Several F1 team principals have been sharing words of praise for how the new generation of rookies are adapting to the sport, with the likes of Kimi Antonelli, Ollie Bearman and Isack Hadjar impressing their bosses in how they have performed so far.
The 2025 season saw a number of new faces arrive onto the grid, and many of these have already scored their first points of the campaign, with only Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto yet to get off the mark.
POWER RANKINGS: Who lit up the streets of Jeddah during the Saudi Arabian GP weekend?
Laurent Mekies, Team Principal at Racing Bulls, believes that the youngsters have showcased their ability to cope with the pressure that F1 brings and hailed Hadjar for how he has adapted so far since joining the squad.
“I think it’s quite a great generation of rookie drivers that we’ve got this year coming into Formula 1, and I think they are all proving that they have the level to be here,” said Mekies. “They have all been through various levels of pressure.
Mekies believes that Hadjar has been «outstanding» so far during his rookie season in F1
“I think it’s quite early to give a judgment on who’s fastest. We’ve seen a rollercoaster that most of them have been going through, so I think it’s early days.
“[Hadjar] has been outstanding, really. In fairness to Isack, he had one day of dry testing in his life in a Formula 1 car before going to [the] Bahrain test. Then a day and a half later, you are in Melbourne. And if you take that into consideration and see what he has done in Melbourne – I think he was half a tenth from Q3 – I think it was an outstanding debut.
“Then you get the massive cold shower with what happened in the formation lap [when Hadjar crashed out before taking the race start], and he bounced back straight away, went to China – a track he had never driven – and put the car in P7 in Qualifying. So I think it says a lot about the sort of level these guys are at.
“Isack has been doing outstanding… The raw speed undoubtedly is there, and we are looking forward to starting this development path with him.”
2025 Rookie Roundtable with Kimi, Jack, Ollie, Isack and Gabriel
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director at Mercedes, also acknowledged the lack of preparation that the rookies – including Silver Arrows racer Antonelli – have had prior to making their debuts on the grid.
“It’s quite impressive the way that a lot of them can go from F2 or other feeder series straight into F1 and perform at a good level,” Shovlin explained. “To be honest, we’ve had so much focus on Kimi, we haven’t really been looking at everyone else.
“With Kimi, we’re measuring him by where he is compared to George [Russell], where he is compared to the other drivers in the top teams. But yeah, there’s obviously a lot of talent there.
“It is difficult for them – when you’ve got one and a half days in Bahrain to get used to the new car, then you’re thrown into some of the situations we’ve had – the wet race in Melbourne, difficult circuits like China and Suzuka.
“They’re all quite challenging tracks. But I think it’s quite exciting for the sport to have so many new names coming into it.”
Shovlin says that Mercedes are measuring Antonelli’s performance in comparison to team mate Russell
Haas chief Ayao Komatsu has been particularly impressed by the maturity of Bearman – who joined the squad full-time this season after making substitute appearances in 2024 – in conjunction with his speed.
“I think it’s very good for the feeder series [to have rookies coming through], and it’s impressive that they come into Formula 1 – nothing prepares them for this pressure and intensity – and they’re able to perform at the level they do,” said Komatsu.
“Especially if I talk about Ollie, because like Andrew I’m focusing much more on our own drivers than the other rookies. What’s impressive is, of course, we knew he’s got speed. But the maturity at the age of 19 is pretty impressive.
“At such a young age, he has the maturity and the ability to understand all of our situation and conduct himself in a certain way. So as an overall package, I think his preparation is amazing. I’m pretty impressed. It’s exciting to be able to talk about these things.”
RACE TICKETS – MIAMI
Don’t miss your chance to experience the Miami Grand Prix…