The Formula 1 edit

The 2025 F1 season has left many familiar faces behind, but it has also brought in 5 new ones! You know them, you love them, and we all root them on from our couches, these are the 2025 rookies.

oliver bearman (haas)

Born and raised in Great Britain, the 20-year -old from Chelmsford is no stranger to the world of racing. Bearman began competitive kart racing at the ripe age of seven, going on to secure many titles in different levels of racing, including winning the F2 championship three times, the last being in 2024. That same year, a sick Carlos Sainz put him out for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Oliver filled in the second Ferrari seat and finished 7th in the race. Later in the 2024 campaign, he drove under the Haas name in Azerbaijan and Brazil. These accomplishments landed him the title of ‘first driver to score points in debut races for two separate teams’. Quite a big deal for the teenager! He was signed with Haas as a full-time driver in the 2025 season. This race year, Oliver has scored a total of 8 points for Haas and 3 Grand Prix top 10s. One of his most notable performances was during the Silverstone Grand Prix. Every single rookie crashed or had damage to their cars due to the intense and heavy rain that poured from the British sky, every rookie except for Oliver, that is. With fellow young drivers quitting the race left and right, Oliver stayed consistent and made it to the end!

kimi antonelli (mercedes)

Being the youngest rookie on the grid and receiving a spot on a championship winning team at just 17 years old, it’s no surprise that Italian Kimi Antonelli is a very skilled driver. Born in Bologna, Italy, to racing legend Marco Antonelli, a need for speed was drilled into Kimi’s head from a very young age. Kimi started karting in 2014 and won many titles, including the Karting European Championship in both 2020 and 2021. In the same year as his last karting win, he made his debut into Formula 4. 1 year into Formula 4, he won the Italian and German F4 championships, which put him on the radar for higher levels of the racing world. In 2024, Kimi made the jump to F2 with Prema Racing, completely skipping F3 altogether! He won multiple races, including Silverstone and Budapest, but being so young, these wins also came with records! Kimi became the youngest multiple winner in F2 history. Later in the year, the devastating news for Mercedes was issued, 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was leaving the team and joining Ferrari for the 2025 season. Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, needed to figure out who was going to fill the second seat at the team. Kimi, who debuted with Mercedes during a free practice for the Italian Grand Prix earlier in the year, was one of Toto’s first picks when it came to bringing a rookie in. Kimi signed with the team to be a full-time driver in 2025 when he was just 17, he didn’t even have his driver’s license yet! Now we fast forward to now, Kimi has broken record after record! At the Japanese Grand Prix, he received the award for fastest lap. During that same Grand Prix, he found himself at the lead of the grid for quite some time, earning him the title of youngest driver to ever lead a Grand Prix. He didn’t win the race, obviously, but he did finish 6th! During Sprint Race qualifying in Miami, the 18-year-old secured Sprint Pole, he is the youngest to ever do so! At the Canadian Grand Prix, Kimi’s teammate George Russell won. On the second step was Max Verstappen. Then, wait who’s this? Kimi secured third! What a day that was for the Mercedes garage! He has secured 64 points for the team this year and 7 Grand Prix top 10’s. It’s safe to say that Kimi Antonelli is one to pay close attention to! He is definitely going places!

gabriel bortoleto (sauber)

Born and raised in Osasco, Brazil, Gabriel Bortoleto started karting at age 7, going on to win multiple titles in the world of karting. He graduated to junior formulae in 2020, catching the eye of 2-time world F1 world champion Fernando Alonso, who signed Gabriel to his management team, A14 Management, in 2022. Gabriel won in Italian F4 as well as Formula Regional European. He progressed to F2 in 2024, then he won the championship that same year! Bortoleto signed with Sauber (Audi in 2026) for the 2025 season. He has gained 14 points for Sauber over the season so far as well as 3 Grand Prix top tens.

isack hadjar (racing bulls)

Known as the lip-syncing king and my favorite rookie, the French Isack Hadjar is a rookie that no one should overlook! Isack started his racing journey at age 7 when he started karting. Unlike his fellow rookies, Isack tried sportscar racing before transitioning to formulae. In 2020, he finished 3rd in the French F4 Championship. A year later, he competed in the Formula Regional Championship, in which he secured multiple wins. After those wins, there were many more in various levels of racing, too many to write out here! Let’s just say that Isack was a very successful driver in many different leagues! In 2023, he made his F1 debut in a free practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix, as well as free practice sessions at the British and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the following year. While competing in F2, in which he came in second behind Oliver Bearman, he was signed as Reserve Driver for Red Bull Racing and the junior team, Racing Bulls. This year, he moved up to a full-time driver for Racing Bulls when Liam Lawson moved to Red Bull. Isack didn’t have the best first Grand Prix in Melbourne, in which he crashed during the formation lap, but that didn’t get Isack’s hopes down! So far in the 2025 season, Isack has made it into Q3 six times and finished in the points five times. He has scored 22 points for his team so far! When Isack isn’t racing and securing top 10 finishes, Racing Bulls Admin is making him and his teammate, Liam Lawson, create hilarious lip-syncing videos for the team’s social media pages. From quoting The Office to playing yoga posing games, Isack has become somewhat of a Gen-Z icon. Juggling race points and H2O remake videos can be a lot! Hopefully his schedule doesn’t get too crowded!

jack doohan (alpine reserve)

Even though Jack isn’t filling one of the two Alpine seats, it only feels necessary to include him in here. Jack Doohan is a 22 -year- old Alpine reserve driver from Australia. Much like Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan is son to another racing legend, just not car racing. Jack’s father is Mick Doohan, five-time Grand Prix motorcycle world champion! Jack began karting at age nine. In fact, his first go-kart was gifted to him by Michael Schumacher! He won multiple titles in the karting world, he then went on to junior formulae in 2018. Jack went through the many levels of racing like his fellow rookies. He was signed with the Red Bull junior team before switching to Alpine Academy in 2022, serving as the reserve driver for the team in both 2023 and 2024. After Esteban Ocon decided to leave the team for the 2025 season, Jack was given a full-time seat, only for that seat to be taken away after only six Grand Prix. Jack was suddenly removed from the second seat and replaced by Franco Colapinto. Many fans (including me) feel that this decision was unfair to Doohan, but Flavio Briatore didn’t. Jack is now back in his original position as Alpine’s reserve driver.

franco colapinto (Alpine)

The 22 -year -old Argentine driver replaced Jack Doohan for the 2nd Alpine seat six Grand Prix into the 2025 season. Franco started karting at age 9, winning multiple titles. Franco’s first win in the Formula universe was in 2019 in the F4 championship. Franco also won many different titles in different racing leagues, including the Toyota Racing Series, and Formula Renault Eurocup. Then, like Isack Hadjar, he got into sportscar racing in 2021. In 2023, Franco was signed with the Williams Driver Academy. He drove for the British team starting at the Italian Grand Prix last year and for the remainder of the season as a replacement for Logan Sargeant. He then joined Alpine as their reserve driver at the start of the 2025 season, but was then promoted to a full-time driver after six-grand prix. He has scored 0 points for the team and 0 Grand Prix top tens. Hopefully we can see him blossom into a skilled driver with the more experience he gains!