The arrival of rookies on the F1 grid is always exciting. This season, six new faces have graced the paddock. Well, five—if you don’t count Liam Lawson as a rookie, as Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman recently joked. Add half a point if you agree with the duo, and toss in Fernando Alonso for good measure.
It is Lawson’s first full season as an F1 driver, so why the hesitation in calling him a rookie?
Because he’s already contested 11 Grands Prix prior to 2025, all as Daniel Ricciardo’s stand-in over the past two years. That gives him just enough experience to seem too seasoned for the rookie tag—yet, technically, he still fits the definition.
As for Alonso, a man with over 400 race starts and two world championships, being labeled a rookie? That was just Antonelli’s way of poking fun at the Spaniard during an interview with ESPN F1. The Mercedes teenager cheekily referenced Alonso’s longevity by calling him a “rookie.”
Ever since the former Alpine driver drove during the post-season young drivers’ test in 2020 for the Enstone-based team, Alonso being a rookie driver has been a running gag in the F1 community. Meanwhile, Lawson’s case has also become a peculiar one.
Antonelli had already jokingly called the 43-year-old a rookie in the 2025 Rookie Roundtable featurette with F1 TV’s lead presenter Laura Winter earlier this year. Now, ahead of the Miami GP, Antonelli and Bearman—former F2 teammates turned comedic duo—teamed up once again to joke about Lawson and Alonso.
When asked about the influx of rookies this year, Antonelli admitted, “You know, it’s pretty cool for the sport.”
Then he turned to Bearman to confirm: five or six rookies?
“Five and a half,” they agreed, grinning—Lawson and Alonso both earning honorary mentions. Antonelli had briefly forgotten about Alonso but quickly added, laughing, “He will always be the rookie.”
While Alonso would not mind such banter, he could boastfully claim that he was a world champion when these two rookies were born in 2005 and 2006!
These analogies from Kimi Antonelli and Ollie Bearman on the longevity of Fernando Alonso’s F1 career
From one rookie to another pic.twitter.com/u6KljlzYQB
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 30, 2025
Regardless, it was just another example of Antonelli and Bearman’s now-famous sense of humor. The pair have shared some memorable antics, including a ‘financial prank’ on Bearman’s trainer Paolo back in their Prema days.
“We were with his trainer, and he looked at his phone like, “Why is stuff arriving at my house? I didn’t buy this kind of stuff,’” Antonelli recalled in an interview last month. The culprits? Antonelli and Bearman, who had ‘borrowed’ Paolo’s credit card to place a few surprise orders.
Watch out, F1 grid—Antonelli and Bearman could be coming for you next.
