The class of Formula One 2011 has seen five rookies step up to the plate in beginning to strive for glory in their motor racing careers. But how have they stacked up so far? I, A Guy With A Sandwich, in my infinite wisdom, will attempt to rank this years newcomers using a ranking system that is yet to be proven effective, as it is the first time I have tried it. However, I should point out, it is very difficult to rank them when we don't see very much of them, so please bear with me. Rookies Report Card Of F1 2011 Paul Di Resta: Force India, 13th, 20 points Outright Speed: 3.5/5 Tyre Managment: 4/5 Race Strategy: 3.5/5 Qualifying: 4.5/5 (BTD-6th at Silverstone) Ability to beat team-mate: 3/5 Comment: Di Resta has made an impressive debut, scoring his first point in his first race (due to Sauber being disqualified). He has a lot of potential (as shown in Singapore) and has already caught the eye of a number of teams such as Mercedes GP. His best result to date is a 6th in Singapore. Sergio Perez: Sauber, 16th, 9 points Outright Speed: 3/5 Tyre Management: 5/5 Race Strategy: 2.5/5 Qualifying: 3.5/5 (BTD-9th at Spa) Ability to beat team-mate: 3.5/5 Comment: Sergio Perez caught the eye of everyone in his debut race after managing his tyres enough, and only needing to do 1 pit stop. Ferrari is keeing a strong eye on him as a possible replacement for Felipe Massa and already have him doing tests with them. His best result to date is a 7th at Silverstone Pastor Maldonado: Williams, 19th, 1 point Outright Speed: 2.5/5 Tyre Management: 3/5 Race Strategy: 2.5/5 Qualifying: 3/5 (BTD-7th at Silverstone) Ability to beat team-mate: 2/5 Comment: Maldonado so far has made a less-than-impressive debut, having only scored one point this year with the struggling Williams outfit. He is an impressive qualifier (considering the equipment), though his racecraft leaves something to be desired. No teams appear to have him on their radar yet. Possibly as he is a paid driver. His best result to date is a 10th at Spa. Jerome D'Ambrosio: Virgin Racing, 24th, 0 points Outright Speed: ?/5 Tyre Management: ?/5 Race Strategy: ?/5 Qualifying: 1/5 (BTD-20th at Spa) Ability to beat team-mate: 1.5/5 Comment: Despite my infinite wisdom, I don't have enough knowledge of D'Ambrosio's racecraft to be able to pass a verdict on him. However, he is constantly out-qualified by his more experienced team-mate Timo Glock. Due to a difficult start with the backmarker team, no higher teams are keeping an eye on him to my knowledge. His best result to date is 14th in Montreal. Daniel Ricciardo: Hispania Racing, 27th, 0 points Outright Speed: ?/5 Tyre Management: ?/5 Race Strategy: ?/5 Qualifying: 3/5 (BTD-22nd at Budapest) Ability to beat team-mate: 3/5 Comment: Originally testing for STR, Ricciardo replaced Narain Karthikeyan after the European GP at the backmarker team in order to build up experience to possibly join Red Bull Racing in the future. He has shown a lot of potential and has recently shown consistency in beating his teammate even though it is difficult to judge as he has only driven for a few races, and it is Hispania, which makes it virtually impossible to tell. His best result to date is 18th at Budapest. Tell me what you think below I am open to all criticisms as I will probably make more of these in the future.
A good effort Sandwich. I'd be very interested in how you've arrived at the various scores you've handed out too. However, it seems we agree on who is probably the best rookie of the season so far: Paul di Resta. (I arrived at this conclusion some time ago but I admit this was without evaluating any scores!)
Cheers Cosi. Do you really want to know the secret behind my prototype ranking system? Very well, because I trust you, I will PM the secret to you. Don't want this getting into the wrong hands... But Di Resta has done a really solid job this year. Would be interested in a pairing of him and Hulkenberg...Oh, and apologies for the lack of info on Ricciardo and D'Ambrosio.
Great read this mate, cheers for posting. I think the consensus is that Di Resta is the king of the rookies this year.
Yes, I also agree that Perez is a close second to di Resta. He impressed me immediately as someone with a lot of potential; probably more than at least two recent newcomers: Buemi - who has improved a lot; and Alguesuari - who has not impressed me at all!
Perez had one of the most impressive debuts for a long time, but I've been more impressed with di Resta since then. More than held his own against a good team mate, and away from the track he seems to have a good technical understanding which will no doubt be useful to him throughout his career. I'd be interested in seeing what Ricciardo could do in a proper Formula 1 car.
Yes, great article. There's just one slight thing I disagree with: Perez's strategy rating. I know his strategy has been abysmal this year but you cannot really blame Perez for this, it's the team's fault. Otherwise agree with all of the scores!
Sorry Cosi, Couldn't disagree more I think Alguesuari has improved a lot and is a better driver than Buemi, and is more likely to keep his seat Some of his drives have been fantastic, like his 7th at Monza and his 8th at Valencia
OK Sam: perhaps I should rephrase my point about Alguesuari. I acknowledge that he's had two good results, and in fact until recently, I had been a little harder on Bruno Senna. However, in general, I feel more impressed by other newcomers (which now includes Senna after recent stronger performances). But thanks for coming back at me to make your point.
Good article. Overall I believe Perez and Di Resta are close, but Perez is the better driver. I would raise Perez's qualifying and outright speed by 1. Qualifying: We are all aware of Ferrari's tyre warm-up problems which affects them in qualifying. Sauber also have this problem, but if affects them slightly more. Perez has to deal with this and his qualifying results are still very good. Perez was also set to achieve his best qualifying result in Monaco before his crash. Then we look at his results against his teammate: Kobayashi has outqualified Perez four times - twice in the first two races and then the two races after his crash (where it could be argued that Perez was still getting back up to speed and trying to regain his confidence). If Di Resta's 8-6 qualifying triumph over Sutil is worthy of 4.5/5, why does Perez get a 3.5/5 for his 9-4 domination on Kobayashi. Outright speed: When he isn't hampered by a silly strategy, Perez is very fast. He's always quick in the first stint: when others around him do not have the advantage of fresher tyres. At Silverstone he was on a normal strategy and was able to fight with Rosberg throughout the race. He also did this as Singapore. I've already mentioned the tyre issue Sauber have - we see Ferrari struggle on the prime tyre - but Perez uses the prime tyre a lot more than other drivers - and he's fast enough to make the poor strategy work. The amazing thing is that the smooth driving isn't even his natural style - i's just evidence of him adapting his driving style to make the strategy work. His normal driving style is still sensible and consistent, but more aggressive. This was evident in his GP2 days. It's a shame that the two races Perez missed were the ones where Kobayashi got his best results. It's a good assessment, although I am a bit confused by "race strategy", because the team make the calls and we don't know how much influence the driver has. What do you think about the overtaking skills from the rookies? For me, Perez is the clearly the best.
I think you've been slightly harsh on D'Ambrosio's ability to beat his teammate: when there has been a (relatively) decent result on the table, it has consistently been D'Ambrosio who has grabbed it. The weakest rookie is unquestionably Pasta "Bacon Double Cheeseburger" Maldonado.
I would say 1) Paul (very controlled and mature driving) 2) Very closely followed by Sergio (Excellent tyre management and calm) 3) Jerome (done well to match Timo) 4) Pastor (dissapointing, also not very pleasent after what he did to Lewis at Spa!)
My View 1) Di Resta - Far better than expected, able to take on and beat his highly regarded teammate. One for the future, without a doubt 2) Perez - Lacks a little in outright speed, a good solid driver, but not spectacuar. Career will be decimated by being Alonso's lapdog in 2013. 3) Ricciardo - In a truly terrible car, your only competition is your team mate, which Ricciardo has beaten easily. Came from a lap down to beat Liuzzi in Singapore 4) Maldonado - Great qualifier, suspect racer (at the moment). is starting to regularly beat Barrichello now though, so he does have some promise. 5) D'Ambrosio - Being beaten by an unmotivated Glock. Expect D'Ambrosio to be replaced next season
To repeat whats basically been said di Resta and Perez have be the best rookies this year. Theres not much between them but I'd say di Resta has been the better this season. Without them being in the same car its hard to judge them fully but Sutil and Kobi are both good benchmarks so at least we can see they deserve their places. Maldonado seemed rubbish at the start of the season but lately I have been impressed, and despite certain moments he does seem a fairly likeable chap (not that that'll make him a better driver). Ricciardo has certainly impressed me as he's still getting up to speed. His team mate may be a "lesser" driver but Ricciardo is relatively trouncing him. As for custard, I simply don't pay attention to him enough to say how he's doing
Really? I think Alguersuari, who is still the youngest driver on the grid, has improved tremendously, which is why he's beating Buemi. And as to Perez/Di Resta, we disagree there too, I think it's the other way around, don't forget Perez missed some races, got a disq in 1st race and doesn't have as good machinery as Di resta, and is far less experienced in the higher echelons of racing. I don't care what formula it is, experience always counts. Maldondo is a bit sketchy though, I think we all agree on that, however he is fast, and was doing very well at the Drivers Circuit of Monaco, until he met Hamilton. Ricciardo is doing well, I think he'll replace Buemi and he and Alguersuari will battle it out for Webbers seat, which I think Alguersuari will win. As for Custardboy, I've had him a few times in the sweepstake and the sooner he leaves the better IMO.
Forza, to answer your question on quali, I didn't actually base it on how well they did compared to their team-mates. Di Resta has an average grid position of 12th while Perez has an average grid position of 13th. The reason I gave Di Resta a higher score is because of his very impressive 6th in Silvertone and 8th in Shanghai. To date Perez's best quali is 9th at Spa but is consistent in qualifying just outside the top 10. I didn't actually know that it was 9-4 to Perez, I might bump up his ability to beat his teammate. Di Resta is very good for someone who's spent the last few years in touring cars, but nothing is absloute yet. I thought Hulkenberg was secured a seat with at least one team after that incredible pole position but now he is a test driver for Force India. Hope he gets a seat soon, he showed us something very important, in how to take 101 different lines through the chicanes of Monza. When Ricciardo joined, I immediately started to get interested in the backmarker battle (he is Aussie after all), and obviously we know it's near impossible to judge someone at HRT (Bruno Senna, obviously), but he's done well quickly. Liuzzi is no muppet and a good team-mate to gain experience from and if he keeps this up, will probably go to STR next year. And BLS and Hate Worldwide, I agree with effectively everything you've said.
