Palmer on two young Monza debutants

Former Formula 1 driver, official website expert Jolyon Palmer commented on two young drivers’ debuts in Monza…

Monza saw two Formula 1 debuts for young drivers with different roles and approaches. Franco Colapinto made steady progress at the wheel of the Williams over the weekend, while Andrea Chimi Antonelli took part in the first practice session for the first time and made headlines for a different reason.

It is difficult to compare the approaches – the riders worked on different programs. Colapinto will drive for Williams until the end of the season and demonstrate his talent in the remaining races, as the team has already confirmed contracts for 2025 with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.

When you get behind the wheel of Formula 1 in a situation like that, you never know how it’s going to end. A few strong sessions can open doors you previously thought were closed. Look at Oliver Berman, who has secured a seat at Haas for 2025 after a cameo stint with Ferrari in Saudi Arabia.

Antonelli entered the Monza weekend under contract with Mercedes for 2025, but for him the first practice session was his only chance of the weekend to show what he could do.

As a reserve driver for Lotus in 2015 I always found a balance between speed and risk. You understand that everyone is judging your skills, but if you damage the car, things can go wrong very quickly.

Antonelli had already signed a contract with Mercedes and felt no pressure – for him it was just a chance to show the team and the whole world how good he can be. The start was impressive. The first flying lap brought Kimi to the lead of the session, but then he overdid his attack on the dirty track and an accident was inevitable.

Telemetry analysis after the session showed the impressive speed of Antonelli, who last year raced at Formula 3 level. He was significantly quicker than Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the fast Lesmo 2 and Ascari, before crashing the car at Parabolica. The team is rightly impressed with the speed of their new driver.

The crashed car proved costly for Mercedes, especially for George Russell, who missed half of the second practice session while repairs were being made. Kimi should have gradually increased his speed and not attacked with full force in the first few laps. In the end, he only worked for ten minutes per hour, causing serious and costly damage to the car.

For most other drivers, such a crash at the start of the first practice session would seriously undermine their chances of perseverance. But he is not a different racer. As Mercedes said: the most difficult thing for a driver is to find speed, and in Kimi’s case this aspect is certainly encouraging. Stability is easier to achieve than speed.

On the other side of the pitlane, Franco Colapinto made his debut. I was very surprised to hear about his move to Williams, given some of the other options available. But at Monza, the Argentine impressed with a very different approach to the quick and impatient Antonelli.

Having the luxury of a full weekend, he gradually improved his results and was disappointed to be out of contention in the first part of qualifying. But in Formula 1 the level is very high, every mistake is visible in qualifying.

That is exactly what happened on Colapinto’s final lap when he hit the gravel in Lesmo 2 and ruined his chances of progress, finishing 18th, well behind team-mate Alex Albon, who qualified ninth.

Franco had a good race. The director barely showed it in the broadcast, focusing on the battle of the leaders. Colapinto finished 12th, one lap behind the leader and only 14 seconds behind his teammate.

They followed the same strategy and were equally fast for most of the race. The team was impressed not only by Colapinto’s relative pace but also by the fact that, like Albon and the race-winning Leclerc, he was able to execute a complex one-stop strategy while preserving his tyres.

If it weren’t for Colapinto’s mistake in the first part of qualifying, he could have earned points. It’s worth remembering that the last Williams debutant at Monza was Nyck de Vries, who earned points in 2022 and secured a contract.

Monza was a great start for Franco, but it is the easiest track to master and debut. The upcoming Baku and Singapore are a lot harder, but if Franco keeps up the pace, his career prospects will improve significantly.