JANUARY 1, 2025

The big 2025 revolution

One year after Formula 1 saw, for the first time in its history, all the drivers that competed in the last race of one season keep their seats for the start of the following World Championship, things have changed dramatically.

At next year’s Australian Grand Prix, half the seats will have changed hands, five drivers will be missing on the grid and replaced by five rookies, in the biggest revolution the market has seen in more than one decade.

Of course the most notable change is Lewis Hamilton’s move from Mercedes to Ferrari and this kind of event tends to provoke a revolution in the market. There was a similar feeling when, unexpectedly, Alonso decided to swap Ferrari for McLaren at the end of 2014 with Vettel leaving Red Bull to replace the Spaniard. But all that happened already in October, during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, so most seats for 2015 were already taken and there were just a few adjustments to be made.

With Hamilton’s move announced even before the 2024 started, its consequences blew the market wide open and the final result is that half the field will change for next year.

In fact, only McLaren and Aston Martin will keep the same line-up they had this year, while, on the other side of the spectrum, Haas and Sauber will completely renew their line-up, as Hulkenberg and Magnussen have left the American team to be replaced by Ocon and Bearman, while Sauber, under Audi’s management now, decided to get rid of Bottas and Zhou and hire Hulkenberg and Bortoletto.

From the five drivers that have lost out for 2025, Sérgio Pérez and Kevin Magnussen are the most unlikely to ever make a return to Grand Prix racing, the Dane already commiting to Sports Cars racing, while the Mexican looks set for permanente retirement. By remaining in the paddock as reserve drivers, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto may be able to jump in at any moment, but their long-term future in the sport can be better summed up in one sentence: if they’re not full time Grand Prix drivers in 2026, their time in Formula 1 will be over.

Few times like in 2025 there has been such a great group of rookies entering the sport. And without intending any disrespect to Jack Doohan or Isack Hadjar, it’s the other three rookies that are going to be carefully watched by everyone, as they all looked destined to great things in the future.

Kimi Antonelli will be the first rookie to be handed a winning car for his initial Grand Prix season, at the age of 18 (!), and he’s so highly rated by almost everyone, that there’s little doubt he'll be up there fighting with the best any time Mercedes will have a trully competitive car.

Oliver Bearman starts with a slight advantage over his rivals, as he’s deputised for ill or suspended drivers on three occasions this year and did rather well, scoring points on two occasions. He also knows Haas a bit better than new team mate Esteban Ocon and has Team Principal Ayao Komatsu as a big fan, but the Frenchman is a daunting team mate, not only because of his talent and speed but because of his mentality of seeing the driver on the other side of his garage as the only guy he really has to beat at all costs.

And Gabriel Bortoletto comes into Formula 1 with a CV that very few can match, repeating the feats of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri, as he won the Formula 3 and the Formula 2 titles in consecutive years.

The Brazilian has stunned everyone with his speed and maturity during his only Formula 2 season and earned his place in Grand Prix racing without the need of any finantial support.

Against the highly experienced Nico Hulkenberg, Bortoletto will have a solid benchmark that will allow everyone to measure his real talent and potential, and being Mattia Binotto’s own choice, while the German was picked up by Sauber’s previous management, may quickly become the team’s favored driver as there’s no love lost between Hulkenberg and his new boss.