The rookies to watch out for in 2026

Rafael Camara follows countryman Gabriel Bortoleto's path to F1 – Jake Boxall-Legge

A Formula 3 title win with Trident? Check. Step up to Formula 2 with Invicta? Check. First year F2 title? Surely, you'd have to suggest it was a distinct possibility.

The above path is now a well-trodden one, having been explored by both Gabriel Bortoleto and Leonardo Fornaroli across the past two seasons. Bortoleto managed to transform his back-to-back titles into a Sauber F1 drive, while Fornaroli now occupies a McLaren development role after clinching last year's F2 title. Now, it's Rafael Camara's turn on the Trident-Invicta wheel of fortune.

Camara, a Ferrari driver academy product, will aim to match his compatriot Bortoleto in chalking off back-to-back F3/F2 titles en route to an F1 drive, but there's some competition to work his way through first; Colton Herta is the most high-profile competitor in the championship this year, F3 championship runner-up Nikola Tsolov looked strong in his end-of-season outings for Campos, and second-year racer Alex Dunne remains at Rodin for another tilt at the crown. Although there's pockets of talent around the grid, Camara has sufficient talent - and the right environment - to challenge for honours in year one.

Given the proud heritage that Brazil has in racing, it's fantastic to see another talented Brazilian racer rise through the ranks on the way to F1. It's waited a long time for its next superstar; with Bortoleto and Camara, it might find itself with two - and if Pedro Clerot can continue to build upon a strong Formula Regional campaign in his maiden F3 campaign, the future's looking bright for the nation which birthed Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, and Nelson Piquet.

Latin American interest in F1 has never truly waned, but it truly feels as though the biggest Lat-Am brands are starting to match that fervour with their own commercial interests. It helps when you've got a few top-line drivers starting to emerge and challenging F1's current Eurocentric driver pool...

Lindblad is the sole rookie in F1 for 2026 and has gained plenty of hype following his rapid rise

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Time for Arvid Lindblad to seize the moment with Red Bull in F1 – Stuart Codling

Twice an Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award finalist, Arvin Lindblad is the latest product of Red Bull’s young talent programme to arrive in Formula 1 – and the last to be brought to that point by the scheme’s architect, Helmut Marko.

Questions remain over several details of his promotion. He was a race winner last year in his rookie season in Formula 2, but finished sixth – behind other newcomers, including Alex Dunne, Luke Browning and eventual champion Leonardo Fornaroli – and it’s been claimed his elevation to F1 was signed off by Marko without the say-so of Red Bull’s leadership.

In truth, his F2 finishing position is less of an issue than it might appear. F2’s credibility as a feeder category has ebbed away over the past few seasons, led by several recent champions failing to gain traction in F1, followed by the latest generation of car proving to be inconsistent and unreliable. There are those in the F1 paddock who now view the championship as mere background noise for the spectators while they queue for burgers and chips.

Last year Andrea Kimi Antonelli came to F1 at the age of 18 after an up-and-down maiden F2 season. Does Mercedes regret that decision now? No.

For Lindblad, it’s going to be a case of living for the now. F1 2026 is going to be a learning experience for the entire grid, so he potentially will be insulated from some of the harshest scrutiny if not immune from it.

If Racing Bulls can repeat its feat from 2025 of producing a relatively benign car, so much the better. But now Marko has sailed off into retirement, Lindblad will be in a more supportive environment – a better opportunity for him to define his own F1 career.

Collet is the most low-key IndyCar rookie going into 2026 - but could end up being the biggest talent from the class

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Caio Collet is the hidden gem within the IndyCar intake – Joey Barnes

There is plenty of intrigue with the young and talented rookies filling the grid of the IndyCar Series in 2026. Many are looking at Mick Schumacher, son of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, who is an ex-F1 driver himself. Others might watch Dennis Hauger, a multiple race winner in Formula 2 that came over and captured the Indy NXT championship last year. It would be wrong, though, to overlook Caio Collet.

The 23-year-old Brazilian is set for his maiden season in North America’s premier open-wheel championship with AJ Foyt Racing in the team’s #4 Chevrolet-powered entry. Collet is fresh off a sophomore Indy NXT campaign where he proved to be the only true threat to Hauger, taking three wins and finishing on the podium nine times over 14 rounds en route to the runner-up spot in the championship. The previous season, he won one race and landed on the podium six times, and he also made one Formula E appearance at Portland with Nissan.

Collet has built a reputation as being quiet and calculating. The debriefs usually see engineers and team-mates doing all the talking, while he sits in the background taking notes and studying onboard footage. He is as cerebral as they come and, in many ways, his habits, mannerisms and on-track demeanour are reminiscent of the late Gil de Ferran, a two-time Indy car champion and 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner.

The rookie battle is already shaping up to be one of the most captivating in years. Ultimately, the deciding factor will come down to how the likes of Collet, Hauger and Schumacher adapt. However, Collet is with an organisation that is in a well-established technical alliance with Team Penske.

While most of the attention will rightfully be on Hauger and Schumacher early on, Collet will do what he’s always done: lurk in the background waiting for the right time to strike.

Slater is the latest British hotshot being tipped for big things

Photo by: JEP

“Special” Freddie Slater tipped for stardom as he moves into F3 – Kevin Turner

Every now and again a young driver comes along who just seems destined for the top. It didn’t take a genius to spot the abilities of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in their early days. And there’s currently a similar momentum with Freddie Slater.

The 17-year-old graduates to Formula 3 with Trident this year following his title success in Formula Regional European. He took eight victories with Prema in 2025, to follow up his championship wins in Italian F4 (2024) and Ginetta Junior (2023), not to mention his multiple karting successes.

He’s also proved he can adapt quickly, taking wins on occasional outings in GB3 last year, as well as impressing as a finalist in the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award in MotorSport Vision-run F2, Beechdean Motorsport Aston Martin GT3 and RLR M Sport Ligier LMP3 machinery.

Yes, Slater crashed out of the Macau Grand Prix in November, to follow his 2024 disappointment, but his performance over that weekend at one of the world’s toughest circuits provided another indicator of his ability.

After dominating the qualifying race, Slater was clear of the field – which included some F3 drivers ‘stepping down’ to Formula Regional equipment – when a late safety car gave his rivals a chance. He lost the lead at the restart and then crashed trying to recover. But, as the cliche goes, it’s easier to calm down a fast driver than make a slow one quick, and Slater’s pace did not go unnoticed.

Derek Warwick described Slater as “special” when awarding him the inaugural British Racing Drivers’ Club SuperStar of the Year Award just before Christmas and the 1992 Le Mans winner has a pretty good track record with this sort of thing. Slater might even add some more success before F3 gets under way in the competitive Formula Regional Oceania series in January and February.

F3 is tough but it’s possible to make a mark as a rookie – as Oscar Piastri, Gabriel Bortoleto and 2025 champion Rafael Camara showed – and Trident has run the last three title winners. Don’t be surprised to see Slater battling at the front sooner rather than later.

Drugovich never found a direct route into F1 and has opted for a fresh start in Formula E

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Can Felipe Drugovich show F1 what it missed with Formula E switch? - Owen Bellwood

After what feels like forever, Felipe Drugovich finally has a full-time single-seater drive once again in 2026, and it’ll be exciting to see what he manages to make of the opportunity.

The Brazilian ace had a whirlwind junior campaign, winning the Euroformula Open Championship and Spanish Formula 3 way back in 2018, before a stint in Formula 3 and three years in Formula 2. During that season, he picked up a race win on just the second time of asking – winning the sprint in Austria – and won the title in 2022. That year, he faced off against racers including Liam Lawson, Logan Sargeant and Jack Doohan – all of whom made their F1 debut with mixed results.

Drugovich, however, found his path to F1 blocked, taking on a test and reserve role at Aston Martin instead that saw him take part in a handful of practice sessions.

Now, after three years in the shadow of Aston's full-time drivers, Drugovich is jumping back into open-wheel racers at Formula E, where he joins the Andretti team alongside former champion Jake Dennis.

In making the move, Drugovich becomes the latest in a long line of “could-have-beens" to make the switch from the F1 feeder series into Formula E – making him yet another electric racer out to prove to F1 what it could have won. Some have flourished after making the jump from traditional series into the all-electric championship, while others have found the change tough. Nyck de Vries won the all-electric series after missing out on F1, and ex-Red Bull junior Jean-Eric Vergne is the series' only two-time champion.

Now, Drugovich finds himself at a team capable of winning races in a series where talent and luck impact the result in equal measures. What will he make of it?

Herta's F2 move is a gamble but lines him up for his F1 dream

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Colton Herta has an F1 career to earn in F2 – Ben Vinel

Formula 2 is a championship I’ve always kept a very close eye on and Colton Herta’s move might be the most exciting there has been in years.

Never has such an established driver switched back to a junior series. Admittedly, Gianmaria Bruni, Giorgio Pantano, Timo Glock and Romain Grosjean competed in GP2 after short-lived forays into F1, but Herta’s case is different. He may not be older than those four were, but he spent the last seven seasons in IndyCar. He’s been a consistent podium finisher, taking the occasional race win, and had highs of third in the 2020 championship and second in 2024.

It would have been easy for him to just have a lengthy, successful career in IndyCar, but Cadillac believes he has high enough potential for its Formula 1 project. However, Herta needs to prove it in F2 – and it’s not just about getting those last few superlicence points.

“I’m confident Colton will get his shot, but he’s got to earn it, right?” Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss said of the team’s new test driver back in September. “He’s taking that risk. I think people should really take note of and admire Colton for that bold move. He’s not entitled to the seat. He’s not guaranteed the seat from that standpoint. He’s going over to prove that he belongs in Formula 1.”

And that won’t be easy. Once mooted as Kamui Kobayashi’s future replacement in Toyota’s WEC line-up, Super GT and Super Formula champion Ritomo Miyata – who will be Herta’s team-mate at Hitech – has failed to impress in F2, taking one podium finish in 55 races. That’s how hard adapting to the series is, especially for those who have missed out on prior experience of the tricky Pirelli rubber, which most drivers gain in F3.

Herta has a lot to prove. Let’s see what he can do.

Could IndyCar be Schumacher's last genuine shot at success in the top level of motorsport?

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IndyCar chance is make or break for Mick Schumacher – Ed Hardy

It’s hard to gauge just how good Mick Schumacher actually was during his two-year Formula 1 stint. The cynic will say that he was deservedly dropped due to his crash-filled 2022 campaign, having also been consistently beaten by Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen and that his replacement, veteran Nico Hulkenberg, fared much better.

Then there’s the other side: it was hard for a youngster to truly shine in that difficult Haas environment at the time and the German proved his worth by winning both the 2018 European F3 and 2020 F2 titles. The exact same debate could be carried into his subsequent sportscar career, as across two years at Alpine he claimed three podiums but failed to finish higher than 16th in the World Endurance Championship standings.

A completely different style of driving is also required for WEC, so I don’t think it’s fair to use that as a barometer for how successful Schumacher can be in single-seaters. So now comes the litmus test: IndyCar.

The 26-year-old has finally found his way back into his preferred form of racing following a test with Rahal Letterman Lanigan and this will arguably be Schumacher’s biggest challenge yet. No more can the ‘but it’s sportscars’ line be used as an excuse for poor form, because this year he will contest what is supposedly his strongest form of racing and there will be no hiding place.

It strikes resemblances of Yuki Tsunoda’s move to Red Bull. You got exactly what you wished for, now go and prove you have what it takes. We all know how that went for the Japanese driver, so Schumacher will be determined to make sure the same doesn’t happen to him, because it could make or break his career.

Solid results may put Schumacher back on the radar of F1 teams, but if he doesn’t match expectations then it will end that pipe dream and he may be destined for a career in the lower midfield of IndyCar at best. Considering Alex Palou’s dominance of the North American series and RLL’s recent struggles, it’ll certainly be difficult for Schumacher to shine but as long as he maximises the machinery at his disposal, then that’s all that can be asked of him.

It’ll certainly be fascinating to watch.

Zilisch starred in NASCAR's second category and now sets about making a name for himself in the Cup

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Connor Zilisch can shine as he makes the step up to the NASCAR Cup Series – Nick DeGroot

Connor Zilisch is one of the biggest rising stars motorsport has seen in years, and he's already accomplished so much before even reaching the age of 20. After securing an FIA Karting Academy Trophy crown, he quickly figured out how to win in the Mazda MX-5 Cup and Trans-Am racing. He also earned class victories in endurance racing classics like the Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring 12 Hours in his very first attempt. While he could have quite the career in sportscars, Zilisch set his sights on the stock car world where his natural talent has translated well.

He was quickly signed by Trackhouse and became an official Red Bull athlete before winning on debut in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts (formerly Xfinity) Series, the secondary division in the stock car racing ladder. From the get-go, he was elite on road courses, but he soon figured out ovals as well.

In 2025, he embarked on a full-time campaign in the secondary level of NASCAR, dominating fellow young guns and even the veterans on the grid. Zilisch won 10 of 33 races, including a stretch where he triumphed in seven out of eight races he entered. He led the entire series in race wins, top fives, top 10s, and poles, only losing the title due to the one-race finale where Jesse Love passed him in the closing laps.

No one doubts his ability, but in 2026, he will take the giant leap up into the NASCAR Cup Series. He will drive the #88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse. It will be a departure from the equipment he has grown accustomed to as Trackhouse which, while a strong organisation, is still behind the main super teams that have dominated NASCAR for some time. The modern Next Gen car is also alien its counterparts in lower divisions, making the learning curb that much steeper.

However, Zilisch already has a handful of races under his belt at the Cup level, placing as high as 11th in a respectable showing at Atlanta. He will also have defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Ross Chastain and Supercars ace Shane van Gisbergen to rely on as team-mates, and it probably won't be long until he gets acquainted with the top level of NASCAR and resumes his winning ways.

Razgatlioglu faces a daunting task as a MotoGP rookie, but it won't be one to miss

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Toprak Razgatlioglu will turn heads in MotoGP – Haydn Cobb

Toprak Razgatlioglu’s path to MotoGP is rare in modern times. After catching the eye in his national racing scene in Turkey, Razgatlioglu spent two years in the Red Bull Rookies Cup but struggled to stand out in a grid packed with stars of the future (in his second season, a certain Jorge Martin won the title from a certain Joan Mir).

Without a significant amount of funding at this point, the Turkish rider had to go the long way around to MotoGP. His quality was always clear with a European Superstock 600 championship title in 2015 providing an upward trajectory with support from Kawasaki. Graduation to the World Superbike championship under the mentorship from five-time World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu and with growing backing from Red Bull saw him arrive at the factory Yamaha squad as the one to watch in 2020 and he delivered on that promise with his first world title a year later.

Two narrow title defeats saw Razgatlioglu take what initially appeared to be a massive gamble moving to BMW and the unfancied M1000RR, but his instant adaptability and supreme bike control enabled him to storm to back-to-back world titles in 2024 and 2025.

Still with friendly connections at Yamaha, and given BMW’s lack of MotoGP programme to provide a direct route, the 29-year-old will become a rookie once again as he steps into grand prix racing and returns to a paddock that he first entered in over a decade ago as a little-known Red Bull rookie. This time, he’s got the biggest profile for a rookie since Marc Marquez back in 2013.

But, unlike Marquez, who along with his alien talent joined one of the strongest squads at the time in Repsol Honda, Razgatlioglu has arguably the trickiest package on the entire grid at Pramac Yamaha – a team heading into just its second season as the Yamaha satellite squad plus the full-season debut of the manufacturer’s V4-powered M1.

So, this pick isn’t based on a rookie set to blow the competition away, given the three-time World Superbike champion faces a challenge that is just too great as he adjusts to prototype bike racing on Michelin tyres. But Razgatlioglu’s story, riding style (search ‘Toprak stoppie’ for two minutes of wonderful madness) and how he fares against the best MotoGP has to offer will be utterly enthralling.

Who do you think will be the rookie to watch out for in 2026?

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