After Romain Grosjean became the 8th GP2 graduate to score a podium in F1 I decided to take a quick look at how he was comparing to other GP2 boys on their debuts in F1. There are no prizes for guessing who tops the list but here is a list of how each GP2 graduates rookie season stands up against the others.
1st - Lewis Hamilton (mcl) 109 points, 12 podiums, 4 wins *
2nd - Kamui Kobayashi (sau) 32 points
3rd - Heikki Kovalainen (ren) 30 points, 1 podium*
4th - Vitaly Petrov (ren) 27 points
5th - Timo Glock (toy) 25 points, 1 podium*
6th - Romain Grosjean (Lot) 23 points, 1 podium
7th - Nico Hulkenberg (Wil) 22 points
8th - Nelson Piquet Jr (ren) 19 points, 1 podium *
9th - Sergio Perez (sau) 14 points
10th Sebastian Buemi (tor) 6 points
11th Nico Rosberg (Wil) 4 points
12th Pastor Maldonado (Wil) 1 point
=13th Bruno Senna (HRT)
Narim Chandhock (HRT)
Lucas Di Grassi (VIR)
Jerome D'ambrosio (VIR)
Charles Pic (Mar) = 0 points
*= old points scoring system
So just as its clear at the top that Lewis Hamilton is by far the most succesful graduate its also clear that Timo and Heiki given the benifit of the new scoring system would have been head and shoulders above the others in this table and that whilst Grosjean may have equalled them in getting a podium in his rookie year he should be reminded that so did Nelson Piquet Jr.
I know a lot of this is all relative to what drive you are lucky enough to land in your first year but I think you have to give Romain creidt for already having out scored the very highly rated Nico Hulkenbergs rookie score already after 4 races. He's also only 5v points off Petrov's first year total and before you say the difference is the car on that one I'll remind you Robert Kubica scored 132 points in the same car as Petrov did that season so mabye sometimes its what you do with it.
The most surprising stat for me in there is Kobayashi out stripping Perez by 32 points to 14 both with debut years in the Sauber. Given all the praise Perez is getting its worth remembering.
As for Grosjean if he keeps this up he could become the second most succesful GP2 rookie of all time. Having said that though on looking at the list I was very dissapointed in it to be honest. Only 3 Grand Prix winners and only 1 who's ever been in a title hunt. If you look at most of thse names you see a bunch of drivers who showed potential at one point and then sort of petered out or who are fighting to show us they still are the superstar they were made out to be. So heres a question for you is GP2 overhyping young drivers and pushing the teams to throw them into F1 too early?
1st - Lewis Hamilton (mcl) 109 points, 12 podiums, 4 wins *
2nd - Kamui Kobayashi (sau) 32 points
3rd - Heikki Kovalainen (ren) 30 points, 1 podium*
4th - Vitaly Petrov (ren) 27 points
5th - Timo Glock (toy) 25 points, 1 podium*
6th - Romain Grosjean (Lot) 23 points, 1 podium
7th - Nico Hulkenberg (Wil) 22 points
8th - Nelson Piquet Jr (ren) 19 points, 1 podium *
9th - Sergio Perez (sau) 14 points
10th Sebastian Buemi (tor) 6 points
11th Nico Rosberg (Wil) 4 points
12th Pastor Maldonado (Wil) 1 point
=13th Bruno Senna (HRT)
Narim Chandhock (HRT)
Lucas Di Grassi (VIR)
Jerome D'ambrosio (VIR)
Charles Pic (Mar) = 0 points
*= old points scoring system
So just as its clear at the top that Lewis Hamilton is by far the most succesful graduate its also clear that Timo and Heiki given the benifit of the new scoring system would have been head and shoulders above the others in this table and that whilst Grosjean may have equalled them in getting a podium in his rookie year he should be reminded that so did Nelson Piquet Jr.
I know a lot of this is all relative to what drive you are lucky enough to land in your first year but I think you have to give Romain creidt for already having out scored the very highly rated Nico Hulkenbergs rookie score already after 4 races. He's also only 5v points off Petrov's first year total and before you say the difference is the car on that one I'll remind you Robert Kubica scored 132 points in the same car as Petrov did that season so mabye sometimes its what you do with it.
The most surprising stat for me in there is Kobayashi out stripping Perez by 32 points to 14 both with debut years in the Sauber. Given all the praise Perez is getting its worth remembering.
As for Grosjean if he keeps this up he could become the second most succesful GP2 rookie of all time. Having said that though on looking at the list I was very dissapointed in it to be honest. Only 3 Grand Prix winners and only 1 who's ever been in a title hunt. If you look at most of thse names you see a bunch of drivers who showed potential at one point and then sort of petered out or who are fighting to show us they still are the superstar they were made out to be. So heres a question for you is GP2 overhyping young drivers and pushing the teams to throw them into F1 too early?