Ted Kravitz thinks the jury is still out about one of Formula 1’s new drivers, with six full-season rookies set to hit the grid at the campaign-opening 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton breaking out of his contract for Mercedes to join Ferrari for the 2025 season sent the F1 driver market into overdrive last year. Only McLaren and Aston Martin have kept an identical line-up from the 2024 campaign with eight squads ultimately hiring new drivers.
Mercedes also hired a rookie to replace seven-time F1 drivers’ champion Hamilton with Toto Wolff backing Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian is one of four, full rookies with Jack Doohan of Alpine, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto – the 2024 F2 champion.
While new Haas driver Oliver Bearman and new Red Bull recruit Liam Lawson are full-season rookies in 2025, the FIA does not list the Briton and Kiwi as official rookies due to their three and 11 Grand Prix starts. The FIA removes its rookie tag after a racer’s third Grand Prix start.
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar is the ‘big question mark’ among F1 2025’s rookies for Ted Kravitz
Kravitz backs Antonelli and Bortoleto to stun F1 fans during their rookie seasons, with the 18 and 20-year-old gems already catching his eye amid F1 testing in Bahrain last week. But Sky Sports’ pit lane prowler is not yet convinced by Hadjar, despite Red Bull backing him greatly.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know
The 20-year-old steps into F1 after finishing second to Bortoleto for the 2024 F2 title. Kravitz even notes that Red Bull believe Hadjar is possibly already a quicker driver than Racing Bulls’ other pilot, Yuki Tsunoda. But he has not seen enough from the Frenchman to be convinced.
Kravitz told Sky Sports: “Isack Hadjar, big question mark. Red Bull believe he is as quick, if not quicker, than Yuki Tsunoda, which is why he’s in that drive. I’m yet to be convinced because I haven’t seen enough of him, but let’s see.”
Helmut Marko has urged Red Bull youngster Isack Hadjar to keep his emotions in check
Hadjar is the 17th Red Bull Junior Team product to graduate to Formula 1 and he will also be the 13th to make their debut with Racing Bulls (including as Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri and RB). Red Bull’s sister team have rebranded once again from RB to Racing Bulls for the 2025 term.
But while Red Bull already speak about Lindblad in the same way as Max Verstappen during the four-time F1 drivers’ champion’s rise to the grid, questions linger over if the Frenchman deserved to be on the grid now or if he was a last resort after Lawson replaced Sergio Perez.
There are suggestions that Red Bull only put Hadjar at Racing Bulls after promoting Lawson and would have preferred he spent another term outside of Formula 1. But, given they also cut ties with Daniel Ricciardo in 2024, Red Bull did not have another name ready to step up.
Additionally, questions persist over the Frenchman’s temperament with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko already urging Hadjar to ‘keep his emotions under control’. He turned the airwaves red in Formula 2 when his races went astray with Hadjar’s fuse very, very short.
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