Andrea Kimi Antonelli—or Kimi Antonelli as known by most—is the highest-scoring rookie in the history of Formula 1 (F1), yet there is a lot of controversy surrounding that title. Antonelli has surpassed the previous holder of the title, Lewis Hamilton, by 41 points as of December 5, and while he has scored more points, this doesn’t necessarily mean he is the better driver.
Formula 1 is a sport where twenty drivers are part of ten teams—two drivers per team—who race across a grid in hybrid cars to get a podium, which in turn earns them points, according to the Formula 1 website. Each team competes in two championships: the Drivers’ Championship for the highest-scoring individual and the Constructors’ Championship for the highest-scoring team. There are many factors that go into a race weekend, including practice sessions, sprints, qualifying to set the starting order, and the Grand Prix itself. Strategy plays an important role as well as there are many types of tires, each suited for specific conditions;there are also pit stops which must be planned as they take up time and a driver may lose positions and not be able to recover them. The season spans about twenty-four races lasting roughly nine to ten months. Being an F1 driver takes immense skill, strength, talent and training, so great drivers have been training from their youth. The unattainability of the sport makes it really exciting to watch, as most people would never be able to handle driving such a car at such a speed.
Antonelli is a rookie on the team Mercedes and his season has been incredible. He has consistently been scoring points, been in real competition for other drivers’ podiums, and even led a considerable amount of laps—which is rare for a first-year driver. However, Lewis Hamilton has what’s currently considered the best rookie season to exist. Hamilton finished second in the Drivers’ Championship and had four wins and eleven podiums, drastically outnumbering Antonelli’s three podiums.
In the point system today, a driver who gets first would earn twenty-five points, second would get eighteen points, and third would get fifteen points, fourth twelve points, and it would go down by two points for each position until it reached tenth place, which would only be worth one point. However, in 2007, when Hamilton was a rookie, it was harder to earn points as a first place win was only worth ten points, a second place win was worth eight points, a third place was six points, and then it decreased by one point for each place. This means that only the top eight scorers would get points. In today’s point system, Hamilton would earn 265 points and Antonelli only has 150, according to PlanetF1, creating a wide gap between the two phenomenal rookies
Additionally, in F1 today, there are more races meaning that there are more opportunities to earn points, which would further add to the point gap between the two drivers. The 2025 season has had seven more races than the 2007 season, and with Hamilton doing so well, it’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t surpass 300 points.
Ultimately, while it’s undoubtable that Antonelli is a phenomenal driver, Hamilton is hard to beat. Many consider the seven-time World Champion to be the greatest driver of all time and by having a rookie season that good, it is hard to refute that claim. While many will still view Antonelli as the highest scoring rookie by doing the math, a fan will realise that Hamilton was and currently still is the greatest rookie of all time.
