Motorsport Off Topic Thread

[chrismscotland]

Fernando getting in early with a bit of pot-stirring for next season: Alonso claims Bortoleto is F1's best rookie for 2025.

To be honest, I think he may well be right - at least for 2025. I think Antonelli has more innate talent, but he's a much more raw prospect, at just 18 and having skipped F3. But Bortoleto has also improved as he's moved through the ranks, getting a respectable but ordinary run in his first few years before smashing F3 and F2 in his rookie seasons. In contrast, Kimi rocked up and won the first four full single seater seasons he took part in but then only had a decent but not standout season in F2 having leapfrogged F3 altogether - still thoroughly outclassed Bearman in the other Prema though.

I'm looking forward to seeing so many rookies on track next year; it's going to be fascinating to see how well they compare to each other.

I don't know if I'd agree that Kimi "thoroughly outclassed" Bearman - Bearman won more races throughout the year and while he finished behind in the standings he also didn't take part in 2x sets of races because he ended up in the Ferrari and Haas.
Be interesting to see how they all do next year though!

 

[Mr Jack]

I don't know if I'd agree that Kimi "thoroughly outclassed" Bearman - Bearman won more races throughout the year and while he finished behind in the standings he also didn't take part in 2x sets of races because he ended up in the Ferrari and Haas.

Antonelli also missed a race, but fair point - swapping back and forth did seem to unsettle Bearman and he already had pole for one of those races, his only one of the season. Still, I think 113-75 is a pretty solid margin, and Kimi qualified ahead of Bearman more often than not, and this is Bearman's second season in F2 which should give him a significant edge.

Both are exciting talents, I think, and watching them compete over the coming years is going to be a real treat.