formula evie

There 6 rookies joining the F1 grid in 2025, just 1 newbie short of the record for most rookies in a season.

I find it so odd as a 19 year old that there will be a driver on the grid who is younger than me by almost a whole year, and that I passed my driving test before he did. I imagine for those older than me that this feeling is a lot stronger, as 2/3 of them were born after 2004. Ollie Bearman is literally 4 months older than me; he has scored points in a Ferrari in his first race and secured a full-time race seat, and what am I doing? Writing about him on my blog, obviously.

The rookie I’m most excited to see this year is of course Kimi Antonelli. After crashing George Russell’s Mercedes in his first FP1 outing last year, I’ve definitely seen a lot of people criticising how quickly he has been brought up through the feeder series- he did 1 season in F3 in 2023 and 1 season in F2 in 2024, finishing just 6th in the standings- but I don’t think Toto Wolff is so desperate to raise the next Verstappen that he would put him in F1 before he was ready. I have very high hopes for Kimi and I cannot wait to see what he does, hopefully in a better car than last year’s Mercedes.

Ollie Bearman’s track record is kind of crazy so far; points on debut with Ferrari, points for Haas in his second race, and a P12 finish in Brazil which was a tough race for all the drivers. A moment of silence for the chaos of Brazil 2024, may we all manifest that this year is less eventful and terrifying. Haas are truly on the up with team principal Ayao Komatsu, the team is on track to become profitable in 2025 for the first time in the team’s history and the car was looking pretty decent in the hands of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg towards the end of last season- so I think it’s looking good for Ollie.

I’m not totally convinced we should be calling Liam Lawson a rookie, since he has competed in 11 Grands Prix so far in his career, but 2025 is the first time he’s seeing a full-time F1 seat (and the back of Sergio Perez instead of Daniel Ricciardo). My thoughts on Liam Lawson are clouded by my prolonged frustration on the behalf of Yuki Tsunoda; the Japanese driver has somehow been repeatedly overlooked for that coveted Red Bull seat despite out-qualifying and out-performing his VCARB teammates. I’d like to see Liam do well at Red Bull, but I wouldn’t cry for him leaving like I cried when Danny Ric was replaced by him last year. Sorry, Liam. I am a fellow Cars enthusiast though, so I respect the Lightning McQueen fangirling.

The amount of pressure on Jack Doohan right now would genuinely send me into a coma; he is reportedly on just a 6-race contract, leaving very little time for him to prove himself and very little room for error. Franco Colapinto will be breathing down his neck and watching his every move like a hawk as the favoured of the 3 Alpine reserve drivers to take his seat. Side note: why on earth do Alpine need 3 reserve drivers?? What are they planning?? But as for Doohan’s promise, he had an underwhelming F1 debut in Abu Dhabi last year and similarly underwhelming F2 campaigns, so I don’t know what to expect from him. Some drivers just aren’t lucky; its not always about talent or skill, and perhaps that’s the case with Jack, but it would be nice to see him do well at Alpine this year. It would also be nice to see Franco Colapinto on track when I go to quali at Silverstone, but that’s for … personal reasons.

I share a birthday with Isack Hadjar, so I feel like I have to like him (28th September, mark your calendars people!). I was really rooting for him in the F2 title battle last season, where he went into the final race just half a point behind Gabriel Bortoleto. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t win the title but he did secure the Racing Bulls seat beside the aforementioned Yuki Tsunoda. I think they might be the shortest driver pairing in F1 history, but what they may lack in height they make up for with what we’ll call fiery personalities- team radios over at RB promise to be interesting this year to say the least. In all fairness, I do think they are both talented drivers with a lot to prove and I look forward to keeping up with what they do on track. The winner of the F2 title battle, Gabriel Bortoleto, also secured an F1 seat at Stake (Kick? Sauber? Stake? So many title sponsors.) alongside Nico Hulkenberg. He comes with glowing reviews from his F2 team, saying he is calm and mature with admirable technical skill and raw speed. I’m not sure how much hope is being held for the performance of Stake this year, since they largely remained pointless for most of the 2024 season and the car left much to be desired but as I’ve said about most of these guys, I wish him the best.

I just want to see everybody doing well, ok!!