Class of 2025 - the top rookie stars of Formula One who are under 23

16:46, 11 Aug

Updated: 18:14, 13 Aug

byGPblog.com

The next generation of Formula One champions have emerged this season and to many the future of the sport has never looked more exciting due to the talent that has been showcased even before the season began.

We had seen many of the current cohort of promising drivers racing fast across Formula 3 and subsequently Formula 2 and even in some F1 races last year, but 2025 has seen mixed fortunes for the GenZ speed merchants.

The current cohort by age

The youngest rookie driver on the grid is Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli (born 2006) - at just 18 years old, he became one of the youngest ever drivers in Formula 1.

Then follows Oliver Bearman (born 2005), before two 2004-born rookies in Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto. Alpine’s rotational drivers are Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto (both born in 2003) and Liam Lawson is the eldest (born 2002). So how did we get here and which driver looked like the best bet coming into the season?

1st Gabriel Bortoleto (Brazil)

Bortoleto arrived in F1 with a lot of hype, having secured back-to-back Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships at the first attempt, winning the 2024 F2 title with the Invicta team with two wins and two pole positions.

Prior to this, the Brazilian moved to Italy and drove in the Italian Formula 4 and the Formula Regional European championship.

2nd Jack Doohan (Australia)

A former Australian karting champion, Doohan was a highly rated Red Bull junior between 2017-2021.

In 2018 he competed in the British Formula 4 season which also included outings in the Italian and German series and from these F4 campaigns, he moved to F3 - finishing as a runner-up in 2021 before commencing two seasons in F2 with much success. He finished 3rd in his final F2 season but would have finished higher were it not for suffering a cracked chassis near the beginning of the season.

3rd Isack Hadjar (France)

Another Red Bull-backed junior from 2022, Hadjar came into F1 after finishing second in the 2024 F2 championship. This followed a decent fourth place in F3 in 2022.

Hadjar also was highly competitive in the Formula Regional Asian championship (third), the 2021 European series (fifth) and two years in French F4, coming third in 2020.

4th Kimi Antonelli (Italy)

Another karting champion, Antonelli raced in F4 in 2021 and 2022 – with victories at the Italian and ADAC championships.

Then in 2023 and just his first season, Antonelli won the Formula Regional European championship and its Middle East variation.

Mercedes skipped F3 and placed Antonelli directly in Formula 2 for 2024 – before promoting him to F1 this year following Lewis Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari.

5th Ollie Bearman (Great Britain)

Bearman stood out in the junior formula ladder, winning the 2021 ADAC and Italian F4 titles. Elevated into F3 the following year, he finished third.

Bearman had two years in F2 – winning seven times, including four as a rookie in 2023 – but 2024 saw his Prema Racing team not able to produce the most competitive car as he then focussed on his three F1 substitute appearances.

6th Liam Lawson (New Zealand)

Although technically not an F1 rookie (11 race starts under his belt and three separate points finishes as a temporary AlphaTauri/Racing Bulls driver in 2023 and 2024), this is the first year Lawson has completed pre-season.

His best result in F2 was third in 2022, and fifth in the 2020 F3 championship. Lawson was also the Super Formula runner-up in 2023.

7th Franco Colapinto (Argentina)

An impressive Spanish F4 career saw Colapinto graduate to F3 in 2022 with Van Amersfoort Racing. Wins at Imola and Monza Sprint race resulted in a ninth-place finish in the Drivers’ Championship.

In 2023 he drove with MP Motorsport and secured two victories and finished the year in fourth place. It brought promotion to F2 for 2024 where he only won one race before making the step up to F1 halfway through the 2024 season after being signed by Williams to drive the last nine races in the calendar.

Summary of the rookies’ pre-F1 career:

Based on all the hard data, Bortoleto’s successive F3 and F2 titles make him the dominant driver, pre F1, amongst the current crop, whilst Doohan demonstrates that he was one of the most consistent drivers among his peers.

Liam Lawson only won reverse-grid and Ollie Bearman did not win a race in 2024. Isack Hadjar had a great 2024, but he had a difficult 2023 season. Antonelli and Colapinto were both fast tracked to Formula 1 with only minimal races in F2 with the latter having never won a feature race in either F3 or F2.

2025 F1 performances and Team support

Now in the mid-season break, many of the rookies have performed admirably, clocking up points along the 14 races thus far as their teams are looking after their investments.

However, other teams have been seen to either making rash decisions or vacillating, leading to driver insecurity; not the best strategy when a team needs its drivers to have the confidence to push their cars to the limits.

1st Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

Despite only collecting one point in the last five races, his podium finish in Canada and bright start to life in Formula 1 showed the sport that there may be a new world champion in the making. However, insecurity at Mercedes regarding a new contract may be hampering his confidence and progress.

Driver Performance: 8/10

Team support: 6/10: Needs assurance of a new contract.

2nd Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber)

Once Sauber implemented upgrades to his car, Botoleto has been showing great pace with superb drives in Austria, Belgium and Hungary. One to watch in the second half of the season.

Driver Performance: 7/10

Team support: 9/10: Patience and upgrades to his car has helped the young driver immensely.

3rd Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

An infamous crash on the formation lap of his F1 debut has been quickly forgotten as he picked up a swathe of points afterwards, but now has not had a top 10 finish in five races.

Driver Performance: 6/10

Team support: 4/10: Surely a candidate to be promoted after the mid-season break?

4th Liam Lawson (Red Bull/ Racing Bulls)

Demoted to Racing Bulls from Red Bull after the first two races, Lawson is now showing solid improvement, highlighted by a fine sixth place finish in Austria.

Driver Performance: 6/10

Team support: 3/10: His replacement, Yuki Tsunoda is struggling, so is it questionable if Red Bull were

right to demote him.

Position	Driver	Races	Best 2025 Result	Points	Points per race	Observations
1st	Kimi Antonelli	14	3rd (canada)	64	4.57	Outstanding start, one for the future
2nd	Gabriel Bortoleto	14	6th (Hungary)	16	1.14	Slow start but now looking fast
3rd	Isack Hadjar	14	6th (Monaco)	22	1.69	Having a super rookie season
4th	Liam Lawson	14	6th (Austria)	20	1.43	Shaky start but now improving
5th	Oliver Bearman	14	8th (China)	8	0.57	Last points in April
6th	Jack Doohan	6	13th (China)	0	0	Rotated out too early in the season
7th	Franco Colapinto	8	13th(Monaco)	0	0	No improvement on Doohan

5th Oliver Bearman (Haas)

Bearman has been doing his best with the car he has and has been fairly consistent with only two DNFs and only marginally missing out on the points on a number of occasions. Another to keep an eye on for the future with the big teams eyeing him up.

Driver Performance: 6/10

Team support: 8/10: Haas may struggle to keep hold of him but are giving him a car that is relatively stable.

6th Jack Doohan (BWT Alpine)

Of all the rookie drivers that would feel hard done by, there is universal sympathy for Doohan who after just six races was replaced by Franco Colapinto. Since then, performance comparisons suggest that Doohan has outperformed Colapinto on like-for-like metrics, and under more difficult conditions at the start of the season.

Colapinto got in the car after Alpine had stabilised its performance and systems, yet Doohan's relative pace and adaptability remained superior.

Even more so when viewing the F1-Analysis model which actually considers his performances to be fairly reasonable for a rookie driver in an uncompetitive car, even outperforming fellow rookies Bortoleto and Lawson.

With no F1 experience in Australia, China, Suzuka, Bahrain, Saudi, or Miami in an F1 car, to say Alpine has treated the young Australian shoddily, would be an understatement.

Driver Performance: 6/10

Team support: 1/10: Too much pressure from Alpine to perform from the start, and an unreliable car

7th Franco Colapinto (BWT Alpine)

Having performed well for Williams in 2024, Alpine’s team principal, Flavio Briatore, was keen to bring in the young Argentine and trumpeted his signature across social media, which is unusual for the announcement of a reserve driver.

Brought in after round six to replace Doohan, who was his former coach, Colapinto has been a downgrade across the board, in terms of technical feedback, qualifying pace, racecraft and consistency.

Driver Performance: 3/10

Team support: 9/10: Briatore is showing remarkable patience in Colapinto, despite no points and multiple

crashes.

Summary of F1 Performances and Team Support

Whilst Antonelli has picked up the most points, it's Bortoleto, in an improved car, who is the one to watch for the second half of the season.

Hadjar, Lawson and Bearman should continue to improve as they gain more experience, and whether Colapinto continues or is swapped back for Doohan is anyone's guess.

Indeed, the current instability at Alpine and Red Bull isn’t helping any of their young rookies, whilst Antonelli also needs assurances on his Mercedes future.

Bearman continues to be supported well by Haas and Sauber are being brilliant to both their drivers, Bortoleto and Hulkenberg, who have both exceeded expectations this season. Which clearly demonstrates how much team support and stability allows drivers to thrive on the track.