Antonelli Faces Tough Test to Match the Hype

Doohan’s Fate Sealed as Colapinto Rises at Alpine

Montoya believes Doohan is already out at Alpine, while Antonelli faces mounting pressure to justify the excitement surrounding his F1 debut.

Johnny Herbert believes the best driver among the rookies and those entering their first Formula 1 season this year will be Oliver Bearman, Haas F1’s new recruit. However, the former driver is eager to see the entire new class line up on the grid.

“I like Gabriel Bortoleto because I admire what he achieved in F2. I appreciate his courage and determination to put himself in the position he was in when he won the championship,” Herbert said.

“Now, he finds himself racing against Nico Hülkenberg, which is a great opportunity for him to measure himself against Hülkenberg. As we saw with Oliver Bearman, he pushed him. At times, Bearman was even faster than Hülkenberg.”

“The driver who will be very, very interesting to watch is Kimi Antonelli. His first performance at Monza wasn’t great. Now, he needs to rebuild his reputation and get people back on his side because it wasn’t the ideal scenario for him.”

“He is also up against George Russell, a very confident and intelligent young driver who, in my opinion, will be tough to beat. I think Bearman is also one to watch. For me, he is likely to get the most out of this young group. And then there’s Isack Hadjar. I really liked what he did in F2.”

Juan Pablo Montoya is concerned about Antonelli, believing his reputation has grown too much ahead of his debut: “It will be difficult for Kimi Antonelli to live up to the hype. It’s going to be really tough.”

“He has enough speed to be very, very good, but with speed, accidents can happen. There has always been talk about how he had a lot of crashes with the older cars. I think he has fully committed himself, and if Kimi can control his emotions and understand that it might take time to perform, I believe he will succeed.”

“If he wants to race and beat everyone, it could backfire on him very quickly. If someone can rein him in and tell him, ‘Slow down, tiger,’ he has the time to avoid putting himself in bad situations.”

“But I think there’s a strong chance he’ll find himself in a tricky situation because he has shown how fast he can be, but he has also shown that he can make mistakes. You go fast, you crash; you go slow, you don’t crash.”

The Colombian is convinced that Alpine has already decided to drop Jack Doohan in favor of Franco Colapinto: “Alpine has already conducted comparative tests between Colapinto and Doohan. But Briatore keeps posting pictures of Colapinto on his social media, and many are already saying the die is cast for Doohan.”

“What’s difficult for Doohan is that, from the outside, it looks like the decision has already been made. I think it will happen. Formula 1 has seen how significant Colapinto’s popularity is, and behind the scenes, F1 is already helping to make it a reality.”

He believes Colapinto will surpass all the drivers in Alpine’s academy: “The drivers they have in F2 and F3 are all very talented. Franco was with Williams, in their academy, and suddenly he got the opportunity to race. Now, none of these F2 drivers will get the seat—it will be Franco.”