Is this F2 driver the next Max Verstappen? 'A once in a generation talent'
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Formula One is officially halfway through this season. The title battle has become incredibly close, with four teams, Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes, winning races. Although the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have won championships, Marc Priestley spoke exclusively to GPblog to give his verdict on which driver could become the next to win their first championship.
This season, Formula 1 has seen six different race winners across twelve races. This makes a change to last season, where Verstappen won 19 out of 22. It was only his teammate Sergio Perez, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who were able to beat the Dutchman. Nevertheless, this season is proving to be different, with a closer title fight between four top teams, all of whom have featured on the podium.
Speaking exclusively to GPblog, via LordPing, former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley told us who he thinks has the potential to win their first world championship, given the recent changes we have seen on the grid. “Formula One is in a great place because you could easily say Charles Leclerc you could say Lando Norris, or Oscar Piastri who I actually genuinely think is title contending material maybe over the next couple of years. I also think George Russell has what it takes,” he said.
This season, we have seen Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, and now Hamilton debut on the top step of the podium. However, for Priestley, there is one other who has what it takes to become a champion. “We are probably going to see this young kid in Kimi Antonelli coming in and we saw what happened when Max Verstappen turned up as this protege that everyone was raving about as a once in a generation talent. What if this guy is the same? He could come in and immediately stamp his foot on Formula One like Lewis [Hamilton] did in his first couple of years.”
Could Antonelli become an F1 champion?
Antonelli has certainly been on the radar, with much speculation over whether he will enter F1 next season. He has been linked previously to Mercedes. At Silverstone last weekend, Antonelli was able to secure his first win in F2, after he finished first in Saturday’s sprint race, eight seconds ahead of Zane Maloney. Antonelli is not the first F2 driver to be rumoured to be making the move to the top class.
After much speculation, Haas F1 team confirmed last weekend that Oliver Bearman has signed a multi-year deal with the team from 2025. Nevertheless, with the upcoming regulation changes, and new talent in F1, Priestley expects it to be a tough battle: “Any of those drivers have the potential particularly because most of this shuffle around that's happening with drivers right now is all in preparation for 2026, sort of almost a Formula One 2.0. If you get your drivers correct at the right time and you get your car right together, who knows anyone any of these guys could become world champion,” Priestley concluded.