2025, the year of the rookies: a third of F1 grid will be making their debut
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The rookie surge
The official signing of Isack Hadjar by the Racing Bulls team has completed the F1 starting grid for the 2025 season. Twenty drivers for ten teams, as the Cadillac team prepares to join as the 11th competitor in 2026. What stands out is the number of young and very young drivers: a third of next season's competitors have never participated in a full Formula 1 season. Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, Kimi Antonelli, Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan, and Gabriel Bortoleto will all be rookies.
The New Zealander, who will partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull, is the only one with significant prior experience, having raced in five GPs in 2023 and six in 2024 as a substitute. However, he has never faced the stress, challenges, and highs and lows of a full 23/24-race championship season.
Farewell to many familiar faces
Among the other five debutants, only Ollie Bearman—who served as a "super substitute" for Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen at Ferrari and Haas in the just-concluded championship—and Jack Doohan, who replaced the exiled Esteban Ocon for Alpine in Abu Dhabi, have raced in F1 before. Hadjar, Antonelli, and Gabriel Bortoleto, on the other hand, have only completed a few practice sessions and will all make their debut together in Australia. The approach taken by team principals is clear: trust in youth. This shift has led to the departure of many veterans, some with substantial records of podiums and victories, including Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Dabiel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas.
The 'disciples' of Max Verstappen
What we are witnessing now seems like a natural continuation of the trend started exactly a decade ago when Max Verstappen debuted in F1 as a 17-year-old. The Red Bull family was the first to break barriers—though not always with stellar results—by introducing young drivers to the sport. Previously, with some notable exceptions (Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007 being the most famous), top teams tended to rely on experienced drivers who had earned their stripes with smaller teams. Today, age is no longer a critical factor in team decisions.
Veteran lions like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, who have proven they haven't lost speed or hunger with age, remain at the forefront. However, the dance floor is now dominated by fearless young talents eager to accelerate the generational shift. In this context, 2025 promises to be an incredibly exciting season—we can't wait to enjoy it.
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