The Path to Success: Is There A Right or Wrong Way?
With the question of Carlos Sainz’s seat for next year still unanswered and up in the air, the potential options for Sainz have been dwindling as teams look to the younger generations. In conversations and rumors surrounding Sainz’s plans for the future, names such as Oliver Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson, and Jack Doohan have been thrown into the mix as candidates for the remaining open seats.
And while some of these prospective rookies look to be more set on securing a seat than others, does it really matter how they are introduced to Formula 1 and what team they end up driving for?
The signs all seem to be pointing to yes.
Thrown in the deep end
When a seat opens up at a frontrunner team such as Mercedes, there is an extreme amount of appeal towards attaining that position, and rightfully so. The frontrunner teams on the grid are able to offer drivers faster cars and bigger salaries due to larger incomes than some of the less successful teams, and the chances for drivers to win a World Championship are highly compounded with a race leading team. But jumping from a lower motorsport series such as Formula 2 straight to a highly competitive and successful F1 team can cause a lot of issues.
Take Williams driver Alex Albon for instance. After a somewhat successful career in Formula 2 and demonstrating a great deal of potential, Albon was promoted to F1 in 2019. Though officially starting his rookie season with the smaller team Toro Rosso, Albon was quickly given a seat at Red Bull to replace Pierre Gasly. This ended up going pretty poorly for the young driver, as he struggled to keep up with the pressures of racing in a Red Bull and ultimately receiving the axe. For a team like Red Bull, the target goals are quite extraordinarily ambitious and the bar is automatically set very high, which can be extremely challenging for a rookie to achieve.
While it hasn’t been confirmed yet, F2 driver Kimi Antonelli has a strong possibility of ending up in Mercedes’ second seat. Antonelli has repeatedly proved himself to be an exceptional talent in motorsport, and Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has mentioned being impressed with Antonelli several times. Even so, throwing the young driver into the deep end like that doesn’t necessarily spell a recipe for success for Antonelli. But only time will be able to tell whether or not Antonelli can make the most of this potential opportunity and rise to the top, or if he’ll end up like Alex Albon did at Red Bull.
Easing in
At the other end of the spectrum, rookies who are introduced to F1 through a smaller and less competitive team at the lower end of the field seem to have the opportunity to experience more success over a longer period of time. While these backmarker teams — such as Williams, Haas, and Sauber — can’t offer quite the benefits that a frontrunner can, it gives younger drivers the chance to dip their toes in and get the feel for the higher caliber that Formula 1 operates at. Current Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is a perfect example of this.
Debuting with Toro Rosso in 2015, Sainz was able to get comfortable in the intense atmosphere of F1 and start securing points for a few years before moving up to McLaren and eventually Ferrari. In that time, Sainz was able to make a name for himself and establish himself as solid and talented driver prior to really jumping into the spotlight and fighting for victories amongst the more competitive, aggressive, and successful big name drivers.
F2 driver Oliver Bearman could perhaps be starting down a very similar path if the talks about him securing a seat at Haas come to fruition. Bearman, in a comparable fashion to Kimi Antonelli, has been continually proving himself as a brilliant driver both in F2 and in his brief drives in Formula 1, but starting him off in a less high-pressure position might be just what the young driver needs in order to get his bearings and begin the season strongly.
The odd ones out
Of course, there's always those who never follow the trend, both in the cases of starting with a highly competitive team and being successful, and of starting small and not being given quite enough opportunity. The circumstances of the former don’t actually end up occuring all too frequently, while the latter is a more common occurrence. And there have been some notable drivers at least worth mentioning for both situations.
Lando Norris debuted with McLaren in 2019, almost immediately impressing both fans and teams alike with his efforts and apparent success. At the time of his arrival, the McLaren Formula 1 Team was known for sitting around the top of the midfield, as they were already decently competitive with the bigger teams. From his debut until now, Norris has continued to race with the same team, currently being highly regarded for his performances and talent. Norris was able to find himself in the impressive group of drivers who were able to quickly adapt and secure victories under immense pressure right off the bat, but this shouldn’t necessarily be relied upon as being the norm for all incoming rookies.
On the flip side, the son of the legendary Michael Schumacher, Mick, started racing for Haas in 2021, and pretty quickly on showed signs of struggling. Previous to his promotion to Formula 1, Schumacher had won the 2020 F2 Championship and displayed a lot of racing potential, but that success just didn't seem to carry over into his F1 career. Even though Schumacher made his debut with a team that wasn’t nearly as high pressure as the likes of Red Bull, he consistently failed to score points for the team. Ultimately, Schumacher left Haas after 2 seasons, but that’s not to say that he was a bad driver.
There’s a lot of debate surrounding these Mick Schumacher type situations with drivers, mostly stemming from the fact that these backmarker teams are incapable of providing their drivers with the resources necessary to be contending for points and maximizing the skill that the drivers possess.
Whether team principals recognize it or not, how a rookie is introduced into Formula 1 deeply impacts the trajectory and success of their racing careers. At this stage, no one knows what rookies will be joining the grid for the 2025 season and where their piece of the puzzle will fall into place. But it’s certain to be one extraordinarily thrilling season with lots of changes and surprises that will begin to emerge as this year continues.
