With the 2025 F1 grid featuring six rookies, we would have to go back in time to 2010 to find a grid with as many drivers who are making their full-time debut in the category.
A lot has changed in F1 since then, including the introduction of a cost cap to the sport as well as a vast number of additions and removals to the calendar.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli is currently the leading rookie in the drivers’ championship this season, with a podium in Montreal helping him to seventh-place in the standings, despite struggling in recent rounds.
RankDriverTeamPoints7Andrea Kimi AntonelliMercedes6413Isack HadjarRacing Bulls2215Liam LawsonRacing Bulls2017Gabriel BortoletoSauber1419Oliver BearmanHaas820Franco ColapintoAlpine0
Much can be said about Franco Colapinto‘s future at Alpine, considering his position at the bottom of the standings for current drivers on the grid. Colapinto crashed in a Pirelli tyre test on Wednesday, with fans calling for Alpine to replace the stumbling Argentine.
Gabriel Bortoleto is ‘very high up’ in Guenther Steiner’s estimations after his performance in Hungary
Speaking on an episode of The Red Flags Podcast, former F1 team principal Guenther Steiner was asked for his opinion on whether or not Sauber‘s Gabriel Bortoleto is a candidate for being the best current rookie on the grid.
The Italian responded, “I think we said it last time, that even if you’re good and you’ve got a s— car, you cannot show anything. Nobody can show anything.
“And now that the car is a lot better than it was at the beginning of the year, he’s shown what he can do. And by beating Nico Hulkenberg, I think I know what that means for a driver. I put him then very high up. So at the moment, he is, yes.”
Steiner recently blasted Mercedes’ decision to call up Antonelli, stating that the 18-year-old simply wasn’t ready for the pressure that comes along with a big leap into the world of F1 with such little experience.
Gabriel Bortoleto has earned himself a lot of plaudits with Sauber in F1 this season
Bortoleto is currently 17th in the drivers’ standings, but that doesn’t paint the full picture of how impressive the Brazilian driver has actually been this season. He has overachieved in qualifying, beating his highly experienced Sauber teammate eight times on a Saturday to Hulkenberg’s six.
Bernie Ecclestone rates Bortoleto extremely highly as well, stating that he is ‘worth his weight in gold’ for the performances he has produced in a sub-par Sauber car during his rookie season.
Fernando Alonso also lauded Bortoleto after the Hungarian GP, claiming that the Brazilian is the best rookie of his generation. Alonso has played a big part in the 20-year-old’s rise through the single-seater ladder, managing the driver since 2022.
The sky is the limit for the 2024 Formula 2 champion, and with him locked into a contract with the works Audi team when they rebrand Sauber next year, he may have a shot at competing for a world title very soon.