Andrea Kimi Antonelli has enjoyed a record-breaking start to his Formula 1 career at Mercedes but the Italian has not been 2025’s ‘standout’ rookie for Karun Chandhok.
The Bologna boy welcomed a huge challenge as Antonelli stepped up from Formula 2 to join Mercedes as their replacement for Lewis Hamilton. He inherited the seat of a seven-time F1 champion as well as the weight of being Italy’s next great hope after 19 years without a win.
Yet Antonelli, who became the third-youngest driver to start an F1 race with his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, has been impressive so far. He overcame qualifying in P16 due to floor damage for P4 in Melbourne, took P6 with floor damage in China and was P6 again in Japan.
His results made Antonelli the first rookie since Lewis Hamilton in 2007 to score points in all of their first three Grands Prix. Additionally, Antonelli broke Max Verstappen’s record as the youngest F1 race leader by three days at the Japanese Grand Prix at 18 years and 224 days.
Karun Chandhok snubs Andrea Kimi Antonelli to name Isack Hadjar the ‘standout’ rookie
But Chandhok thinks Racing Bulls talent Isack Hadjar has been the ‘standout’ rookie so far in the 2025 F1 season instead of Antonelli. The ex-HRT driver points out that Antonelli enjoyed 10,000km in private tests with Mercedes whereas Red Bull promoted Hadjar at short notice.
READ MORE: Who is Racing Bulls 2025 F1 driver Isack Hadjar? Everything you need to know
| DRIVER | RACES | WINS | POLES | PODIUMS | POINTS |
| Jack Doohan | 59 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 303 |
| Isack Hadjar | 54 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 247 |
| Oliver Bearman | 50 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 205 |
| Gabriel Bortoleto | 28 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 214.5 |
| Andrea Kimi Antonelli | 26 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 113 |
Mercedes utilised F1’s Testing of Previous Cars (TPC) programme to prepare Antonelli for his debut throughout 2024. Yet Red Bull only gifted Hadjar his promotion from F2 after the final round after they ultimately released Sergio Perez and moved Liam Lawson from Racing Bulls.
Chandhok said on Sky Sports F1 (11/04, 13:28) about how good Hadjar has been: “Honestly, surprising. I saw him in F2 and I thought he was good. But he’s been the standout performer of the season, for me.
“I know Antonelli has grabbed the headlines in some ways but he’s in a much better car. And if I look at the level of preparation that Hadjar’s had compared to Antonelli – Antonelli had 10,000km of preparation and Hadjar’s been really, really impressive I think so far this year.”
Isack Hadjar bounced back from his debut crash in Australia to score his first F1 points in Japan
Hadjar has not let his inferior seat time compared to Antonelli prevent the 20-year-old from displaying the Red Bull academy product’s potential, though. The Racing Bulls rookie sealed P11 in the Chinese Grand Prix after qualifying P7 and scored his first points in Japan with P8.
READ MORE: Know all about 2025 Mercedes F1 driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli including stats
Chandhok is not alone in admiring the Racing Bulls rookie’s start as a Formula 1 driver so far this season, too, as Hadjar has ‘surprised’ Damon Hill with his ‘very impressive’ form. Hadjar has ‘really impressed’ Anthony Davidson, as well, with his response to crashing on his debut.
How Hadjar has bounced back from crashing at Turn 2 on the formation lap at the Australian GP especially stands out to Chandhok. The Paris native faced the worst start to his F1 career he could likely have imagined, with Helmut Marko branding Hadjar ‘embarrassing’ for crying.
“Absolutely [amazing response],” he added. “I think he’s one of the big stars of the season.”
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