Rookie of the Year 2011

[RasputinLives]

had a quick look round and didn't see a Rookie of the year thread so thought I'd start one.

4 contenders this season:

Paul Di Resta:

Last years DTM champion, very much under the wing of Mercedes and being pushed by the PR machine fronted by Mr Hamilton(senior) so comes highly rated. as has been pointed out by the media many times when Vettel was his team-mate in Formula Three he came out on top. Has had a steady and consistent start to the season so far just hovering outside or just in the top 10 and already seems to have the measure of his team-mate. Already being talked about for the Merc drive. Would be interested to see how he'd cope if Sutil was replaced by Hulkenberg.

Sergio 'checo' Perez:

GP2 runner up, Mexican celebrity and possible Ferrari driver in waiting - Perez also comes highly rated although his place in the Sauber team might possibly have been secured by the sponsorship from Mexican company Telmex and the fact he is a Ferrari academy driver and Sauber are supplied Ferrari engines. Perez stunned everyone in Australia and scored 7th spot with a one stop strategy however wing irregularities meant this result was scrubbed and Perez has largely been anonymous since until a handy little drive in Spain got him a 9th place finish.

Pastor Maldonado:

On paper Maldonado looks like a strong contender for the rookie title and strong edition to F1. The 4 years in GP2 saw him keep progressing upwards and finally win the title with 6 wins and 2 podiums. Has been reasonably successful in the formula before. However its very much the view of most that Maldonado has bought his seat through his sponsorship especially as he replaced the highly rated Nico Hulkenberg. Been pretty anon for the first 5 GP's but to be fair the Williams he's driving hasn't exactly set the world on fire either. This weekend saw him raise a few eyebrows by qualifying the Williams in 9th but by the end of the first lap was already down to 13th and finished the race in 15th

Jérôme d'Ambrosio:

d'Ambrosio is the surprise addition at Virgin only coming 12th in the GP2 series the year before. He did pick up one victory at the Monoco stage as has previously been runner up in GP2 Asia as well as International Formula Master champion and Belgiun Formula Renault champion. After impressing in a test for Virgin he was given the seat this season and so far, as long as you consider the equipment he has, has performed admirably. If you rule out his retirement in Malaysia this weekend was the first time his much more highly rated team-mate Timo Glock has finished in front of him. Not got much of a hope for the rookie title driving the Virgin but with his link to the Renault young drivers scheme if he keeps out performing Glock he might move himself up the grid.

Current Standings:

14th Sergio Perez Mex Sauber 2 pts
15th Paul Di Resta GB Force India-Mercedes 2pts

19th Jerome d'Ambrosio Bel Virgin-Cosworth 0 pts
21th Pastor Maldonado Ven Williams-Cosworth 0pts

any thoughts on this years new batch? I know Di Resta has been talked about a lot but who do you see having a future in F1 and who do you see being quick out the door? Any of them you've taken a liking or disliking too?

 

[Brogan]

Has to be Paul di Resta for me.

From the off he has been beating his much more experienced team mate, other than for fastest laps, which, let's face it account for very little.
http://cliptheapex.com/pages/2011-head-to-head/

With his Mercedes connections I can see him moving up the grid quite easily, possibly to partner Nico once Michael (finally) steps down.

Will be interesting to see where the four rookies are, relatively, at the halfway point though.

 

[Slyboogy]

Well it's quite early to have a thread like this up, nevertheless it is a good thread to have, where we can compare the rookies throughout the season.

I am just going to sum up these drivers with a few words from what I have seen.

Di Resta: Great, Consistent, beating his more experienced team-mate consistently, has scored points and haven't seen him make a rookie mistake so far.

Perez: Good, Inconsistent, he has beaten Kobayashi twice, unfortunately for him his best race so far doesn't count and wont be in the record books. After his great debut, he slightly went downhill, off the pace from his team-mate, making a fair few rookie errors, however his last race has shown that he is still promising driver.

Maldonado: Not very good I have to say, but it's only been 4 races. Seems to be consistent, consistently at the back of the midfield. Seems to make lots of errors every weekend, the last GP is his best to date, getting Williams their best qualifying to date, and beating Barrichello when Barrichello had lots of new tyres. Judging by the Spanish GP qualifying, he does have a bit of pace. But really needs to cut out the mistakes.

d'Ambrosio: Not seen much of him, but he has been beating Glock who is far more experienced regularly, Glock will always have the updates first, so when Glock beats him in a race we will wonder how much it was down to the updates. He seems to be doing the best job he can, all he can do is beat his team-mate and the HRT's, which, he seems to be doing.

All in all, so far Di Resta is the best rookie so far.

 

[RasputinLives]

Well it's quite early to have a thread like this up, nevertheless it is a good thread to have, where we can compare the rookies throughout the season.

yeah that was the idea - thought I'd update the stats after each GP - probably in a better format than above! sorry.

What interests me is that even though there level on points and Di Resta has had 11th's and 12ths whilst Perez has had 13th's and 14th's Perez is ahead in the official standings because he has a 9th place - is that the way its always worked?

Anyways lets keep our eye on them all

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Has to be DiResta for me he's been far more consistent than the other new rookies. He's been knocking on the door for points at must races this season so far. Beating his far more experienced teammate Sutil on a few occassions. I hope he can continue his brilliant start to the season and fingers-crossed he'll be able to move up the grid next season.

I think Perez has been good aswell since entering F1 and was absoultely horrified when the kid got his Aus GP disqualified. But he's still very young, but i think he has a great future ahead of him in F1 (rumours of a move to Ferrari).

As for D'ambrosio and Maldonado i'm not sure such about these two haven't really seen enough of them to pass judgement. I'm hoping we'll get to see a little bit more of D'ambrosio in the next few weeks as i like seeing action from the back end of the grid aswell as the front.

 

[Fenderman]

P di Resta for me thus far but it's very early days. Maldonado outqualifying Rubens isn't clear cut since Rubens qualifying las weekend was messed up by a gearbox failure so we will never know what the outcome of that would have been. Perez looks a bit too feisty for my liking. Needs to settle down just a tad and polish up his spacial awarenss. Haven't seen enough footage of D'ambrosio to form any kind of opinion. Anyway, I wish them all the very best of luck now they're all in their hot seats!

p.s. Is there a formula (excuse the pun) that folk's can use to judge these guys that takes into account the relative "quality" of their equipment?

 

[Slyboogy]

yeah that was the idea - thought I'd update the stats after each GP - probably in a better format than above! sorry.

What interests me is that even though there level on points and Di Resta has had 11th's and 12ths whilst Perez has had 13th's and 14th's Perez is ahead in the official standings because he has a 9th place - is that the way its always worked?

Anyways lets keep our eye on them all

No need to apologies, I realised while writing the post it's a good article to have and it isn't judging the rookie's straightaway

As for the standings, whoever has the best finish out of the two who are on equal points will always be ahead, like we saw with Virgin and HRT, Virgin where more consistent, but HRT got a higher finish when Chandhok finished "12th" in a GP, while Virgin's highest finish was lower, think it was 14th? (don't quote me on that, not even sure if Chandhok got 12th!)

 

[Galahad]

I think it's too early to draw any strong conclusions. Di Resta is the only one who's really gone through a proper testing programme, last season, the others haven't done anything like the mileage of drivers in the past.

So having said all that, for me, di Resta, Perez and d'Ambrosio all appear to be more than earning their seats at this stage. Maldonado had disappointed me, but clearly got that Williams up in a position that it didn't deserve to be in on Saturday at Catalunya.

The rookie who outperforms his team mate at Monaco will really make a name for himself.

 

[Fenderman]

Of course! The true test of F1 racing character. Whilst not wanting to detour this excellent thread, I do feel the urge to make a predition. Notwithstanding getting caught up in someone elses accident or a technical failure, I anticipate di Resta lasting longest in the race. However, I fear Perez will taste armco through overexuberance or loss of concentration though I will be more than pleased if he proves me wrong!

 

[Slyboogy]

Of course! The true test of F1 racing character. Whilst not wanting to detour this excellent thread, I do feel the urge to make a predition. Notwithstanding getting caught up in someone elses accident or a technical failure, I anticipate di Resta lasting longest in the race. However, I fear Perez will taste armco through overexuberance or loss of concentration though I will be more than pleased if he proves me wrong!

I think Maldonado is more likely to do that, he has more offs in every weekend compared to the rest of the rookies!

 

[Fenderman]

Yes I know. Couldn't decide whether to predict him actually having a car still in one piece to start the race! Oh, and I really didn't want to say that in public. oh hell the truth will out.

 

[RasputinLives]

p.s. Is there a formula (excuse the pun) that folk's can use to judge these guys that takes into account the relative "quality" of their equipment?

Had a think on this one - guess we could introduce a handicap system. Basically add together all their classified positions and then say minus 15 for d'Ambrosio for being in a Virgin and the one with the lowest score wins. Not sure how we'd work out the handicap though. hmmm - maybe not. Call it work in progress.

 

[Fenderman]

Glad someone's working on this, Ras'. I've had a couple of ideas but by the time I thought I'd worked them out I'd forgotten where I started. There has to be something simple. I've a feeling Galahad or TeaBag' are the chaps for this one.

 

[Road of Bones]

Good thread

Di Resta certainly seems to have ticked most of the right boxes, and I was very impressed with his technical presentation on the grid last Sunday - shows me that he has ample brain capacity to cope with just about any racing situation.

Perez has something about him too - watching hm with interest.

Maldonado - not impressed (didn't think much of him in GP2 either, to be honest), but - with the Williams clearly not being an easy car to set-up & extract performance from (as evidenced by Rubens' troubles in the sister machine), perhaps I'm being overly harsh on him. I'll reserve judgement for now. He's still a pay-driver though!

d'Ambrosio - one of those names I've been seeing & hearing in the junior formulae for what feels like ages, but has never really stood out for me in any of them. Seems to be handling the Virgin well enough, and is smart enough to relish his opportunity instead of joining the "Glock Strop". Does anyone else think he bears an uncanny resemblance to Francois Cevert?

 

[Bushi]

@Road of Bones: Wow, the resemblance is remarkable between Francois Cevert.

For know i'm going for Di Resta, but it's quite difficult to judge them.
'd Ambrosio also does a fantastic job beating Glock. And although most people don't know him very well, he is the one that beat Koboyashi twice in GP2

 

[teabagyokel]

Glad someone's working on this, Ras'. I've had a couple of ideas but by the time I thought I'd worked them out I'd forgotten where I started. There has to be something simple. I've a feeling Galahad or TeaBag' are the chaps for this one.

I have to say I'm not getting involved in this one...!

 

[Fenderman]

Damn

 

[Galahad]

P.s. Is there a formula (excuse the pun) that folk's can use to judge these guys that takes into account the relative "quality" of their equipment?

Traditionally there are three: Saturday at Monaco, Saturday at Spa and Saturday at Suzuka.

Other than that it's very difficult, given the differing abilities of their four team-mates. I could do a qualifying comparison with their team-mates, but 5 races is a small sample to go on.

 

[Fenderman]

Hey, thanks Galahad.I look forward to your analysis later in the season.

 

[Jru]

Other than that it's very difficult, given the differing abilities of their four team-mates. I could do a qualifying comparison with their team-mates, but 5 races is a small sample to go on.

Hey, thanks Galahad.I look forward to your analysis later in the season.

Think you've put your foot in it there G!