Juan Pablo Montoya

Team: Williams BMW. Born: Bogota, Colombia (20/9/75). Residence: Monaco. Weight: 72kg. Height: 1.68m. Marital status: Single.

Montoya is perhaps the most written about, most hyped and potentially most talented driver to step into an F1 car in years. The Colombian comes from two years in the US where, in his first season, he took a stunning title win in the CART Champ Car series driving for Toyota-powered Chip Ganassi Racing. Last year was not so kind, the Colombian managing only ninth place overall in a troubled car. Montoya has been quick in testing and has adapted to an F1 car quickly and with confidence. He is pushing team-mate Ralf Schumacher hard and fireworks between the two can be expected.

Kimi Raikkonen

Team: Sauber Petronas. Born: Espoo, Finland (17/10/79). Residence: London. Weight: 63Kg. Height: 1.75m. Marital status: Single. Girlfriend Hanna.

Raikkonen is the polar opposite to Montoya. Just four years older Montoya has a racing pedigree to die for. Raikkonen, on the other hand, has all the pedigree of an animal shelter mongrel. With just 23 races under his belt, from his headlong rush to an emphatic Formula Renault Euro series win, the Finn almost didn't make it to F1 when the FIA initially refused to issue so inexperienced a driver with the super licence required to race in F1. A besotted Peter Sauber championed his cause and the governing body relented. A steep learning curve awaits from which Raikkonen may make the occasional spectacular deviation.

Fernando Alonso

Team: European Minardi. Born: Oviedo, Spain (29/7/81). Residence: Oviedo, Spain. Weight: 68Kg. Height: 1.71m. Marital status: single.

If Raikkonen at 21 causes ructions within the FIA, then surely you would expect Alonso, the youngest driver on the grid at a very tender 19, to create absolute havoc. It hasn't happened, though, because the Spaniard has a CV second to none for such a young driver. A world kart champion at 15, he made his way quietly to F3000 where he suddenly exploded with a stunning victory at Spa, the ultimate driver's circuit.

Suddenly the young driver, who was the being guided into a testing role at Minardi, was the name on everyone's lips. The youngster signed a development deal with Renault which sees him back at Minardi to earn some much need F1 race experience.

Enrique Bernoldi

Team: Arrows. Born: Curitiba, Brazil (19/10/78). Residence: Curitiba, Brazil. Weight: 68Kg. Height: 1.78m. Maritalstatus: single.

Bernoldi was drafted into Arrows at the last minute following disagreements with Pedro De la Rosa and his chief backers, Spanish oil company Repsol. The former Sauber tester comes with a good teenage pedigree but show a startling drop off in results in recent years as he's moved into F3000.

As the rows deepened over the awarding of a super licence to Kimi Raikkonen, Bernoldi was at last considered for a Sauber race drive, but only as a last resort. His signing ton Arrows came out of the blue and despite some innate race ability Bernoldi is unlikely to threaten the pack or his team-mate Jos Verstappen.

Luciano Burti

Team: Jaguar Racing. Born: Sao Paulo, Brazil (5/3/75). Resident: Sao Paulo and Cambridge. Weight: 68Kg. Height: 1.75m. Marital status: Single.

Technically not a rookie after deputising for an ailing Eddie Irvine at Zeltweg last year, Burti has been a coming force at Stewart/Jaguar for several years. Former technical director Gary Anderson was a confirmed fan of the young Brazilian and his faith was eventually rewarded when Burti was promoted to Irvine's junior when Johnny Herbert handed in his F1 notice. Burti did a solid, if unspectacular job, in Austria last year, but the worry remains that he lacks the aggression and will-to-win of a champion.

Against that, he is quick and has regularly outpaced team-mate Eddie Irvine in testing this year.