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Max Verstappen changed F1 before Kimi Antonelli arrived on the scene, former Mercedes engineer Jock Clear says.
Antonelli is arguably F1’s most exciting young talent since Verstappen, who made his debut in 2015 and joined Red Bull the following year. The Italian won his first five F1 races consecutively – something that had never been done before – and leads the standings by 40 points.
While a race-ending failure in Barcelona narrowed his commanding advantage, Antonelli is still the favourite to win the title and, in doing so, crush F1’s youngest champion record, currently held by a 23-year-old Sebastian Vettel.
Fill in the gap: Kimi Antonelli will win _ world championships in his career
Jock Clear says Max Verstappen ‘paved the way’ for Kimi Antonelli
Antonelli had only just turned 18 when Mercedes announced him as Lewis Hamilton’s successor for the 2025 season. According to Clear, this kind of move was unheard of before Verstappen arrived.
Indeed, Hamilton was 22 when he made his debut with McLaren in 2007, the same age as Fernando Alonso when he landed a top seat with Renault in 2003.
In 2016, an 18-year-old Verstappen made history by winning on his debut for Red Bull. No driver had previously stood on the top step before their 21st birthday, so this was a transformative result for F1.
Between Jacky Ickx’s 1968 French GP victory and Michael Schumacher’s inaugural triumph at the 1992 Belgian GP, only one driver under the age of 24 won a Grand Prix.
Is Kimi Antonelli the best teenager F1 has ever seen?
“I’ve seen a great transition in the drivers, now they’re arriving very young,” Clear told Formula1.it. “Someone like Max Verstappen, who arrives at 17, shows how good these guys are.
“And this paved the way for Antonelli, Bearman and others. In my day, Schumacher was the youngest winner of a GP, at 24. Now some drivers at 24 have been in F1 for years.”
As if to prove Clear’s point, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who turned 25 in April, has just made his 75th Grand Prix start.
Antonelli is at the forefront of a new generation of F1 drivers born between 2004 and 2007, including Isack Hadjar, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad.
Lindblad has scored 13 points in his first seven Grand Prix weekends, while Bearman’s impressive form at Haas will very likely earn him a move to Ferrari one day.
“Look at Lindblad, he’s doing a great job, what Antonelli and Bearman have done,” said Clear. “We’re at a point where these young drivers are giving their all already when they get into an F1 car, which is a testament to what happens in the lower formulas: we teach them how to behave under pressure.
“And we see it with Kimi Antonelli, who is leading the world championship at his age. They have to know how to manage it, manage the media and the team, which requires top-level performance. When you can win championships, you need top drivers. No mistakes.”
It has been suggested that Antonelli had it easier than Hamilton because he had access to more advanced technology and data as an up-and-comer, but there is clearly a greater willingness from teams to trust young talent too.
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