Battle of the F1 rookies

Monday, 21 March 2011 13:05

The first race of the 2011 season will see four rookies lining up on the grid, all eager to prove themselves worthy of the big step up to Formula 1.

Scot Paul di Resta will finally complete the journey from test driver to race driver, when he dons his racing gloves for Force India at the Melbourne Grand Prix. Di Resta impressed in his 2010 season with Mercerdes, winning the DTM championship. His testing duties for Force India will have only increased his hunger for success in Formula 1. Whilst he may not have the machinery beneath him to make a huge splash in his first season, he will certainly be one to watch.

Jerome d’Ambrosio has been competing in the GP2 Series for the past three seasons. His debut season in 2008 saw him finish eleventh overall. He improved this to ninth place in the 2009 season, collecting three podiums on the way. His 2010 season saw him finish only twelfth, but he impressed with one pole position, two podiums and a win. He will have to work hard to prove himself with Virgin in the tough arena of F1.

Sergio Perez and Pastor Maldonado have the most impressive records on their move up to Formula 1. Their 2010 rivalry electrified the GP2 season, and it will be fascinating to observe this in an even more competitive environment. Perez, a former Formula 3 champion, finished the 2010 GP2 season as runner-up to Maldonado, with five wins, seven podiums, one pole position and six fastest laps. This impressive run of form landed him tests with the Sauber team, for whom he will race in 2011.

It is a waiting game to see how competitive their respective cars will be. It is unlikely that any of the rookies will be challenging for wins, but it will be invigorating to observe some fresh blood in the sport, and who knows what surprises lie in store for us.

How will the rookies fare in 2011?

Pastor Maldonado

Rookie number one, Pastor Maldonado has finally made the long awaited step-up to Formula 1 after four seasons spent in GP2. His 2010 GP2 season saw him become the only driver to win six successive feature races in a single season. This achievement did not go unnoticed in the F1 world and after tests with HRT and Williams, Maldonado landed a drive with the latter for 2011. The fact that Maldonado brings an estimated 10m Euros of sponsorship with him from Venezuelan state petroleum company PDVSA, now a major sponsor partner of Williams, no doubt helped ease his journey into F1.

Williams ousted the arguably more talented Hulkenburg to make way for Maldonado, despite him continually impressing and gaining William’s first pole in five years at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hulkenburg also continually outperformed Maldonado when they were team-mates at ART in 2009. It has taken Maldonado four seasons to win his first GP2 championship. Hulkenburg won it at his first attempt, whilst Maldonado could only manage sixth, sixty six points behind his younger team-mate.

Looking further back at his earlier career, Maldonado has a reputation for speed, but also for inconsistency and sometimes dangerous driving. In 2005, he competed in the World Series by Renault, where he earned himself a four race ban after an incident at the Monaco race. He failed to slow down at the scene of an accident, despite waved yellows, and ended up hitting a marshal, who suffered from a broken leg. In the 2006 season, he came close to winning the championship, but disqualification on technical grounds at Misano put paid to his hopes (a race that current F1 champion Sebastian Vettel ended up winning). 2007 saw him move up to GP2 with the Trident team, but his first season was marred due to a broken collarbone which saw him miss the final four races of the season. In 2008 he joined Piquet Sports for a highly erratic season in which he gained a reputation for a rather wild driving style, especially after the British race in which he was involved in a number of incidents. However, despite this, he did pick himself up towards the end of the season, and finished fifth overall in the championship.

As previously mentioned, his 2009 season with ART saw him outshone by Hulkenburg, the man whose seat he has ironically taken over at Williams. He finally won the GP2 championship in 2010 with a highly impressive season, but it took him four seasons in the series to get to that point, whereas other drivers, such as Hulkenburg, achieved it in their first season. Furthermore, his unpredictability was still in evidence there as he was disqualified at the Hungaroring sprint race for failing to pit with a broken wing and ignoring the black and orange flag.

Maldonado is undoubtedly quick, but is accident prone. A lot more control will be needed if he is to succeed in F1. He now has the biggest platform upon which to prove himself to the best of the best, but he firstly has to equal, if not better Hulkenburg’s impressive rookie season if he hopes to make a big impact in the sport.

by Jessica Murphy

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