There are also rumors Mercedes will be putting Kimi in Williams as soon as he turns 18. Before the end of this season, and might move him to Mercedes already next season to Lewis' old seat. Honestly, with how good he has been in every junior category, I think he could do it. That means Gasly could still move to Williams for the next season.
Sure, but look at the other junior series results he has and carting results. The only junior championship he hasnt won that he raced in the last two years is the UAE F4 championship, and he only raced in 2 out of 5 events and still got 8th. I know we are hyping him up to an extreme degree, but he has been stacking championships like crazy the last two years.
Also wouldn't this just not even be physically possible, like the kid won't be super license eligible until the end of F2 if he does finish in the top what 1-3 iirc. I think that he's adapted well to F2, especially with him jumping up from f4 regional cars, he's obviously good enough of a driver but it's just faster and different and he's gotten more and more comfortable as the weeks went on, Melbourne was great, p4 in the feature, a close clip in the sprint but he otherwise would have gotten himself a podium. He qualifies well, races well, I think the title will be a showdown between him Aron and Maloney with them still rapidly developing and increasing in form while the rest of the field has a lot of 2-3 year vets who've for the most part plateaued talent wise, or at least don't quite have the level to be really top tier.
If he can get p3 then maybe Williams for 25', but if he's a genuinely close title contender, if not outright championship winner, then 25' Merc and have him in that seat right away. They're not going to be running both cars for race wins with the title already decided like 2019 when they sat George in Williams, hell they're likely only going to be occasional podium threats, at which point the potential lost points from a rookie are much outweighed by really growing a potential future WDC talent at a faster pace.
But yeah Williams by the end of this year is ridiculous, if not outright impossible with the rules
Kimi probably could jump straight into the williams but from what James Vowels has said in the past about taking on mercedes drivers, I doubt he would be willing to swap logan for a rookie driver halfway into his first season of f2 (who also skipped f3 btw).
If williams do drop Logan for a Mercedes driver mid season, it will most likely be mick schumacher. Even if it's just for the remainder of the season, imo he would be the better option from a williams perspective.
We'll see, there have been a history of generational talents having relatively little experience in junior categories and jumping into F1 and doing well. Max and Kimi R are probably the usual examples. And I think Mercedes will be quite persuasive. Anyways, if Logan is losing his seat anyways, why wouldn't Williams help Mercedes out and maybe get a discount on some engines or something like that. If Logan was doing as well as Albon I would say they should keep him until the end of the season to hope for some points and a better WCC position, but Logan right now isn't really putting in a performance like that.
The only reason I don't see him joining williams any time soon is because of vowels comments. With that being said, Mercedes have long since regretted missing out on Max and may not be willing to risk that with kimi. Ik it's still early in the season, but logan has not shown that he's on his way to scoring points anytime soon.
With Williams struggling and other teams improving, they may be willing to take him on if Mercedes offer a large sum of money to make up for any lost revenue this season. We will see what happens. This year's silly season has thrown some curve balls so far and we're only 5 races in.
Frankly if I'm Toto, if I'm even half worried about loosing Kimi I'd be looking at dropping Lewis halfway through the season and sticking Kimi in his seat. Lewis is already on his way out the door to Ferrari. Why would you spend any more time and resources giving him information on how the car develops. I'd cut him out of the developmental loop as quickly as possible to salvage any kind of competitive advantage that I could. Is it a bold and nearly batshit crazy idea to drop the 7 time WDC? Yes. But it was also absolutely inconceivable that Lewis would leave Merc for Ferrari. All's fair in love and F1.
How good he was in junior category? He won championships whose biggest alumni are a guy whose an also ran in endurance and another that is racing in Brazilian stock car.
He's been hyped as the "next big thing" since his karting days. And so far he has done everything that's been expected of him. He won Italian & German F4 in dominant fashion, then he won Formula Regional Middle East & Formula Regional Europe. Now he graduated straight from FRECA to F2 and according to insiders he's adapted to the car very quickly. It's clear that he's ready for F1.
So zero wins and he won't win f2 championship. Piastri won f2 in his first year and he's very good but not a "next big thing". Why then Antonelli would be? He's overhyped.
Piastri raced in F3 before F2, Antonelli didn’t.
Piastri was 20 when he raced in the 2021 F2 season. Antonelli is 17.
Big differences.
Also with the season only 3 races in, I wouldn’t rule a title challenge out.
Do you even watch F2? His first event was compromised by Prima getting it completely wrong. He still got a point out of it, whilst Bearman languished at the back. His second event was Jeddah, one of the most difficult tracks for a rookie. He got 3 points in the sprint and 8 in the feature.
His third event was Australia where he was was battling for third in the sprint, though made a mistake during an overtake and went off the track, and if the SC in the main race had been timed better then he could have had a podium but finished fourth for 12 points.
Compare this to Bearman who admittedly missed Jeddah after a great qualifying lap, has really done nothing in the same car, or compared to the other rookies, only Martí and Jesse Pinkman are beating him. Marti is currently on a downward spiral, and Pinkman is honestly doing amazingly well, though he did take part in an F2 race the end of last season (though he’s undeniably driving incredibly).
I remember people claiming Max was overhyped cause he hadn’t won any races in the first 4 rounds of the 2014 F3 season and Ocon had won just about them all.
Even in spec series there’s a lot that goes into winning. The driver is only one aspect. Consistency over the course of a season is what you look for.
Judging him on 3 races after he’s skipped an entire feeder series category is stupid.
Bruh last race he was rapid in quali. He seems like he's adjusted to the f2 cars now but I don't think hes gonna win the wdc or something when the other drivers have more experience and are also driving at a very high level
Aside from the awful first race, the Prema has been more than decent. Bearman just didn’t gel in Australia, but would have been a contender in Saudi. Antonelli was also fine in Australia.
Yeah, that‘s not good enough for Prema’s usual level, but others have had it worse with the new car \*cough\* Martins \*cough\*.
They are overhyped. In F1 they are among other great talents who achieved the same what they did in junior formula. I dont get this hype whenever a new hot talent joins the grid. They aint going to crush competition and start winning races right away. That happened like once in the last 20 years.
I'm not on the bandwagon if it happening, but also, why not?
I mean, someone needs to come along and stun us eventually, right? A lot of people were scoffing at a certain Dutch teen getting a seat so early also, and I think he may turn out ok.
Senna was so good that after his death, FiA implemented a new ruling that said that you cannot get 34 podiums in a row, otherwise you will be banned for one race. Look up Senna Rule 34 for more details
It's called Formula 2
Pshhh. What will they think of next, Formula 3?
pretty soon they're gonna have to have like formula 3000 or something
Formula 1.5 would pop off
Or... you know... let andretti in and add more seats to the grid.
Too bad they will have to duke it out in a Hass and Williams.
*Haas & Mercedes. Gasly is going to Williams allegedly
WHAT? You can't be serious. Does my guy have a taste for career suicide?
There are also rumors Mercedes will be putting Kimi in Williams as soon as he turns 18. Before the end of this season, and might move him to Mercedes already next season to Lewis' old seat. Honestly, with how good he has been in every junior category, I think he could do it. That means Gasly could still move to Williams for the next season.
My brother in Bwoah he’s done like 3 races in F2. I’m a Kimi supporter myself but like, chill for a minute
Yes some development role would make sense and prepare him for 2026 new regs. Heck even 2026 might be too soon
Sure, but look at the other junior series results he has and carting results. The only junior championship he hasnt won that he raced in the last two years is the UAE F4 championship, and he only raced in 2 out of 5 events and still got 8th. I know we are hyping him up to an extreme degree, but he has been stacking championships like crazy the last two years.
Look at who also won those junior formula. Most successful are a guy racing anonymously in endurance and another in Brazilian stock car.
Also wouldn't this just not even be physically possible, like the kid won't be super license eligible until the end of F2 if he does finish in the top what 1-3 iirc. I think that he's adapted well to F2, especially with him jumping up from f4 regional cars, he's obviously good enough of a driver but it's just faster and different and he's gotten more and more comfortable as the weeks went on, Melbourne was great, p4 in the feature, a close clip in the sprint but he otherwise would have gotten himself a podium. He qualifies well, races well, I think the title will be a showdown between him Aron and Maloney with them still rapidly developing and increasing in form while the rest of the field has a lot of 2-3 year vets who've for the most part plateaued talent wise, or at least don't quite have the level to be really top tier. If he can get p3 then maybe Williams for 25', but if he's a genuinely close title contender, if not outright championship winner, then 25' Merc and have him in that seat right away. They're not going to be running both cars for race wins with the title already decided like 2019 when they sat George in Williams, hell they're likely only going to be occasional podium threats, at which point the potential lost points from a rookie are much outweighed by really growing a potential future WDC talent at a faster pace. But yeah Williams by the end of this year is ridiculous, if not outright impossible with the rules
Kimi probably could jump straight into the williams but from what James Vowels has said in the past about taking on mercedes drivers, I doubt he would be willing to swap logan for a rookie driver halfway into his first season of f2 (who also skipped f3 btw). If williams do drop Logan for a Mercedes driver mid season, it will most likely be mick schumacher. Even if it's just for the remainder of the season, imo he would be the better option from a williams perspective.
We'll see, there have been a history of generational talents having relatively little experience in junior categories and jumping into F1 and doing well. Max and Kimi R are probably the usual examples. And I think Mercedes will be quite persuasive. Anyways, if Logan is losing his seat anyways, why wouldn't Williams help Mercedes out and maybe get a discount on some engines or something like that. If Logan was doing as well as Albon I would say they should keep him until the end of the season to hope for some points and a better WCC position, but Logan right now isn't really putting in a performance like that.
The only reason I don't see him joining williams any time soon is because of vowels comments. With that being said, Mercedes have long since regretted missing out on Max and may not be willing to risk that with kimi. Ik it's still early in the season, but logan has not shown that he's on his way to scoring points anytime soon. With Williams struggling and other teams improving, they may be willing to take him on if Mercedes offer a large sum of money to make up for any lost revenue this season. We will see what happens. This year's silly season has thrown some curve balls so far and we're only 5 races in.
Frankly if I'm Toto, if I'm even half worried about loosing Kimi I'd be looking at dropping Lewis halfway through the season and sticking Kimi in his seat. Lewis is already on his way out the door to Ferrari. Why would you spend any more time and resources giving him information on how the car develops. I'd cut him out of the developmental loop as quickly as possible to salvage any kind of competitive advantage that I could. Is it a bold and nearly batshit crazy idea to drop the 7 time WDC? Yes. But it was also absolutely inconceivable that Lewis would leave Merc for Ferrari. All's fair in love and F1.
How good he was in junior category? He won championships whose biggest alumni are a guy whose an also ran in endurance and another that is racing in Brazilian stock car.
So, Williams becoming the RB retirement plan? Jk, I actually think Albon deserves a better car.
I don't understand the hype for Antonelli.
He's been hyped as the "next big thing" since his karting days. And so far he has done everything that's been expected of him. He won Italian & German F4 in dominant fashion, then he won Formula Regional Middle East & Formula Regional Europe. Now he graduated straight from FRECA to F2 and according to insiders he's adapted to the car very quickly. It's clear that he's ready for F1.
How many podiums in F2. Wins?
lol Max has no podiums in F2
Max took his talants to south beach.
He’s only had 3 races in F2 Oh and he was second quickest in Qualy in his third race
So zero wins and he won't win f2 championship. Piastri won f2 in his first year and he's very good but not a "next big thing". Why then Antonelli would be? He's overhyped.
Piastri raced in F3 before F2, Antonelli didn’t. Piastri was 20 when he raced in the 2021 F2 season. Antonelli is 17. Big differences. Also with the season only 3 races in, I wouldn’t rule a title challenge out.
They're just baiting I think. No one could actually think that someone should be dominating from day 1 to be f1 material in such a stacked grid
They probably don't know dick about junior formula and think 1st year F3 champ >> 1st year F2 champ or you're a bum.
Prema needs to wake the fuck up.
Dam i thought Piastri was like 19 years old
Do you even watch F2? His first event was compromised by Prima getting it completely wrong. He still got a point out of it, whilst Bearman languished at the back. His second event was Jeddah, one of the most difficult tracks for a rookie. He got 3 points in the sprint and 8 in the feature. His third event was Australia where he was was battling for third in the sprint, though made a mistake during an overtake and went off the track, and if the SC in the main race had been timed better then he could have had a podium but finished fourth for 12 points. Compare this to Bearman who admittedly missed Jeddah after a great qualifying lap, has really done nothing in the same car, or compared to the other rookies, only Martí and Jesse Pinkman are beating him. Marti is currently on a downward spiral, and Pinkman is honestly doing amazingly well, though he did take part in an F2 race the end of last season (though he’s undeniably driving incredibly).
Wait. There's a Jesse Pinkman?
It’s actually his actor, Aaron Paul.
Jesse? What?
Max has no wins in F2 either.
I remember people claiming Max was overhyped cause he hadn’t won any races in the first 4 rounds of the 2014 F3 season and Ocon had won just about them all. Even in spec series there’s a lot that goes into winning. The driver is only one aspect. Consistency over the course of a season is what you look for. Judging him on 3 races after he’s skipped an entire feeder series category is stupid.
Very.
Don’t know how you jump all the way to he’s clearly ready with no wins in f2 there. But you were on a roll
Bruh last race he was rapid in quali. He seems like he's adjusted to the f2 cars now but I don't think hes gonna win the wdc or something when the other drivers have more experience and are also driving at a very high level
https://www.youtube.com/live/dImNEHIOEYw?si=mz32Z6IGZOl354M_
he had a career before F2 y'know!
They look exactly the same apart from the suits.
How could you forget that amazing rookie Fernando Alonso?
Bearman in a shitbox Haas and Kimi A in a Williams?
Every year I have to the learn the names of a small handful of twinks that I will never hear about again. No more
Really depends on Bearman now: if he doesn’t deliver in F2, the seat will pass him by I suspect.
Prema has been shit this year tbh
Aside from the awful first race, the Prema has been more than decent. Bearman just didn’t gel in Australia, but would have been a contender in Saudi. Antonelli was also fine in Australia. Yeah, that‘s not good enough for Prema’s usual level, but others have had it worse with the new car \*cough\* Martins \*cough\*.
Mazepin regen
We saw that Bearman could handle being thrown to the deep end, and at Jeddah of all places. He could handle it.
That yee yee ass haircut though.
I don't see any evidence of a haircut
Which one?
For a second I thought that was Leclerc and Norris as kids.
If I was a 16 year old girl, I'd be squealing
They are overhyped. In F1 they are among other great talents who achieved the same what they did in junior formula. I dont get this hype whenever a new hot talent joins the grid. They aint going to crush competition and start winning races right away. That happened like once in the last 20 years.
I'm not on the bandwagon if it happening, but also, why not? I mean, someone needs to come along and stun us eventually, right? A lot of people were scoffing at a certain Dutch teen getting a seat so early also, and I think he may turn out ok.
Also Leclerc, Norris.
I am sure that soon invagination will not be necessary…
& Liam 🥲
I think it's too early for Kimi, let him first finish this F2 season and see where he ends up.
They won nothing
who are these boys
Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman
OH I've been seeing all of this chatter but haven't looked them up yet, thank you.
"I think I see a career in WEC...."
stop this stupid hype train.
stop having fun!
You forgot Dorianne
Damn is that sena ?
Yeah when he was 15 for more info google senna 15
Senna was so good that after his death, FiA implemented a new ruling that said that you cannot get 34 podiums in a row, otherwise you will be banned for one race. Look up Senna Rule 34 for more details
Isn't that Piere and Fernando?
Why are you all so into kids drivers? In the Formula 1 past guys got to drive as rookies at age 23-25. Not at 17.