The Formula 1 driver market was thrown into chaos in 2024 after Lewis Hamilton’s sensational move to Ferrari. Subsequently, it produced ten driver transfers for the 2025 season.
The carnage has seen six new full-time drivers join the grid – four of which being rookies. Three of these new faces came through the setup at Red Bull.
| Driver | Team |
| Liam Lawson | Red Bull |
| Oliver Bearman | Haas |
| Jack Doohan | Alpine |
| Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes |
| Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber |
Liam Lawson has been promoted to Red Bull in place of Sergio Perez, while Isack Hadjar takes his place at Racing Bulls and partners Yuki Tsunoda. Jack Doohan left the Red Bull junior team in 2022 and will get his chance in F1 in 2025 with Alpine.
Oliver Bearman will step into a full-time race seat with Haas after impressing in his three substitute appearances in 2024. His PREMA teammate in Formula 2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli will also make the move up to F1 as he replaces Hamilton at Mercedes.
F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto has signed with Sauber on a multi-year deal alongside teammate Nico Hulkenberg. The Brazilian will become an Audi driver when they join the sport in 2026.
Gabriel Bortoleto will have the least pressure of the 2025 rookies as his Sauber might be a ‘tractor’
Naturally, debuting in F1 will bring pressure to deliver results. The sport is notorious for being cutthroat and rookies can find themselves out of F1 quicker than they arrived.
That is looking likely to be the case for Doohan after the arrival of Franco Colapinto at Alpine. Doohan’s contract is believed to be only for six races, giving him limited time to prove his worth.
Bortoleto is a driver who has security with a long-term contract with Sauber – and the team’s performance may mean the pressure is much more relaxed for the Brazilian.
The Swiss outfit scored just four points in 2024 courtesy of Zhou Guanyu’s trojan effort in Qatar. Given not much is expected to change in 2025, Bortoleto may not have as much pressure on him as his fellow rookies.
| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 |
McLaren Racing |
666 |
| 2 |
Scuderia Ferrari |
652 |
| 3 |
Red Bull Racing |
589 |
| 4 |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas |
468 |
| 5 |
Aston Martin F1 Team |
94 |
| 6 |
Alpine F1 Team |
65 |
| 7 |
Haas F1 Team |
58 |
| 8 |
Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team |
46 |
| 9 |
Williams F1 Team |
17 |
| 10 |
Sauber F1 Team |
4 |
The Brazilian will not be expected to score points regularly or even make it out of Q1 consistently in 2025, making anything he does above that a serious achievement.
Furthermore, the team are in a transition period ahead of the Audi takeover, which will give the 20-year-old even more time to adjust to the team’s environment and new direction.
Dutch driver Mike Hezemans hold a similar view. Speaking on the RacingNews365 YouTube channel, he thinks Bortoleto has the least pressure of the rookies as he might be driving a ‘tractor’ in 2025.
When asked who out of the rookies has the least pressure, he said: “Doohan I would say, but that is now Colapinto, so there is immediately another one ready to replace you.
He then says: “Maybe Bortoleto because he is actually…” before journalist Joris Mosterdijk cuts in and notes: [driving] a tractor”. To which Hezemans agrees: “Yes, you can’t do anything with it so whether you are 19th or 20th it doesn’t matter that much anymore”.
Gabriel Bortoleto is already impressing Sauber with ‘excellent’ times in testing
It is clear that Bortoleto comes to F1 with serious potential. The Brazilian won the F3 and F2 titles as a rookie in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
He joins the likes of George Russell, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri to have achieved this feat. All three have since gone on to become multiple race winners in F1. and Bortoleto will be looking to add his name to that list.
READ MORE: Who is 2025 Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto? Everything you need to know
Not much will be expected from the 20-year-old in his rookie season given the likely lack of performance in the Sauber. He may not even succeed at Audi, with Lucas di Grassi telling Bortoeto to ‘escape’ to a better team as soon as possible.
F1 fans believe ‘Ferrari is the goal’ for Bortoleto after he confessed his favourite track was Imola and his favourite colour is red – the perfect combination for the Maranello outfit.
It appears the Brazilian is already on the way to showing his potential in F1. Bortoleto delighted his engineers with his performance in testing, giving Sauber confidence about their new signing for 2025.
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