Meet F1 2025 rookies including star gifted first go-kart by Michael Schumacher and Brit teen who’s already a millionaire
FOR the first time since 2010, SIX rookies will grace the Formula One grid this season.
The 2025 F1 season is sure to have it’s fair share of dramatic narratives.
These will range from Lewis Hamilton’s first year at Ferrari, McLaren‘s bid to win a drivers title for Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri and how Red Bull will recover from their poor season last time out.
However, six rookies coming to the grid is one of the most interesting storylines in itself with each of them having bags of talent shown throughout their careers in the junior categories of motor racing.
However, they are also as diverse as they come, with some stepping into huge shoes at top teams and others already having F1 racing experience behind them.
Below we take a look at each of F1’s 2025 rookies.
Kimi Antonelli – Italian born 2006 – Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli is the son of former racing driver Marco and was named after former world champion Kimi Raikkonen. He joined the Mercedes junior programme at the age of 11.
The teen – who will run the number 12 and says his spirit animal is a lion – only passed his driving test in January of this year, but has impressed in the junior categories.
This included a stunning wet Silverstone F3 test which saw him run four seconds quicker than any of his rivals. But his first test in an F1 car during last season’s Italian Grand Prix saw him crash into the barriers.
Mercedes have handed Antonelli more than 5,500 miles of private testing to boost his preparation for a move into F1 after being asked to fill the boots of Hamilton at the team.
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Ollie Bearman – Brit born 2005 – Haas
Ollie Bearman became the first Brit to race in the Scarlet Red of Ferrari in the 21st century when he finished P7 on his super-sub debut at last season’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.
He later made two more substitute appearances for Haas before securing a permanent seat based off of those appearances, although he endured a torrid time in F2 when not showing his pace in an F1 car.
Bearman turns 20 in May but is already estimated to have a net worth of more than £1m, as estimated from figures of his firm OBR Management Ltd.
He joined the Ferrari academy at the age of 16 and races under the number 87. Bearman also astonishingly failed his driving test the first time he took it. His spirit animal is suitably a bear.
Gabriel Bortoleto – Brazilian born 2004 – Sauber
Gabriel Bortoleto arguably has the biggest racing credentials out of any of the 2025 rookies as he is one of only four drivers – with Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Piastri – to win back-to-back F3 and F2 titles.
Bortoleto admits his racing career was saved by Fernando Alonso when the two-time world champion sponsored him in 2022 before he was snapped up by the McLaren development programme a year later.
They allowed Bortoleto, who says his favourite movie is Interstellar and his favourite TV show is Peaky Blinders, to then join Sauber for this season, with McLaren chief Zak Brown calling him a “great racing driver”.
Bortoleto – whose spirit animal is a lion – will race with the number 5 in F1 this season. His father, Lincoln, is the co-founder of one of the biggest Internet providers in world, Americanet following a merger with Vero in 2023.
Jack Doohan – Australian born 2003 – Alpine
Jack Doohan has been placed under an incredible amount of pressure early in his F1 career with reports suggesting a poor start could see him removed from the seat, which has seen team boss Oliver Oakes praise Doohan for his “punchy” response to the speculation.
Doohan is the son of five-time MotoGP world champion Mick, who admits he tried to keep him away from motorsport for a year when he was 11 before he was forced to give in.
F1 2025 grid
Here are the confirmed driver line ups for the F1 2025 season:
Red Bull: Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes: George Russell and Kimi Antonelli
McLaren: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Williams: Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz
Sauber: Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto
Alpine: Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan
RB: Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar
Haas: Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon
He was gifted his first-ever kart by none other than seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and eventually joined the Alpine Academy in 2022.
Doohan, who will race with the number 7 in 2025 and who says his spirit animal is either a kangaroo or koala, replaced Esteban Ocon in last season’s season finale at Abu Dhabi to make his debut.
Isack Hadjar – Frenchman born 2004 – Racing Bulls
Isack Hadjar is different from many of his peers in that his parents do not have any sort of background in motorsport.
Born into an Algerian family of physicians and physicists, he only gained an interest in cars because his dad was a kart mechanic and after watching the Pixar animation Cars.
https://twitter.com/Formula2/status/1794092357068980583Hadjar was praised for his “god-like” reflexes in F2 last year when he managed to avoid a collision in the Monaco tunnel when a car ahead of him was around a blind corner.
Hadjar – who says his spirit animal is a gorilla – won more races than any other driver in F2 last season but was pipped to the title by Bortoleto. He will race with the number 6 for this season in F1.
Liam Lawson – New Zealander born 2003 – Red Bull
Liam Lawson is a weird case when it comes to being rookie since he already has 11 races in F1 under his belt, yet the Kiwi has never started a season so can be considered a rookie for all intents and purposes.
Lawson’s parents had to sell their house to fund his racing career while he never officially finished high school as he went to pursue his dream instead.
He only became a motorsport fanatic after watching his dad race in karts at the age of six, although Lawson actually cried after the first time he fired up a go-kart when the engine started.
Like Hadjar, Lawson is huge Cars fan, and will race with the number 30 this season as he attempts to tame the role of being Max Verstappen‘s team-mate.