Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman told to adopt Max Verstappen ‘excellence’ trait it they want to succeed in F1

Formula 1 will see six rookies make their full-time debuts in 2025, which is the largest amount since the 2010 season.

At least half of them made their race debuts last year, including Oliver Bearman and Jack Doohan, while Liam Lawson also made his race debut in 2023 after replacing Daniel Ricciardo while he was injured.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli has a lot of anticipation around him, given he is replacing Lewis Hamilton and seen as the next prospective world champion. Doohan is also under pressure to perform in the first six races, after Alpine signed Franco Colapinto as their reserve driver.

Gabriel Bortoleto faces the least amount of pressure, given Sauber is currently the slowest team on the grid after finishing last in the Constructors’ order.

Despite the clear disparity in the cars they will be racing, there is still a lot of pressure that rookies face when in F1 due to the intense media scrutiny and it being the pinnacle of single seater motorsport. Former F1 driver Jan Lammers has explained how they can ‘cope’ by adopting a Max Verstappen trait when speaking to RacingNews365.nl.

Jan Lammers tells F1 rookies how to ‘cope’ with pressure in 2025

Verstappen burst onto the scene in F1 in 2015 and quickly made an impression with how well he coped with the scrutiny at the time, having made his debut at just 17 years old.

It is a record that will now no longer be broken due to the super licence rules requiring a driver to be at least 18 years old. Lammers believes today’s rookies could learn a lot from how Verstappen handled the pressure.

“If the rookies prove to be able to cope with the negative world around them in the future, they can really stay close to themselves and their goal. Max has shown by excellence that he can do that very well,” said Lammers.

“A lot has happened there [Red Bull] in recent years, many things that have nothing to do with racing. But every time Max win there again. If those rookies can avoid [distractions] and stay well within themselves, you can only really judge them [on track].”

Kimi Antonelli explains how he will cope with pressure of being Hamilton replacement

Antonelli has big shoes to fill at Mercedes and the pressure will only get higher if the team is able to produce a car capable of winning races at the start of the season.

The Italian has already completed thousands of miles of testing to get ready for his F1 debut, but there is still questions over how he will deal with wheel-to-wheel combat on track.

Antonelli says he is not going to compare himself to Hamilton and will try his best in the opening stages, as he finds his feet in F1.

He is one of the most hyped up drivers considering Toto Wolff thinks Antonelli is the next Verstappen, something only the on-track results will tell in a few weeks.