The 2025 Formula 1 season will see six new full-time drivers join the grid, with four making their debuts.
Liam Lawson will race alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull after being given the nod to replace Sergio Perez. Oliver Bearman will drive full-time with Haas this season after making two appearances with the team in 2024 in Baku and Sao Paulo.
Alpine have signed Jack Doohan for 2025, with the Aussie having made his debut already at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after Esteban Ocon was released from his contract.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes after his debut season in Formula 2, while the championship runner-up Isack Hadjar will join Racing Bulls after Lawson’s promotion to Red Bull.
Hadjar lost the title in heartbreaking fashion in Abu Dhabi to Gabriel Bortoleto after a mechanical failure in the Feature Race. The 2024 F2 champion will join Sauber in 2025, and he comes to F1 as an exciting prospect.
Alex Jacques says Gabriel Bortoleto could be ‘incredibly special’ in F1
The 20-year-old is the first full-time Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa in 2017 and he comes to the sport having won the F3 and F2 championships in consecutive seasons as a rookie.
Bortoleto follows in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri, who all achieved the same feat and went on to be ‘incredibly special’ in F1, according to F2 commentator Alex Jacques.
And speaking on the InsideF2 YouTube channel, Jacques believes Bortoleto can be a ‘serious contender’ if he keeps up the tradition of back-to-back champions performing in F1.
“He’s joining the team that have been at the back. He’s got an amazing person across the garage to study from in Hulkenberg, that is an amazing person to have a look at their homework.
“And can he take that capacity, that racecraft, that intelligence that he has behind the wheel and can he do it to answer the new questions, which is can he make Q3 on a day where your teammate has gone out in Q1 or so on and so forth?
“There are so many different things when you’re at the back of the grid to when you’re in an upper midfield entry and I think we’d expect Sauber to be still towards the back for next year.
“He’s earned his place on the grid, that’s the point of Formula 2. He’s a back-to-back champion. Obviously all the back-to-back champions have been incredibly special and have gone on to be serious contenders.
“So if he continues that tradition, it’s going to be special stuff to watch.”
Can Gabriel Bortoleto perform at Sauber after their torrid 2024 season?
Bortoleto is contracted at Sauber until at least 2026, which will see him become an Audi works driver alongside Nico Hulkenberg when they join the sport.
While there is excitement surrounding the project and Bortoleto’s arrival to F1, there are some concerns, especially given Sauber’s woeful 2024 season where they managed just four points courtesy of Zhou Guanyu in Qatar.
With not much expected to change in 2025 ahead of the new technical regulations in 2026, the Brazilian will likely be languishing at the back of the field, although Sauber will be encouraged by their performance in the final few races of last season, as Valtteri Bottas made it to Q3 in Abu Dhabi.
The hype surrounding the team’s new recruit is clear to see, as manager Fernando Alonso thinks Bortoleto will be F1’s best rookie in 2025. He comes to the sport in incredible form, but everyone will be wondering if he can show it at Sauber.
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