Formula 1’s Rookie Report Card

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Formula 1, Rookies, 2025, F1,Mercedes, Red Bull, Sauber, Haas, Racing Bulls

The 2025 Formula 1 season is officially in the books — and for once, the rookie conversation wasn’t a side quest. It was a genuine subplot that kept resurfacing all year long: a Mercedes teenager under a microscope, two Red Bull family drivers fighting for oxygen, a Sauber rookie dragged into the mud week after week, and Alpine turning their second seat into a revolving door.

This isn’t a “they learned a lot” recap. This is a proper season-grade assessment — who delivered, who drifted, and who leaves 2025 with real leverage going into 2026.

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Final Rookie Standings Snapshot (2025)

  • Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) — 150 points
  • Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) — 51 points
  • Oliver Bearman (Haas) — 41 points
  • Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) — 38 points
  • Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) — 19 points
  • Franco Colapinto (Alpine) — 0 points
  • Jack Doohan (Alpine) — 0 points

Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes

Kimi Andrea Antonelli, Mercedes, Formula 1

Points: 150
Verdict: The real deal — and Mercedes’ next era is already underway.

Antonelli didn’t just “hold his own.” He became a factor. Finishing 7th in the Drivers’ Championship with 150 points is a massive rookie statement in a field this competitive, and it wasn’t built on fluke chaos either — it was built on week-to-week competence.

His year had two defining layers. First: the pressure. Replacing Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes isn’t a rookie assignment — it’s a full-scale audit. Second: the response. Antonelli stacked points, showed legitimate top-end speed, and produced signature moments that felt like glimpses of something bigger. His Miami Sprint Qualifying pole was one of the loudest “welcome to F1” moments of the season, and his overall trajectory stayed pointed upward rather than chaotic.

Grade: A
If you’re Mercedes, you end 2025 with one conclusion: you didn’t just recruit a driver — you secured your next franchise.

Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls

Isack Hadjar, Formula 1, Racing Bulls, Red Bull

Points: 51
Verdict: Fast, brave, and already performing like a proper midfield problem.

Hadjar finishing level on points with Nico Hülkenberg is not normal rookie behavior. 51 points for Racing Bulls means he wasn’t simply “promising” — he was productive. And that’s the difference.

His season wasn’t spotless, but it was sharp. The pace was real, the aggression rarely crossed into recklessness, and the points arrived often enough to confirm it wasn’t random variance. What impressed most was how quickly he learned how to survive the modern midfield: timing passes, protecting tyres, avoiding the trap of “one-lap heroics with zero Sunday return.”

Grade: A-
Hadjar exits 2025 as the kind of rookie teams fear — because he’s already executing.

Oliver Bearman – Haas

Oliver Bearman, HAAS, Ferrari, Formula 1

Points: 41
Verdict: Quietly excellent. The kind of rookie teams build around.

Bearman’s season didn’t always scream for attention, but that’s exactly why it mattered. 41 points at Haas — in a year where the midfield margins were brutally tight — is a serious contribution. And beyond the points, his tone felt mature: clean racing, calm recovery drives, and steady improvement without the “rookie desperation” that triggers DNFs and broken floors.

He had enough edge to fight, but not so much that it constantly spilled over. That balance is rare. And it’s what turns rookies into long-term options rather than short-term experiments.

Grade: B+
Not the flashiest rookie — but arguably one of the safest long-term bets.

Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls

Points: 38
Verdict: A season of turbulence — and still a respectable final return.

Lawson’s 2025 was shaped by instability. Even when the driving improved, the noise around him never really died down. And yet: 38 points, 14th in the championship, right behind Bearman and within touching distance of Hadjar for large stretches.

The most important part of Lawson’s season is that he didn’t fold. The year demanded emotional recovery as much as technical development, and he still found ways to put results on the board. That matters in a sport where confidence can disappear overnight.

Grade: B
He didn’t dominate the rookie narrative — but he earned his place and kept his career pointed forward.

Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber

Points: 19
Verdict: A rough environment — but he still left proof of life.

Bortoleto’s rookie season was never going to be kind. Kick Sauber’s year left limited opportunity for clean, comfortable development, and he was often fighting simply to be relevant in the race. Still, 19 points isn’t nothing — especially when you consider the uphill context.

His season read like a test of patience: moments where the speed looked legitimate, followed by weekends where the car (or circumstances) dragged everything backwards. The key is this: he didn’t look out of place. Even when the results didn’t shine, the foundation looked real.

Grade: B-
He didn’t get the platform others had — but he did enough to keep belief alive.

Franco Colapinto – Alpine

Points: 0
Verdict: An impossible seat, no runway, no reward.

Colapinto’s 0 points doesn’t tell the full story — but it does tell the final one. Alpine’s second seat was chaos, and chaos is where rookies go to disappear. He was thrown into a pressure situation without the stable environment rookies need to turn performance into points.

This wasn’t a season where he got to “build.” It was a season where he got to endure. And while endurance has value, Formula 1 only writes numbers into the record.

Grade: D+
The talent question remains open — but 2025 didn’t give him the conditions to answer it.

Jack Doohan – Alpine

Jack Doohan, Rookie, Formula 1, Alpine,

Points: 0
Verdict: Brutal start, limited time, and the worst possible narrative spiral.

Doohan’s rookie year is the cautionary tale of modern F1. One mistake becomes a headline, that headline becomes a storyline, and that storyline becomes a countdown clock. Alpine’s handling of the seat meant he was rarely allowed a calm stretch to stabilize.

The result: 0 points, and a season remembered more for pressure than performance. But the deeper takeaway is that the environment didn’t protect him — and rookies rarely survive when the environment doesn’t.

Grade: D
A hard year, and one that will either forge him… or end him.

Conclusion: What 2025’s Rookie Class Really Proved

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that rookies aren’t “future tense” anymore. Antonelli, Hadjar, Bearman, and Lawson all showed that a first-year driver can be a legitimate points engine — not a passenger. And even for those who finished with zeros, the season highlighted something equally important: a rookie’s fate is still heavily tied to the machinery and the stability around them.

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