Guenther Steiner’s Sarcastic “Good Luck”: Can F1 Rookies Pull Off a 2007 Lewis Hamilton Against Max Verstappen?

No rookie in F1 history has taken the sport by storm quite as much as Lewis Hamilton did in 2007. The young Briton not only lived up to the hype of his junior career but stood up to his reigning two-time World Champion teammate Fernando Alonso, defeating him in the standings.

Since then, no rookie has quite ‘pulled off a ‘Hamilton,’ so to speak.

But with six new rookies on the F1 grid in 2025, the odds have never been higher. So, when Guenther Steiner appeared on the Nailing the Apex podcast to do a season preview, he was asked about the chances of a rookie challenging defending champ Max Verstappen for the crown.

However, Steiner, being realistic, dismissed the idea with a rather sarcastic response.

The ex-Haas team principal expects a few raised eyebrows here and there but no serious threat to F1’s established names. Plus, the rookies in competitive cars all have strong teammates. “Try to compete with Max Verstappen, good luck with that one,” Steiner quipped.

“George Russell is a well-established driver, and Kimi Antonelli is 18,” he added, explaining why the winning opportunities would most likely fall in the hands of the senior drivers. The other driver who could have a shot at winning will be Liam Lawson at Red Bull.

The problem is that he will be Verstappen’s direct rival, and a clear number two. So, matching up to the Dutchman will be a humongous task for the New Zealander.

While Steiner does not dismiss the chances of the rookies performing well, he does not see them competing for wins. “The other drivers [Gabriel Bortoleto, Jack Doohan, Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar], I don’t think they are in cars in which they could actually win…” 

So, Hamilton’s 2007 legacy will remain safe unless Lawson or Antonelli prove the Italian-American completely wrong.

Lawson’s advantage over other rookies

Lawson is unlikely to challenge for the championship, not because his talent is being questioned. But because Red Bull themselves are expected to be out of contention, given their reported shortcomings to Ferrari and McLaren. But still, Lawson will have an advantage over his fellow rookies.

That’s because Lawson is not really a rookie. Technically he is because this will be the Kiwi driver’s first-ever full-time campaign, but he has taken part in 11 Grand Prix weekends as a substitute to Daniel Ricciardo across 2023 and 2024.

Bearman — Haas’ new driver — is also in a similar boat, having driven once for Ferrari and twice for Haas in 2024, as is Doohan who made his debut for Alpine at the Abu Dhabi GP last year.

This puts all of them on a higher pedestal, as the other three rookies—Bortoleto, Antonelli, and Hadjar—are completely inexperienced.

However, Lawson will face the highest expectations, even though he insists that his prior outings will not help him in the initial races of the season.