F1 EXPLAINS: Rookie Seasons – with Jenson Button and McLaren’s Tom Stallard

Faster cars. Brighter spotlight. Higher pressure. A Formula 1 debut is a dream come true, but rookies need to impress, or their first season could be their last.

As Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto prepare to start their F1 careers in Australia this weekend, the F1 Explains podcast explores the secrets of a successful rookie season.

2009 World Champion Jenson Button made his F1 debut with Williams 25 years ago. He explains the challenges facing the 2025 rookies.

‘Every rookie immediately wants to win, immediately wants to beat his teammate and show everyone what he or she is capable of, and that puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders’, says Button.

‘It makes it very difficult to be consistent, because as soon as you drop behind your teammate in terms of pace, you push too hard and that’s when accidents happen’.

While every rookie wants to score points, stand on the podium or win races, Button says avoiding mistakes is even more important.

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‘The worst thing you can do as a Formula 1 driver, as a newbie, is crash. It costs the team too much, especially with the budget cap. You just cannot have a crasher in F1 these days.’

In 2000, Button’s debut season with Williams, he scored a best result of 4th and finished 8th in the championship. He also became the youngest driver to score a point, a record now held by Max Verstappen.

What advice does Jenson have for this season’s rookies? ‘Even if you’re a touch behind your teammate in pace, don’t worry’, he begins.

‘If you can do that for 24 races and be just behind your teammate - sometimes in front - the dream. The team will look at that as a great base that you can build on for year two.’

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Oscar Piastri drove an impressive rookie season for McLaren in 2023. He scored a victory in F1 Sprint, two Grand Prix podiums and regular top-10 finishes. Piastri’s Race Engineer Tom Stallard tells F1 Explains how he helped the Australian adjust to racing at the very top.

‘These cars are a lot quicker than anything else they’ll ever drive, but actually they adapt to that very quickly’, Stallard says.

‘The thing that is hard is the level of tyre understanding that the top drivers have, and the ability to get the best out of the tyres in a long run. ‘We saw with Oscar in his first year, quite often we were losing out in terms of tyre management in the race.’

‘In qualifying laps, the talent of these rookies will probably show through. If they’re not able to qualify well, that’ll be an alarm bell for the teams working with them.’

Stallard also helped Piastri learn to work with a new engineering team, which was far bigger than those in junior categories like Formula 2.

‘We made a big point in Oscar’s first year of making sure he knew a lot of the support team around him and the factory staff by name. When we got information on tyres from factory-based people, he would recognise their voice and their name, so all that was familiar to him.’

And the secret of Piastri’s rookie success? Stallard thinks the Australian’s mindset was important.

‘The thing that stands out with him is his calmness. He’s not actually relaxed or chilled out, there’s a lot of intensity behind that calmness. He generates, in his head, space to think things through carefully.’

‘During his first season he was able to maintain that, and not get cluttered with concerns about how he was doing. He just stuck to what he was trying to achieve, and not get distracted by questions that other people were asking of him.’

Piastri’s second year in Formula 1 was even better than his first. Two Grand Prix victories established him as a front-running driver, and he begins his third season as a contender for the Drivers’ Championship. The 2025 class of rookies will hope to follow Piastri’s lead.

The full episode of F1 Explains is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all other podcast apps, or you can listen using the player on this page.

F1 Explains is the official F1 podcast which answers your questions about the sport. You can send your questions to F1Explains@F1.com

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