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Bruno Michel on F1’s rookie class of 2025: “These boys are ready”
An unprecedented graduating class of five rookies are gearing up for their maiden Formula 1 campaign in 2025 fresh from their time honing their craft in Formula 2.
2024 F2 Champion Gabriel Bortoleto headlines the quintet that includes Oliver Bearman, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar and Jack Doohan.
It is the highest number of F2 drivers stepping up to F1 from one season to the next, and as F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel highlighted in the new F1TV documentary ‘Rookies’, each are deserving of their seat.
“My role is to run those two categories from the promoter side, and make sure those categories are run successfully and make sure they always provide the best drivers to Formula 1,” Michel explains in the documentary.
“When a driver wins the Championship as a rookie in his first season, he’s always considered to be very special by the Formula 1 world.
“I don’t think I have seen one driver that I thought was exceptional not making it to the next step. I’ve never seen that.”
Perhaps the biggest moment for the rookies in 2024 came during the second race weekend of the season in Saudi Arabia. Bearman was named as last-minute call up to replace Carlos Sainz due to the Spaniard’s withdrawal due to illness.
The Briton’s subsequent performance and points on debut, having had just one Practice session to get to grips with the 2024 Ferrari, was a season-changing moment according to Michel.
He recalled the moment he found out that Jeddah Polesitter Bearman wouldn’t be taking the P1 grid slot on Sunday in F2 having earned pole in Qualifying and would instead be sat in the SF-24 for his F1 race debut.
“He (Fred Vasseur) called me 10 minutes before he told Ollie and said, ‘I’m taking your driver for the weekend.’ Ollie was on Pole Position with us!
“Ollie helped us a lot in Jeddah, because suddenly, it made it completely possible for everybody.”
It wasn’t just Bearman’s starring role in Saudi Arabia that has opened the door for so many young drivers.
READ MORE: Then and Now: Oliver Bearman on his growth from Formula 3 to Formula 2
The mandatory Free Practice 1 sessions in which teams must run a young driver gave several the opportunity to prove they could adapt to F1 machinery despite limited track time.
Franco Colapinto’s outing at Silverstone arguably led to his promotion with the team at Monza for the remainder of the 2024 campaign, such was the Argentine’s impressive pace and adaptability.
That is just one avenue for young drivers to show their worth, with the Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programmes that many of the Formula 1 teams utilise throughout the year providing another chance for the members of the academies in older generations of F1 car.
Those opportunities along with their presence on race weekends in the garages and during team debriefs with the race drivers have allowed the next generation of driver to acclimatise to the F1 environment before they’ve turned a wheel, understanding the demands both on and off the track.
It all follows on from their F2 preparations, as the intensity of racing steps up a notch with skills such as tyre management to teamwork ever more crucial in the Championship.
It’s something Michel highlights in the documentary as having changed during his time overseeing the Formula 2 and 3 Championships, as well as his preceding experience in the world of motorsport.
“The teams in F1 have said ‘Wow, maybe we were wrong. Maybe we need to look more carefully at what those young drivers are doing'.
“But something that changed quite a lot over the years is the role of the Formula 1 teams' driver academies. Those academies are following the drivers and helping them to go up the ladder if they’re good enough.”
With five drivers to have raced in Formula 2 getting set to make their full-season debuts in Formula 1 this season, Michel is confident that each one has earned the right to their seats at racing’s grandest table.
READ MORE: Then and Now: Jak Crawford on his rise from Formula 3 to Formula 2
Michel notes that the 2024 season proved at various stages the capabilities of each driver and justified why they are on the grid for this year.
He also paid tribute to the talents to come through the F2 grid, adding that having five graduates was something that nobody saw coming, even those with vast experience overseeing the world of junior racing.
“If you would had told me at the beginning of the season that we’d have so many drivers in F1 next season, I would not have believed it. These boys are ready. They are ready for Formula 1. And that is something that’s very important to say, this year has demonstrated quite a lot.”