F1 has recently seen a massive influx of young drivers such as Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto coming in from the F2 feeder series. Most of these drivers have settled in very quickly. Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes that this is the case because the specs of F2 cars are becoming increasingly similar to F1.
In a recent interview on the Pitstop podcast, Steiner said, “What I was surprised is that these young guys like Ollie and Colapinto coming in and how good prepared they are. There must have been a shift, a little in F2.”
“I think F2 got better as a feeder series. Maybe the cars are closer to that of an F1 car. I think the tires are closer to that of F1 tires now.”
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Since there are such similarities between the two Formula series now, Steiner believes it is much easier for young drivers to settle in quickly in F1 as compared to before. He then explained how F3 cars are also becoming increasingly similar to that of F2 to make the transition easier from one Formula category to another.
There indeed has been a remarkable shift in how teams are showcasing much more faith in young drivers in the last several months. At the beginning of the 2024 season, there was a surprise as all 10 teams retained their driver line-ups from last year, which meant that for the first time in history, no rookie joined the grid.
However, in the last few months, teams have signed several rookies. Haas signed Bearman after his impressive cameo for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he finished P7 as a substitute for Carlos Sainz.
Meanwhile, Williams signed Colapinto for the rest of the 2024 season as Logan Sargeant’s replacement. Furthermore, Mercedes have now confirmed 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli for their 2025 season lineup. While Antonelli hasn’t raced in F1 yet, the former two have already showcased their prowess.
Bearman and Colapinto have been highly impressive so far
Bearman has just driven in two F1 races so far and has managed to score points in both of them. After finishing seventh for Ferrari at Jeddah, he scored a crucial point for Haas by finishing 10th in Baku. Thanks to these results, he became the first driver in F1 history to score points for two different teams in his first two races.
Similarly to Bearman, Colapinto has also been very impressive despite just competing in three races so far with Williams. The Argentine finished an outstanding eighth for Williams in Baku and scored four crucial points for them.
With Colapinto settling so quickly in F1 despite his lack of experience, there are already rumors that Sauber/Audi is considering him for their second seat. Since Sauber/Audi are the only side that are yet to confirm their driver line-up for 2025, this is Colapinto’s only chance to land a full-time seat in F1 in 2025.
