The "next Max Verstappen": 3 realistic and 2 outrageous expectations from his rookie season

Kimi Antonelli has been anointed as the "next Max Verstappen" by many who have seen him race in the junior categories or have bought into the hype. What makes the young Italian a magnetic figure is that even as a teenager he has shown flashes that have made one think that he's a diamond in the rough.

The Formula 2 rookie season saw Kimi Antonelli drive for a Prema team that was uncharacteristically out of form. It's not something one tends to associate with the Italian team. There were still weekends when you could see that the talent was there, especially when Kimi had Ollie Bearman in the same team and getting worse results than the Italian.

Unlike Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli is making a jump into F1 with more than a year of car racing, and hence there'ssomething in the bank for him in terms of experience.

However, unlike Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli isn't going into a Toro Rosso. He's going into a team that won multiple races in 2024 and could challenge for the title in 2025.

As a teenager making his debut for Mercedes alongside an experienced George Russell, let's take a look at what should be some of the realistic and outrageous expectations from the young driver who's touted to be the next big thing in his rookie season.

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What can we expect from the next Max Verstappen?

Realistic

He'll show flashes of brilliance

Whether it's a wet weather race or just a weekend where he's got everything hooked, there would be flashes of brilliance from the young kid. What he will have under him for 2025 is a car that should be decent enough for at least a few podiums in the season and maybe even wins.

The car could be a title contender as well. However, when you're in your rookie season in F1, just like Max Verstappen, what tends to stand out more is not your cerebral consistency but the moments of sheer brilliance where the teenager is yet to come to terms with his own mortality.

In his rookie season, there would be moments where one looks at Kimi Antonelli and be amazed by what he does in the car.

There will be mistakes/crashes, big ones!

Just like the high points, there are going to be a few low ones as well. When you hire a teenager who's a prodigious talent, confidence is something there's no dearth of. What could sometimes be lacking is the ability to find the right balance, though.

The impetuosity of youth is always going to be something that's going to stand out with the young Italian. There's no doubt that this is something that's going to cause a few mistakes here and there and some crashes as well.

There will be weekends when George Russell might not keep up

This might be a bold statement, but if Kimi Antonelli is what one expects to be the next Max Verstappen, the gold dust of talent he possesses is going to shine through.

There will likely be weekends this season where it just comes down to the sheer talent the kid possesses, and on those weekends, George Russell might be unable to keep up with young Antonelli.

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Outrageous

He fights for the title

Well, when we talk about something outrageous, there could be a possibility this season that Mercedes has a car capable of fighting for the title.

The German team wasn't too far behind in terms of performance in 2024, so something like it doesn't seem impossible. In that scenario, if Kimi Antonelli is also fighting for the title, it would be a shocker because the kid has a lot of learning to do.

In terms of mileage in F1 cars, he's very limited, and we can see that already in the outings he has had. Even for Max Verstappen, the year he made his debut, he was not a finished product. There was still some time he had to put in his racing to reach a point where one knew that a title battle between him and the top drivers would be interesting.

If Kimi Antonelli is already on a path to challenge for the title, it would be awesome for the sport but something that would surprise a lot of people.

He outperforms George Russell

There's almost a similarity to the Kimi Antonelli-George Russell partnership with the Max Verstappen-Daniel Ricciardo partnership almost a decade back. The Dutch driver joined the team where the Australian was already established, and the dynamics saw the two drivers compete, with Ricciardo having the edge early on.

Just like the early Red Bull years for Max Verstappen, Kimi Antonelli's rookie season will likely be all about proving himself. One shouldn't forget that the kid is yet to prove that he belongs on the big stage, and the first season could be spent trying to achieve just that.

If Antonelli ends up outperforming Russell, that would turn heads, but having that expectation from the kid for now is just outrageous.