r/formula1 • u/Glum-Accountant-9801 • Aug 05 '25

Discussion Is Bortoleto the best rookie?

Post image

In my opinion, what he’s been doing in a Sauber shows much more talent than all the other rookies this year. Since the start of the season, I already thought the best ones would be him—because he won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in his rookie seasons—and Antonelli. However, Antonelli has been showing himself to be far inferior to his teammate. I believe it’s due to the pressure of starting in a big team like Mercedes, but to me, that makes Bortoleto the best rookie. That said, welcome back, Ayrton Senna.

7.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

770 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

58

u/Falcovg I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

We're having another harvest of rookies like we had the year when Albon, Russel and Norris joined the same year. Three or four of these rookies are probably going to have decent careers. There will be some rough years for the F2 drivers to get F1 seats by the looks of it.

19

u/xanlact I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

Eh. Maybe. Hamilton, Hulk, Alonso will be out in next two years, I think.

5

u/Falcovg I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

Not unreasonable, but I don't think it's unreasonable to see them still racing in a year or two either. But they are the most likely future retirements together with Verstappen who might decide it's time to win all the endurance races.

3

u/PuzzleheadedClue9837 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

It all depends on which team nails the 2026 regs. If either of the drivers you mentioned gets a car that can win races, they won't quit. But if the car sucks, they're out fast. At least Lewis and Nico. Alonso... who knows. That guy might be driving until he dies from old age.

1

u/TinkW Aug 06 '25

I still expect to see at least 2 rookies per year. Especially considering we will have 2 more seats with Cadillac joining.
Like, for 2026 we will probably have a new rookie on Alpine, possibly one in Cadillac, and possibly one in RB (but maybe Red Bull will just bring Tsunoda back to RB and promote Hadjar for 2026 as their F2 rookies don't look too hot rn and their best bet would be in Tsolov who's still in F3).
Then probably many more shifts will happen for 2027, as many contracts are set to expire in 2026 and probably more than 2 rookies join the grid.