2007 rookie watch

Should be interesting to see how this all unfolds over the immediate races. Who will impress out of the rookies and who will dissapoint?

First impressions then:

Hamilton: exceeded expectations (which were already lofty). Looked prepared.

Kovaleinen: comical, but Melbourne is a hard place to debut. Was referred to in chat room as "Andrea de Cesaris, which was almost accurate!

Sutil: Hard to gauge in that car franky.

Davidson: did alright considering the first lap rape.

Will the form carry over to Malaysia or will we see improvements and decline? Those who struggled have the saving grace of an official test at Sepang prior to the race.

Should be fascinating whatever.

Let's face it, Heikki was truly bad all weekend. Hope he can turn it around somewhat.

Sutil seemed to have some problems as well. He had somewhat more of an excuse though, and clearly was having trouble adjusting to getting out of the way of every other car on the track. Will improve with experience (and out did his teammate!)

Davidson, disappointing result, but I'm more sure that he will bounce back than the other two.

Hamilton of course was terrific. But he only met my expectations personally (which were and are lofty).

Kovalainen was comical. Seemed decent when he was on the road though. Work to be done though.

He was on the road? When? ;)

would of been more suited to ride on lawnmower in that race

"Kovalainen had a horrible race," Briatore told RAI after the race. "You need to be realistic: he did almost everything wrong.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/57447

:rofl:

Nice to know that the mollycoddling, cotton wool approach is still of use to Briatore! :rofl:

:laugh: hilarious...contender for quote of the season

Heikki disappointed me - thought he could / would do better - he does have experience from testing, maybe he's finding the new car hard? Not sure, just expected him to do a little better. Think Hamilton exceeded expectations - we know he's good, but didn't expect a podium etc in his first grand prix. Sutil was ok and Davidson / SA surprised me too.

My opinions:

Davidson: I'm not sure he can be classed as a rookie in the traditional sense of the word, given that he does have a large amount of F1 experience albeit not in a racing sense. That said, his qualifying performance did impress me. His race performance wasn't quite on the same level, although he was heavily penalised by the start and first lap.

Hamilton: A highly impressive debut and probably exceeded expectations. The pressue is now on for him to replicate this performance consistently at other races.

Kovaleinen: Definity underperformed and is probably due some criticism for it. However, he does have another 16 opportunities to rectify the situation so it is way too early to make any judgements regarding his potential in F1.

Suttil: The Spyker makes it very hard to judge driver ability. He did seem to be of a similar performance to Albers which bodes well. The drive through penaulties were less than impressive.

Davidson: Throttle problem didn't do him any favours,neither did the collision with the Spyker.But he battled on and finished the race.Good job,hope he's OK.

Kovalainnen: Didn't look like he was enjoying himself out there.Should have been up there with Fisi at least.

Hamilton: Driver of the day,nuff said.

Sutil: Not very "Sutil" at all.But seems to have got Albers worried.Sort of got in the way a bit as well.

My opinions:

Davidson: I'm not sure he can be classed as a rookie in the traditional sense of the word, given that he does have a large amount of F1 experience albeit not in a racing sense. That said, his qualifying performance did impress me. His race performance wasn't quite on the same level, although he was heavily penalised by the start and first lap.

Suttil: The Spyker makes it very hard to judge driver ability. He did seem to be of a similar performance to Albers which bodes well. The drive through penaulties were less than impressive.

You might be interested to know that Anthony was stretchered away after the race and is currently in a Hospital bed awaiting the results of cat scans of his back.

Those whom listened to his brief post race interview with Louise Goodman will have heard him say without contributing any blame, or why... "I'm knackered and my back hurts". After reading this perhaps you'll understand why his race performance didn't (in your opinion) match his qualifying one...In fact I rate it higher!...After he was left on the grid at the start with the car in anti-stall' mode (not his fault) he caught up the tailenders and proceeded to drive around the outside of one of the Spykers (some scources say Albers, others say Sutil) as he did so giving that driver plenty of room, he was hit hard on his right side, destroying the side bodywork/aero, launching the car into the air. When it crashed down, destroying the undertray/aero, he was winded and jarred his back. Instead of pitting he continued, determined to finish the race. Despite being in great pain and lacking some downforce, finished 16th setting an identical best lap time to Sato's. Which in "MY OPINION" was a far greater performance!

I know that one of the Spykers outbraked its self later in the race ,ended up in the barriers! Some performance!

thanks Rennen - hope Ant's OK.

You might be interested to know that Anthony was stretchered away after the race and is currently in a Hospital bed awaiting the results of cat scans of his back.

Those whom listened to his brief post race interview with Louise Goodman will have heard him say without contributing any blame, or why... "I'm knackered and my back hurts". After reading this perhaps you'll understand why his race performance didn't (in your opinion) match his qualifying one...In fact I rate it higher!...After he was left on the grid at the start with the car in anti-stall' mode (not his fault) he caught up the tailenders and proceeded to drive around the outside of one of the Spykers (some scources say Albers, others say Sutil) as he did so giving that driver plenty of room, he was hit hard on his right side, destroying the side bodywork/aero, launching the car into the air. When it crashed down, destroying the undertray/aero, he was winded and jarred his back. Instead of pitting he continued, determined to finish the race. Despite being in great pain and lacking some downforce, finished 16th setting an identical best lap time to Sato's. Which in "MY OPINION" was a far greater performance!
Firstly, I would like to appologise for any insensitivity on my part with regards to my previous post. I was not in possesion of the full facts and for that I am sorry for it prevented me from being completely objective. I hope that Anthony is able to make a quick recovery.

Secondly, I would reiterate that I found his qualifying performance impressive and given the additional details which you have provided, it does show a great deal of tenacity on his character and bodes well for the future. That said, I'm sure that neither comes as a surprise to you.

I hope Ant is ok likes, he seems talented enough to do well in F1. I think he drove a good, steady race and now I have seen the race, and heard what he said (about his back etc), i think he did Brilliantly.

I think later on in the season, Ant will get the upper hand on Takuma Sato.

Sato you heard it hear first!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Hamilton - Exceeded what was expected from him. He did a great start and a very consistent race. He led the race for a number of laps. 9/10

Kovalainen - He was a showman yesterday, going wide several times and even doing a 360 deg spin. More was expected from him and I hope this was just on his debut race 4/10

Davidson - In an Aguri, had to be taken to hospital for back pian after the race and he managed to finish the race after the accident 7/10

Sutil - Managed to reach the end of the Gp with 2 laps difference, in a spyker. 6/10

Hamilton- Good solid race, i would have actually preferred a not so good race by him, because now the pressure will be "do what you did in Austrailia week in, week out".

Kovalainen- Over shadowed by LH's race, plus has the added pressure of driving for the World Champions. Am glad he didnt set the track ablaze, as pressure from his home land wil be lifted (a little). Things can/will get better.

Sutil- Managed to get the better of CA, bought the car home which is more than what his team mate did, but seemed to just get in the way a little when being lapped. Barring that, a good race, in time i think he could be a race winner.

Davidson- After hearing he was rushed to hospital after the race (due to his back) I actually rate his race nad determination to finish, more so than LH. Ant has a lot of skill, and I think he will soon have Sato trailing him.

HK was, to borrow a phrase from his greasy boss, rubbish. Either that or the car is near impossible and Fisi did a superb job. He needs a massive improvement, and quick - a solid finish without going off the track would be a good start.

Ant was unlucky but feisty - could hardly be more British! Good luck to him for a complete recovery and more great performances.

LH is in another league, quite honestly.

I know that in some terms rookies of this year are only:

L. Hamilton, H. Kovalainen, A. Davidson & A. Sutil

But I think there are 2 more guys, not mentioned above.
Whenever we talk about them the ''rookie'' word is used very often. I'm talking about:

R. Kubica & N. Rosberg

And If you allow me to consider these two names among the rookies, I would say for now that the rookies to watch are N. Rosberg, R. Kubica, L. Hamilton

About the 3 others I think I need to see more races.

Thanks

There's some possibility of Kubica.

But Rosberg? If he's a rookie so are Luizzi and Speed.

After he was left on the grid at the start with the car in anti-stall' mode (not his fault) he caught up the tailenders and proceeded to drive around the outside of one of the Spykers (some scources say Albers, others say Sutil) as he did so giving that driver plenty of room, he was hit hard on his right side, destroying the side bodywork/aero, launching the car into the air.I thought that was a never tasty looking move he was putting on the Spyker who clearly had no idea it was coming. 11th in qualifying was a tremendous effort and he did a fine professional job in the race.


As for the rest, I doubt I can add anything to the descriptions of Hamilton's performance.

Kubica looked high quality although I'm not sure I yet know how the BMW compares to, say, the McLarens.

Sutil did ok but I didn't really see enough of him to judge.

Poor old Heikki has a bit of work to do.....

Hamilton - Brilliant debut. Should really have finished second.

Kovaleinen - Shocker but still only finished just outside the points. It wasn't as bad as people make out, but there were signs of real nerves.

Sutil - He was on the grid???

Davidson - Unlucky at the start but he recovered well.

Sutil - He was on the grid???

What's that supposed to mean?

There's some possibility of Kubica.

But Rosberg? If he's a rookie so are Luizzi and Speed.

true,

but i think i know why i forgot about them.

i hope heikki will improve otherwise i forget about him like i forgot about liuzzi and speed.

Good to see Ants CT's were negative. Unfortunately the incidents in the race prevented us from really being able to see his racing skills. Hopefully he has a trouble free weekend in the next race. Honestly, I am not sure that Taku is faster than him.

I am concerned about some comments Alonso made post race. He suggested that he was just keeping pace with LH and that when he fell back it was to aid in cooling the car. Now that could mean two different things. He could be attempting to save face from being passed on the outside by a rookie and not really being able to pressure him or maybe what he said it true. If he is being honest then he may just outpace LH in a serious way in the next race.
Strategy won that battle for him in the first race so I dont know to what extent LH's performance qualifys as great.

HK had a tough weekend and then he overdrove the car in the race in an attempt to compensate. I think he will settle in within a few more races. He needs to match Fissi though because even the team has doubts of Fissi's abilities.

Alonso did everything you'd expect - got the maximum result with minimum risk to his car, which of course has to go the next race on the same engine. McLaren might just have a tiny edge on reliabilty - that's their best chance to keep pace with Ferrari.

For the same reasons I wouldn't expect Alonso to do anything more in the next race - certainly he won't be putting a massive margin on Hamilton just for the sake of it, even if he is able to. And McLaren won't be too impressed if he tries, because competition within the team is healthy but inter-team-mate mind games are not.