Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are vying to become the first McLaren driver to deliver the drivers’ world championship since Lewis Hamilton in 2007. They combined to bring home the constructors’ this year, and now the next goal is obvious.
Norris led the McLaren challenge to Verstappen this year. He eventually finished 63 points behind and never got closer than 44 after his maiden career win in Miami.
In his defence, Red Bull still had a dominant package in the first five races. That was evident in their 100% pole position record, four wins and three one-twos.
That meant Norris was always an outsider. Piastri, meanwhile, briefly threatened to challenge in a career-best run of form during the summer and early autumn.
During an eight-race spell starting in Austria and ending in Singapore, he scored six podiums, two wins (his first in F1) and never finished lower than fourth. In fact, he was the most productive driver on the grid in that stretch.
Perhaps predictably given that he was only a sophomore driver, he lost form in the final third of the campaign. He eventually finished 145 points off the pace, but he’s clearly displayed title-winning potential.
Oscar Piastri the first rookie to earn frontrunning F1 drive since Lewis Hamilton
During an interview with Speedcafe, Piastri was asked whether he’d able to inspire F1’s fresh wave of young talent. There will be five rookies on the 2025 grid – Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber).
For the first time ever, there were no debutantes in the field to start the 2024 season. But Piastri, who became the sport’s youngest driver after Logan Sargeant lost his Williams seat, has shown that young talents can deliver quickly.
The former F2 and F3 champion came alive during the second half of his rookie year with back-to-back podiums and a Sprint win (Japan, Qatar) and showed he was one of the world’s fastest drivers this term. As Piastri pointed out, it’s ‘rare’ that a newbie is given such competitive machinery.
“It’s been a long time – before me, I guess – since a team that’s been quite competitive has taken a rookie,” he said. “Even in my rookie season, we weren’t competitive for the first six months, but by the end of the year, we were.
“It’s quite rare – really since Lewis, I guess – to have someone jump into a team that is capable of fighting right at the front as a rookie. Maybe I helped a little bit.”
Since Hamilton’s historic 2007 season at McLaren, where he came within a point of winning the title, the team had taken on three rookies – Kevin Magnussen (2014), Stoffel Vandoorne (2017) and Lando Norris (2019) – while occupying a midfield berth. Red Bull continued their policy of testing drivers at Toro Rosso before promoting them.
Likewise, Ferrari placed Charles Leclerc at Sauber for an adaptation year. And Antonelli is Mercedes’ first rookie signing ever.
McLaren boss Zak Brown has already warned Oscar Piastri about Kimi Antonelli
Mercedes were inspired by Piastri in signing Antonelli, so the McLaren man has a point. Zak Brown and Andrea Stella couldn’t realistically have asked any more from a driver they fought so hard to sign.
If Antonelli, who becomes the third-youngest driver ever behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll, embarks on a similar trajectory, Toto Wolff will be delighted. Like Norris, George Russell will be expected to dominate at first, but come under more pressure in the second season.
Brown has warned that Antonelli will be ‘awesome’ in 2025 after what he’s seen in the junior categories. Comparisons to Hamilton in ’07 will be inevitable, especially given that he’s the direct successor to the British legend.
The rest of the 2025 rookie class will have to bide their time. The Ferrari-linked Bearman and Red Bull junior Hadjar do, however, have a clear path to the front if they impress.
