Formula 1 will have six new full-time drivers in 2025 including four rookies after eight of the 10 teams were active in the market changing their line-ups for the new season.
The F1 driver market went into overdrive during 2024 after Ferrari sparked a flurry of moves by signing Lewis Hamilton. Quick off the back of tying Charles Leclerc down with a fresh deal at Maranello, the Scuderia coaxed the Briton from Mercedes to replace Carlos Sainz in 2025.
Hamilton’s decision to leave also saw Mercedes promote one of the rookies on this season’s grid in Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian will battle for top rookie honours with Alpine’s Jack Doohan, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto over a 24-round calendar.
New Haas driver Oliver Bearman does not officially count as a rookie in 2025 after losing the tag with his three cameos last season. New Red Bull pilot Liam Lawson will also not count as a rookie owing to enjoying 11 Grand Prix starts over the past two seasons for AlphaTauri/RB.
Lucas Di Grassi sees a ‘potential world champion’ in Sauber’s F1 rookie Gabriel Bortoleto
Antonelli has an advantage over the other rookies in the 2025 Formula 1 driver line-ups with the 18-year-old – who will become the third-youngest driver to start a race at the Australian Grand Prix – the only one racing for a front-running team with Lawson not listed as a rookie.
READ MORE: Who is 2025 Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto? Everything you need to know
But Lucas Di Grassi thinks Sauber have a ‘potential world champion’ in their ranks after Audi signed Bortoleto to race for the Swiss squad. The 2025 Formula 1 season marks the last year that Sauber will race under their own name ahead of becoming Audi’s factory entry in 2026.
Audi gave Bortoleto a two-year, £29k-a-week contract to join fellow new factory driver Nico Hulkenberg at Sauber in 2025. The 20-year-old even steps up to the pinnacle of motorsport after winning the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles back-to-back as a rookie in 2023 and 2024.
However, while Di Grassi believes his compatriot is a ‘great talent’, the long-time Audi driver in the World Endurance Championship expects Sauber’s struggles will prevent Brazilian fans from cheering Bortoleto on this year. Only when the team improves will he show his talents.
“I think he’s a great talent!” he told RacingNews365. “But I think overall, the excitement of Brazilians, they need to be a little bit contained because he will not have the car at least in the first year of his contract.
“Maybe he can see his teammate [and] maybe he can do a little bit here and there. But the car will not be competitive in a way that people could cheer. So, I’m very excited. I think he’s a great talent. I think he has the potential to be [a] world champion one day.
| DRIVER | RACES | WINS | POLES | PODIUMS | POINTS |
| Jack Doohan | 59 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 303 |
| Oliver Bearman | 50 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 205 |
| Isack Hadjar | 54 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 247 |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | 28 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 214.5 |
| Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 26 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 113 |
“But it will take time, so Brazil needs to be a bit patient with him, as well. He needs to understand and get mature enough to prove that he can continue to learn and then jump into a race-winning car, and then he will fight to be the champion.”
Gabriel Bortoleto admits just scoring Sauber points is his championship in 2025
Di Grassi is not alone in suspecting that Sauber will struggle this season and hide Bortoleto’s skills. Audi signed the Sao Paulo native after he produced consistent results as a rookie in F2 and F3 for both titles. Audi got McLaren to release Bortoleto from their driver academy, too.
Even Bortoleto admits scoring Sauber points is his championship after the Hinwil crew came last in the F1 constructors’ standings in 2024. Zhou Guanyu also scored all four of the team’s points last season in round 23 at the Qatar Grand Prix as Sauber had a late up-turn in speed.
