Six drivers are embarking on their first full seasons in Formula 1 - but will all of them be able to hit the ground running in the Australian Grand Prix?
F1's bumper crop of newcomers contains a wide variety of 'rookies', from complete newbies Kimi Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar, to 11-time grand prix starter Liam Lawson, who first raced in F1 in 2023.
They also have different challenges, from Bortoleto driving for back-of-the grid underdog Sauber, to Lawson being called up to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen - the driver who has won four world championships in a row.
Factoring in their individual circumstances this year, and their F1 preparations to date, this is an appraisal of how all six look ahead of starting an F1 season for the first time.
Isack Hadjar
Quick, but unrefined, Isack Hadjar is on the steepest learning curve of all six rookies.
As he pointed out during testing, his first run in an F1 car came in a practice session for a grand prix, in Mexico in 2023. He then had a couple of FP1 outings for Red Bull in 2024, but that was it until driving for his new team in the post-season Abu Dhabi test.
That test day and some Imola running in an old car with irrelevant tyres is all Hadjar had before testing rolled around in Bahrain. It's why Racing Bulls opted to shuffle his run plan and give him a race run on day two, so he could just build experience in the car and get laps under his belt.
The upshot was a messy race run, and Hadjar had a couple of eye-catching moments too, but this is entirely expected.
In the circumstances, he reckons he's ready for his debut - and while he looks the most raw of the bunch, there is no sense he is heading to Australia out of his depth.
Gabriel Bortoleto
Sauber signing Gabriel Bortoleto looked a little wild on track, and he was clearly pushing the car to its limits and beyond, but it must be remembered that this car looked the toughest to drive in Bahrain.
And however ragged it got, Bortoleto did make a good impression. He compared better to Nico Hulkenberg than Hadjar did to Yuki Tsunoda, for example, and there is no shortage of admirers in the paddock for his attitude and approach.
The Sauber's not a car that was inspiring much confidence in testing but if Bortoleto gets the feeling he needs behind the wheel there is a sense that something special might shine through.
Like Hadjar, there's an experience deficit to offset, but Formula 2 champion Bortoleto at least had completed a good McLaren testing programme before Sauber came calling. He's quick, intelligent and level-headed, with a good track record of making rapid progress.
The car will probably hold him back but he should be expected to give a good account of himself even in likely tricky circumstances.
Jack Doohan
Jack Doohan had a quietly encouraging pre-season but there is a little bit of speed lacking compared to Pierre Gasly.
And it should be noted that this looks like peak Gasly - the driver who, when properly comfortable in a team and happy with the car underneath him, is very fast and very consistent.
Doohan's task isn't easy, but he has a great foundation: a couple of years of extensive old-car testing with Alpine, and of course his shock debut in the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
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Plus, Doohan's dragged himself into a race seat through a handy mix of tenacity, professionalism and ability.
The question mark that hangs over him - well, other than the well documented one in the form of test and reserve driver Franco Colapinto threatening to take his seat - is just how quick he is.
He might be the least likely of the 'real' rookies (sorry, Lawson) to best his more experienced team-mate early on. Instead the focus is likely to be on how close he can get to Gasly and whether that means good enough results for a team that expects to start 2025 scoring points.
Kimi Antonelli
Everything about Kimi Antonelli as a driver invites excitement, from the way Mercedes has spent the last 12 months talking him up to the feeling you get watching trackside that he can't help but push a little bit more than other drivers even on outlaps.
Antonelli's grounding for his highly anticipated debut season is formidable: thousands of miles of testing in old Mercedes machinery, to offset the overall lack of experience that is inevitable for a 18-year-old picked to replace Lewis Hamilton.
It was clear in testing that Antonelli is still making deposits into his knowledge bank, not least because he was finally running with relevant tyres (not the special Academy rubber that Pirelli provides for private tests).
And the two drivers ahead of him on this list have raced in F1 more than once, so they have a big benefit there in terms of what to expect, and what's required of them.
Ultimately, this is clearly a very fast if still a little unrefined driver who looks set to produce fireworks even if it comes via the odd mishap. A big early result cannot be discounted - even if it takes a while to get ahead of a team-mate as good as George Russell.
Liam Lawson
It almost feels unfair to include Liam Lawson in this list given he has two part-season under his belt. But it amounts to a grand total of 11 starts which is still less than half a full season in F1 and he is changing teams for 2025 - so he sneaks in.
The specifics of his situation are what put a little bit of doubt over how ready Lawson can be for the coming season. His test was hard to read. The Red Bull is a little tricky, he has arguably the toughest reference of all in Verstappen, and his own running was limited by a water leak.
The fact that setback came in Lawson's full day in the car - his last of testing - was particularly unfortunate. And it means Lawson does not have the seat time he'd have liked, and surely needed, to adjust to a team that has chewed up and spat out drivers of his ilk before.
Lawson's quick, aggressive, and strong-willed. He is not likely to be shaken by the task at hand and has the benefit of several race weekends (and even a few sprints) to have refined his knowledge of the tyres, of racing wheel-to-wheel, of everything that grand prix racing asks of a driver.
But the big unknowns with Lawson are how big his peak can be, and what he can do at this team. It's a big enough journey of discovery to leave a little doubt over what to expect.
Ollie Bearman
Ferrari protege Ollie Bearman starts his season with Haas benefitting from a blend of the best variables of all the rookies.
He's had multiple race weekends to get a proper feel for F1 (including a sprint), he's driven for this team specifically before so is very comfortable there and knows what to expect, and he has shown a very exciting level of ability.
Ultimately he is still a rookie so there are no guarantees. Three grands prix is a limited sample set. And the fact he wasn't as impressive as Antonelli during their Prema team's difficult F2 season in 2024 is good ammunition for those who think Antonelli's the grander talent.
But across all of pre-season Bearman looked nothing less than what he is: a driver who stepped in three times last year, impressed every time, and has complemented that real experience with a lot of private testing in older cars that means he has taken the build up to his rookie season entirely in his stride.
Bearman has everything he needs to start the season on the front foot. In terms of showing the best of themselves from the beginning, he is probably better placed than any of his colleagues.
