Max Verstappen had it easier than Kimi Antonelli in rookie F1 year - Jolyon Palmer

F1 pundit Jolyon Palmer has leapt to the defence of Kimi Antonelli amid the barrage of criticism he’s received during his rookie season.

Antonelli has scored points just three times in the last nine races.

The Italian now sits behind Williams’ Alex Albon in the drivers’ championship after two more error-strewn weekends.

Antonelli was on course for a top-six finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

However, Antonelli’s race was ruined after picking up two penalties from the stewards - one for punting Charles Leclerc out of the race, the other for speeding.

At Monza, Antonelli beached his Mercedes in practice, putting him on the back foot for the remainder of the weekend.

A poor start compromised Antonelli’s Italian GP.

He was overtaken by Albon in the final stint of the race and received a five-second penalty for over-aggressive driving, which dropped him behind Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

Antonelli has been heavily criticised in recent weeks, with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff expressing his frustration publicly for the first time.

On the latest episode of the F1 Nation podcast, Palmer and Tom Clarkson discussed Antonelli’s form and the narrative around it.

Palmer initially said: “Why were we necessarily thinking an 18-year-old rookie was gonna come in and do better than he’s doing? Because of the hype,” Palmer said.

Podcast host Clarkson replied: “Two words: Max Verstappen. Max Verstappen has distorted what we expect of teenagers now.”

Max Verstappen made his F1 debut in 2015 alongside Carlos Sainz, who was also a rookie at Red Bull’s junior team, Toro Rosso.

Palmer was keen to point out that if Verstappen was alongside a top driver, like Sebastian Vettel (as Antonelli is with George Russell at Mercedes), it would have looked a lot different for the Dutchman.

“Max Verstappen came in alongside rookie Carlos Sainz,” Palmer explained.

“If you put Kimi in alongside rookie Isack Hadjar, it would be a lot closer than you think. We’d be thinking, wow, the 18-year-old has got some amazing results.

“He’s made some bloopers. It wouldn’t be as drastic. If you put Max in 2015, alongside peak Sebastian Vettel, it’s probably not going to go that well for Max.”

Russell “driving a champion’s season”

Russell has enjoyed arguably his best season in F1.

He’s been incredibly consistent and is in contention to be F1’s best driver of the season so far.

Palmer believes that Russell’s incredible form is only making it more difficult for Antonelli.

“To drive at the level that George Russell’s doing right now, he’s driving a champion’s season in not the best car, because the consistency of his performance is incredible,” Palmer added.

“I feel like if you gave him a McLaren right now, he’s on a par in terms of his driving standard with Lando and Oscar, at least. Same with Max. And that’s the benchmark that we’re giving Kimi.

“I know he was a sensation in karting, and he was very good in Formula Renault, Formula Regional European. But he’s skipped F3. He has done one year of solid F2, but nothing really more.

“The odd spectacular drive, but the odd error as well, and he’s in Formula 1. And I still think he’s talented. I still think he’s good. But I think he needs to just get back to solid weekends and think maybe I just need to be a solid Formula 1 driver first.”