Formula One rookies happy with development: 'Makes it more confidential'
F1 News
- Estéban den Toom
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar and Ollie Bearman all switched from Formula 2 to Formula 1 last winter. The four drivers joined the press conference and answered the question of what it was like for the four of them to make the switch to the king class. They unanimously agreed that it is a great development.
Antonelli and Bortoleto on rookies in Formula 1
Antonelli is the youngest driver currently gracing the grid. He said, "It feels great. Gabriel, I know him since karting. It's nice that we've been coming up the ladder. We were a bit upset because when he was in junior, I was in mini. It was nice. Also with Ollie, last year, we got along pretty well during the F2 season and also with Isaac in F2. It's nice that we all got the opportunity, and it's really nice that we are all sharing the F1 track together."
Bortoleto agrees with Antonelli, "I think Kimi said, all of it. It's amazing. It's cool to see young drivers getting into Formula One now, some years already that there was always one or two coming in, but finally a year that, a lot of us, managed to get the opportunity. All of us deserved good results in junior series, good results in testings that we have done. Looking forward to seeing what we can achieve on track and the fun battles we can have as well."
Hadjar and Bearman speaking
Hadjar, who has stepped up into Red Bull Racings junior team Racing Bulls, explained that he likes having the other rookies to compare himself. Hadjar and Bortoleto fought against each other in the last F2 season for the championship. "No. Just it shows the I would say, we have a strong generation, obviously, and, it just highlights this, and it's good to obviously race guys I know already. It's a bit more familiar once we get to it on track."
Bearman, who has the most F1 driving experience, looks at it the same way. "Yeah. I'm a kind of half rookie, but, no, very happy to be sharing the track with people I shared the track with last year, and it's good to know that, I'm not the only one in the rookie camp. At the start, I was the only rookie for a while, and then the others got announced, which was a nice feeling. We were going through the same experiences, new tracks for us this year and stuff like that. It's nice not to be alone on that side of things."
This article was written in collaboration with Savannah Lenz.