Why Taylor Barnard Should Be the FIA Rookie of the Year 2025?

Taylor Barnard, Formula E

It may seem too early to discuss a Rookie of the Year. After all, the Formula One season is on summer break, Formula Three has been wrapped up by winner Rafael Câmara, with one round to go, and the Formula Two title is still in flux, with over 9 different leaders throughout the season so far, many of whom are rookies like Leonardo Fornaroli, Alex Dunne and Luke Browning.

This is not even accounting for the seven Formula One rookies, who have themselves seen podiums and points combined, but, for me, no one deserves the Rookie of the Year title like Taylor Barnard - the former Neom McLaren Formula E driver.

So why is Taylor Barnard deserving of the award?

Unlike the other Motorsports series that have not yet wrapped up, the Formula E season did, a couple of weeks ago in London. While Taylor Barnard did not have a great race for his final race in Papaya, finishing P13 in Race 1 and retiring in Race 2, his earlier performances in the championship earned him P4 in the overall standings in his rookie season.

This is in comparison to fellow rookies Zane Maloney, who scored zero points during the season and David Beckmann, who scored one point in the final race in London. Neither Beckmann nor Maloney was in cars as good as Barnard's, but their more experienced teammates did manage a podium for Lucas di Grassi (Maloney’s teammate) and a win for Dan Ticktum (Beckmann’s teammate).

This is why Barnard has proved himself this season. He beat his experienced teammate, Sam Bird, who finished 18^th in the championship standings, with five podiums, while Bird got zero podiums in this year’s championship. With his podium in the opening round at Sao Paulo, this led Barnard to become the youngest podium sitter in Formula E history, being just twenty years old at the time.

But the records kept coming with Barnard because on the Jeddah circuit, he became the youngest driver to get pole position, beating the eventual championship winner and mentor, Oliver Rowland. Taylor also got a second pole position in Monaco, as well as being a contender in the final stages of the duels during many races across the season.

Barnard also went on to achieve five podiums during the season, as well as being in the top ten, nine out of the sixteen races. He also retired from two of the sixteen races, which, for a rookie, is impressive, as the size of the Gen 3 Evo cars often means that crashes are more prone to happen.

For any rookie, these are good stats when you put into perspective how competitive the Formula E grid is. Taylor was still in the fight for second place in the standings until the final round, and existing champions rarely win the championship twice, only happening once with Jean-Éric Vergne, as drivers tend to lack consistency given the chaotic nature of Formula E.

While technically not a full rookie, as he replaced his teammate Sam Bird for Monaco and Berlin in the 2023-2024 season due to injury, I hope that the FIA consider Taylor Barnard for the award. His exceptional performance in the championship, competing against twenty-one of the leading drivers in this discipline, demonstrates his ability to stand alongside accomplished winners such as Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, despite being in the initial stages of his career.

We just have to December to see what happens, for the FIA prize giving ceremony, but also to see if Taylor Barnard is still on the grid, although rumours say that a Penske seat may be on the cards.

Written by Amy Powis (@powisamy_ on Instagram)