The six F1 drivers starting a first full season

MELBOURNE – Formula One will have a bumper crop of rookies this season, with six of the 20 drivers on the grid in Melbourne starting their first full season, even if only three of them are race debutants.

Here are their individual prospects.

Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

The 18-year-old is Italy’s first F1 driver since Antonio Giovinazzi in 2021 and replaces seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Those are massive shoes to fill for someone who passed his driving test only in January, but Antonelli made a good start in testing, going fastest in the first session in Bahrain and making no mistakes.

Mercedes are protective of him while confident that he is the real deal, with teammate George Russell saying: “Kimi absolutely has the speed. He’s proven that in all of his categories.”

Oliver Bearman (Haas)

Ferrari academy driver Bearman, 19, has already started three races, making a stunning debut with seventh place for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia last season when Carlos Sainz had appendicitis. That made the Briton, at 18, the youngest F1 rookie to race for Ferrari. He then filled in twice at Haas for Kevin Magnussen, scoring a further point in Azerbaijan.

Team boss Ayao Komatsu rates Bearman very highly but experienced teammate Esteban Ocon, who has joined from Alpine, will be the measure of his speed.

Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

Bortoleto, 20, is the reigning F2 champion and will be the first Brazilian full-time F1 driver since Felipe Massa retired in 2017. From Sao Paulo, he is a protege of Spain’s double world