable fourth place finish for the team, equaling Haas’ best finish since the outfit's inception in 2016 — Romain Grosjean’s fourth place finish at 2018 Austrian Grand Prix.
"I never thought I would be racing against Max [Verstappen] in real life, but I guess some things change," Bearman gushed after the race.
"Definitely a crazy race."
"I'm a bit lost for words — at one point we were looking at the podium. I was bringing it home with a lot of nerves.”
On the back of an incredible performance in Mexico, Bearman continued his bounce of stellar performances with a sixth place finish in Interlagos. The Briton brought a glimmer of hope to the Haas garage of a possible repeat of Kevin Magnussen’s pole from 2022 as Bearman led the timing sheets in both Q1 and Q2, but was unable to compete with the force of Norris’ McLaren and qualified eighth — a nonetheless impressive feat.
As the 2025 season draws to a conclusion, Bearman currently sits 11th in the standings, 10 points ahead of his teammate Esteban Ocon in 16th with 30 points.
Isack Hadjar
The F2 2024 runner-up moved into the Red Bull sister team, Racing Bulls for 2025, where he originally partnered up with Yuki Tsunoda before a swap in the third race of the season had Liam Lawson demoted to the junior team.
Hadjar has been the face of the team in 2025, achieving the team's first podium since 2021 at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Frenchman took advantage of the unexpected opportunity that arose after Norris retired late in the race.
“What was most surprising for me was keeping that fourth place for the whole race,” Hadjar stated after the race in August.
“Unfortunately for Lando [Norris], we took advantage of his [retirement], but we made no mistakes. The car was on rails the whole weekend, and I'm really happy about myself because I really maximised what I had, made no mistakes and brought home the podium, so I'm so happy for my guys.”
“That was always the target since I was a kid. This is a first step, my first podium and hopefully much more,” Hadjar said.
After finishing just outside of the points for much of the second half of the season, Hadjar’s perseverance and skillful driving paid dividends at the São Paulo Grand Prix, where he grabbed three crucial points.
The Frenchman qualified in an impressive fifth, before bringing the car home in eighth. The result brings him and Nico Hülkenberg level on points in the standings.
Hadjar currently sits 10th in the standings with 43 points, and leads 14-5 over his teammate in the qualifying head-to-head, a significant number that could play a key role in deciding his future seat in F1.
The 21-year-old is widely viewed as the front-runner for the 2026 Red Bull second seat, after his incredible debut campaign with Racing Bulls.
Kimi Antonelli
Following in the footsteps of his predecessor Russell, Antonelli is another highly regarded Mercedes junior, who represents the long-term investment in young talent.
The 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli entered F1 upon a wave of high expectations, often described as the next generation’s Verstappen. Antonelli is a highly acclaimed racing driver, securing multiple championships and making the significant jump from Formula Regional Racing cars to F2 cars in just a single season.
After Hamilton shocked the racing world with his move to Ferrari, a seat at Mercedes opened up, which Toto Wolff was eager for the junior to occupy.
After making the jump up into F1, Antonelli secured his first pole position during the Miami sprint qualifying session ahead of the Papayas.
The Italian was unable to convert the pole into a maiden win or podium, but a month later, the story would be reversed, as the youngster claimed his maiden podium in Canada. After defending against a hungry Piastri, he became the third youngest podium sitter in F1 history.
In the second half of the season, Antonelli found his rhythm, consistently finishing within the top 10, with notable performances in Azerbaijan with fourth and Singapore in fifth.
However, Antonelli truly showcased his talent in Interlagos. He started the weekend off strongly, where in sprint qualifying, he slotted his car into second, less than a tenth of a second behind Norris.
Antonelli kept the momentum up the following day, finishing where he started. However, the main feat of the weekend came on Sunday. In the closing laps of the race, the 19-year-old had to defend against four-time world champion Verstappen to hold onto his second place finish.
Antonelli didn’t succumb to the pressure and grabbed a double second place finish in Brazil.
Gabriel Bortoleto
A back-to-back F3 and F2 Champion, Bortoleto entered his debut season in F1 on the backfoot, in arguably one of the worst performing teams on the grid, Sauber.
Bortoleto has approached his debut season much like Russell embraced his role at Williams — building a foundation and fine-tuning his racing skills despite the challenging machinery under his boots.
Like his other fellow rookies, Bortoleto has been out performing his veteran teammate, Nico Hülkenberg 11-9 in qualifying, an impressive feat from the rookie.
Bortoleto grabbed his best finish of the season in Hungary, where he crossed the line in sixth, his third time in the points in four races. After his impressive drive at the Hungaroring, Fernando Alonso praised the rookie, labelling him as “the best rookie of his generation”.
Liam Lawson
The Australian came into his first full season of F1 with 11 Grands Prix already under his belt, after impressing as a stand-in for Daniel Ricciardo in both 2023 and 2024, when Red Bull made the decision to provide Lawson with a full-time seat for 2025. Lawson’s previous outings provided him with extra experience compared to the other rookies.
Lawson’s opening races were challenging as he was thrown into the deep end as the driver of the second Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen. After poor results from the opening two races the 23-year-old was demoted to the sister team, Racing Bulls where he has been able to bounce back and showcase the raw talent he has.
Lawson has secured six top 10 finishes, with his career best result in Azerbaijan. The rookie started the weekend off strongly, securing third in qualifying behind Carlos Sainz and Verstappen.
As the race went underway, Lawson was forced to defend from the get go, he coped well but dropped down to fifth after being unable to keep the Mercedes behind him. Significantly, he finished ahead of Yuki Tsunoda who had replaced him at Red Bull.
Franco Colapinto
After a successful campaign in 2024 when the Argentine stepped in for an underperforming Logan Sargeant at Williams, Colapinto signed on with Alpine as their reserve driver in a “multi-year deal”.
Alpine made the tough decision to drop Jack Doohan after the Miami Grand Prix after a series of underwhelming performances, and subsequently, Colapinto once again got his break. The 22-year-old stepped in and since then has learned to adapt to the tricky A525.
Colapinto has shown his raw speed and talent throughout the season in glimpse, with him out-performing his more experienced teammate Pierre Gasly five times. While some rookie mistakes have occurred, Colapinto is beginning to catch up to Gasly on Sundays and in the last five races has bridged the gap between himself and the Frenchman, finishing within four seconds of each other.
Colapinto remains a bright talent for the future and Alpine acknowledged this by signing the Argentine star for 2026.
While it may be too early to say these rookies are the ‘next’ anything, it’s clear that this cohort of rookies are all nothing short of exceptional, each achieving impressive milestones in their debut season that some drivers take several seasons to achieve.
Their early career successes resemble those of the 2019 class, pointing to one thing: a promising and exciting future of racing.
