F1 2025: Driver line-ups, rookies analysed by Anthony Davidson ahead of Australian Grand Prix | F1 News

The Formula 1 field has undergone a drastic change for 2025 with 10 drivers racing for new teams, not least Lewis Hamilton switching to Ferrari.

Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari is arguably the biggest driver transfer in F1 history as he replaces Carlos Sainz, who has joined Williams.

Replacing Hamilton at Mercedes is 18-year-old Italian Kimi Antonelli, one of six drivers making their full season debut, with Liam Lawson becoming Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull in another intriguing move.

Haas’ Oliver Bearman, Alpine’s Jack Doohan, Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto are the other rookies on the grid. Elsewhere, Esteban Ocon has replaced Nico Hulkenberg at Haas, with the latter joining Sauber.

With so many changes, we spoke to Sky Sports F1‘s Anthony Davidson to give his expert analysis on each driver line-up.

McLaren: Intra-team tension to rise?

I love this driver line-up. It’s young, it’s fresh and with that brings committed, spirited driving. It often brings a few downsides, like we saw last year, a few sticky moments between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

But the team have just about got on top of that now. You could see the surprise in quite a young team last year. It’s a problem but a nice problem to have.

Naturally great drivers arrive at a great team and I think this year you could be seeing a few more moments arise where, if they are in the most competitive car and there’s a bit of a gap between them and others, we know that they run each other hard and it suddenly becomes much more personal in that intra-team battle between the drivers. That’s definitely one to watch.

When push comes to shove Piastri has this in-built, steely confidence. Lando it seems has to convince himself a bit more but is an exceptional driver and is coming into the peak of where he will get to as a racing driver and he’s my tip to become world champion this year. This will be the year Lando comes of age and is the driver to beat.

Ferrari: Fireworks from Hamilton

I still can’t get used to seeing Lewis Hamilton in red, it seems so strange after all these years! His arrival at Ferrari is huge news. It’s headline-grabbing content. Whatever they do, that combination of Hamilton and Ferrari is stuff that dreams are made of.

That electricity Charles Leclerc brings to any racetrack is so exciting to watch. I think it will rejuvenate Lewis and that’s what he needed. He’s the type of driver that can reinvent himself from one year to the next and this whole change of environment and culture will play to those strengths.

I do expect some some fireworks from Lewis this year. Even though, at some points in the last couple of years at Mercedes, it seemed like it stagnated a bit, he was just a bit subdued, but I think this could be that rejuvenation he’s looking for.

If, or when, he does deliver, it will obviously be so good for himself and the team, but also for the sport because Hamilton at Ferrari is global, headline-grabbing stuff.

Red Bull: Lawson’s make-or-break year

Liam Lawson‘s brief is simple. If I was team boss there, I would be looking for Liam to bag more points that Sergio Perez did from halfway through last year to the end of the year. But maybe the team want more, maybe the fans want more and to see Max Verstappen challenged but that’s a tall order if you’re going up against the best in the business right now.

As things get tougher with the closing competition, you’ll see Max get even more out of himself in those moments and therefore the goalposts move even more for someone like Liam.

Liam knows this is make or break. Your career’s come to this point where you’re on this plateau, it’s now time to deliver and if you do, you’re going to be in F1 for a long time, but I’m sure he’s fully aware that many have tried and many have failed, alongside Max.

We have seen some great drivers get mentally destroyed. As intimidating as that is, you at least have the knowledge of this possibility.

With only 11 Grands Prix under his belt, this will be tough for Liam. I’m excited to see how he does because I think he’s great. He’s got resilience and I hope he handles himself well.

As for Max, he will just hope he has a car that gives him half a chance. I’m sure we will see more brilliance and more moments where it’s close to the edge, or over the limit as he continues to battle in true Max Verstappen ruthless style. He always gets the most out of the car.

Mercedes: Russell needs to prove he is leader

You can’t just assume you’re team leader and that’s what George Russell has to do this year. He has to cement that position and convince everyone in the team, and us, that he is a team leader. He has to achieve that through results and how he plays, how he handles himself within the team, which I’m sure he can do.

We saw some great maturity last year with how he handled the Verstappen situation. He’s a director of the GPDA [Grand Prix Drivers’ Association] and I think that gives him great experience of how to handle himself and shows the personality he is as well.

He’s a brilliant team-mate for Kimi Antonelli to have. George is one of the fastest qualifiers F1 has ever seen. He really can maximise the car’s potential on a Saturday and with the help of Lewis being alongside him for all these years, he’s learned so much and absorbed so much experience from Lewis’ ability and how he can put a race together, how he can read a race and read the tyres.

That bigger picture comes with experience and he’s had that luxury of working with the best in the world so it’s it’s teed up for him and now it’s time to fly.

With Kimi, he’s massively exciting and has a huge aura around him. There’s great expectations but he is mature enough at that age, similar to Max, and seems ready to deal with it. He’s a cool customer and knows what he has to do. He’s been well groomed for this day and it’s his time to shine.

He’s one of the fascinations of this season for me. I can’t wait to see how he goes and he steadily improves as the season goes on and he can ultimately, consistently challenge George, and maybe on his day beat him.

Aston Martin: Alonso remains a wise head

Fernando Alonso has a wise head on his shoulders and, if given the chance, he will seize the opportunity. He’s a good team-mate for Lance Stroll and he can be a good team player.

You get the feeling that he’s almost taken Lance under his wing. He’s clever enough to know if he helps the boss’ son, it keeps him in a good position in the team and I admire that.

Hopefully they have a decent car this year, more like it was two years ago. They have Andy Cowell there now, who I’m a big fan of and hopefully he can give the team a resurgence.

Once Adrian Newey starts to proactively work on the car, hopefully he can unlock a few quick gains but I’m sure his main focus will be on 2026. It will probably turn into a year of treading water for Aston Martin.

Alpine: Immediate pressure on Doohan

A big question looms straight away with Alpine. Everyone’s talking about when Jack Doohan is going to be replaced before he’s even driven his first race of the season, which is a bit unfair. You get the feeling like he’s immediately driving for his seat, which is huge pressure and it’s not what any rookie coming into F1 deserves.

Franco Colapinto is hanging around with considerable backing, so Doohan has to cement his place in the team for at least the first few races, bag as many points as he can, be as close to Pierre Gasly as he can. He has to make himself irreplaceable.

He doesn’t have the bedding-in period that lots of other drivers will have in their rookie season. He doesn’t have that luxury but in many ways maybe it boosts him, pushes him on delivering more, potentially than what he otherwise would have if he was given more time.

With Gasly, the relationship will work well, hopefully more harmonious than when Ocon was there. Gasly’s a solid driver, performed really well, some stand-out races last year. He will he bring the points home when there’s opportunities, like we saw in Brazil.

Haas: Bearman has chance to impress Ferrari

It’s great for Oliver Bearman that he knows the team already. He has raced with the team and they know that he’s hot property because he’s Ferrari backed as well.

He will be keeping one eye on what’s going on at the red team as well because he might be fancying his chances for further into the future.

Obviously Lewis Hamilton, at 40, can’t be there forever so you feel Bearman has to play his cards well. He’s in a prime position for potentially one day wearing the red suit, so this is a really important year for him, or years.

What a great yardstick to have in Esteban Ocon, who is rated as a driver, he’s feisty. If you can beat Ocon regularly then then that’s a good achievement and it puts you in a really good position for the future with Ferrari.

Racing Bulls: Tsunoda becoming a fast, reliable driver

With Yuki Tsunoda entering his fifth season at Racing Bulls, as frustrated as he must be to not be alongside Max Verstappen right now, I think he knows the reasons why. It’s his relationship with Honda that we all know exists and with that he must therefore be eyeing Aston Martin for 2026, when they have Honda engines.

This year is important for Yuki, not for the team he’s currently in, but for Aston Martin and I know drivers might be signed on longer-term deals but things can and probably will change.

I’m intrigued to see how this season goes for Yuki and, for me, he’s turning into a really solid, reliable, fast racing driver that I saw in F2 all those years ago. There were some natural dips along the way. It reminds me quite a bit of Felipe Massa’s career where there were a few crashes early but had an underlying speed. But once Massa matured, he almost became world champion.

I see a similarity with Yuki in many ways; some people wrote him off in year one. He’s a showcase that, with time, some drivers can come into fruition.

Isack Hadjar had a tough year in F2. It didn’t completely go to plan but he’s here as an F1 driver and has an opportunity with the spotlight on him. It’s a high-pressure environment and only the strongest survive, so will he be one of them?

Williams: Sainz to energise team

I love this driver line-up. It’s fantastic. Both drivers are deserving of a seat that can give them more performance and I think the team are aware of that.

They’ve put themselves under that pressure to deliver for their drivers and Carlos Sainz‘s arrival is going to bring that extra energy and extra push, having been racing at the sharp end.

It’s brilliant that Alex Albon will will be pushed very hard. Hopefully he will elevate himself to another level but there always comes a risk that you can implode a bit.

We saw it a bit with Colapinto and the speed he had at times in the final part of last season. Albon made mistakes that were not there earlier in the year but I’ve got every faith that Alex can take the fight to Carlos and together, they Williams in a much better place compared to the last couple of years with two seasoned pros. This is definitely one to watch.

Sauber: Bortoleto in a nice environment for a rookie

They have a really good line-up. Nico Hulkenberg is a known quantity and a solid driver. He’s still waiting for that elusive podium. I’m not convinced it will happen in this environment but if he continues to be patient, bigger and better things await for him.

For Gabriel Bortoleto, this is a nice environment for a rookie. You have a really nice environment to start with. You have a well-experienced and respected team-mate and you’re also out of the spotlight.

He will more likely be closer to the backend of the field, so like Russell at Williams, you learn the tricks of the trade without the world’s eyes on you and that makes a big difference. I think he has the ability and confidence to build on those skills. He’s in a much nicer position compared to other rookies on the grid.

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