Who is the best rookie? Raikkonen, Montoya ...

[Faster]

To begin my opinion, I must say that I'm glad that these four newcomers brought a nice wind of fresh air into F-1. It would be wonderful if every year would come four new drivers of such caliber.

To rate who's the best of them it's difficult, but I go with:
1) Raikkonen (Unbelieveble good!!! Go to a new track as he has always raced there! Certainly a future World Champion).

2) Alonso (Impressive with the Minardi, for sure the slowest car of the grid. But his future is in the hands of his manager, Briatore, and that's not an addvantage).

3) Bernoldi (Fast boy, outqualified Jos four times now, but still growing in maturity).

4) Montoya (Mix glimpses of geniality with dummness. Certainly a gifted talent, but must show that he can do more on track than he speaks. Better start to outqualify Ralf more often...).

[Speed]

Originally posted by Tiina
I think JPM is overestimated bigmouth who came to F1 only one thing in his mind... "I'm goin to win WDC 2001"

Two things Tiina:
1) Welcome aboard !
2) Where did you read that JPM said I'm going to win WDC 2001 ???. As far as I know, he never said that.

[Raoul Duke]

Montoya
Alonso
Raikkonen
Burti
Bernoldi

[Bononi]

Overall ??

Raikkonen.

NO doubt about it.

[RALFANATOR]

Originally posted by Ralf's Girl
This is my order:

1. Alonso - he's far better than Marques (although granted, that's not hard) and he's definitely a star of the future.
2. (or equal 1st) Raikkonen - I'd rate him above Button in terms of natural ability because of him coming from Formula Renault, and he's done incredibly well so far.
3. Montoya - it's hard to class him as a rookie because he's had so much single-seater experience already. Still, he's good and that much is obvious. However, I'd love to know what all those people who said he would slaughter Ralf this season are saying now...
4. Bernoldi - erm, not much to say about him. He hasn't impressed me at all.

couldn't agree more RG .spot on!

[JeremySmith]

Fernando Alonso..

He is driving the least competitive car...and doing a very fine job with it..

[Gt_R]

Indeed, i would say this year's new comers are a real great talented bunch, in fact, i am sort of pleased that they replace who they did in F1.

Alonso is the most under-rated of the foursome, JPM is the most over-rated. But it is hard to judge who is the best rookie, as they are taking different approaches to their first year.

Alonso and Kimi builds up race by race to find their limits, the sensible approach. JPM on the otherhand is much like Ralf, that they push themselves to and often over the limit, then slowly cut back until they are on the limit. The racer's approach in other words. Enrique, i cant say much about him, but after he held his place before DC in monaco, i would say he could take the pressure pretty well.

All four are really very good people, amazing for their first year.
Who is better is hard to judge considering they are in different cars.
But compare with their teammate, JPM is usually close to Ralf, a great driver himself. Kimi is often up there, or occasionally faster, Heldfeld, a driver who last year was touted to be a great driver too, Alonso totally trashed his teammate, and a few other drivers to be a 18th spot position, despite the inferior Minardi, and Enrique, in the odd times, could better the more established Jos.

But looking at Jenson Button, one have to question if the first year is really the best time to judge a newcomer. Wait till 2002, shall we see.

But i have this nice feeling that, Sauber is keeping Kimi next year, see if he could up his game in the 2nd year, and should he perform, off he goes to Ferrari in 2003 to replace Rubens...to be placed under 2 years of learning from MS, then take the top spot in Ferrari when MS promotes to management in 2005!~

[Alan Jones]

Good point GT R, Button Spice ( Sorry Liz, hope you don't mind me borrowing that!) has had a very average year 2nd time out hasn't he. I 'm amazed as I was very impressed with his performance last year and thought he would be wiping the floor with his teammate this year.
Only time will tell........

[mac]

Jay - Nigel Mansell certainly was a rookie in CART.

And I still maintain that any attempt to claim Montoya as not being a rookie is just a vain attempt to discredit him. The fact is he is a rookie.

I'll probably get shot down in flames here (again). I'm not a Montoya fan, but I feel some of his criticism is unwarranted. He is fast and will get faster as the season goes on. Champ cars and f1 cars are vastly different and (although he did test for Williams before going to CART) it will take some time to re-adapt. Towards the end of the season, I think you'll find JPM pretty much on par with Schu jr.

Yes, he is arrogant (there aren't many drivers who aren't) and he has made some stupid mistakes. However, once he learns to tone it down a bit, he may well be a force to be reckoned with.

PS - (I'll probably get laughed at, but here goes anyway) I wonder where this puts one A. Zanardi's performances knowing that in testing he was quicker than Montoya and just as quick as Button.

[enemy-ace]

Originally posted by mac

Yes, he is arrogant (there aren't many drivers who aren't)

This is absolutley true! In a sport where the art of speed is measured in milliseconds, and the only telemetry you see is your own (and sometimes your teammates) you really have to believe you are the fastest or capable of being the fastest.

As far as the top rookies this year, I think the following is true:

1)Raikonnen - Having very little car racing experience and running a much more experienced teammate (Heidfeld - F3000 Champ, McLaren tester and 2nd year F1) very closely, he has done nothing but impress. If he continues in this way, he's a future WDC for sure.
2)Montoya - A gifted racer, who has been given a Grand Prix winning car in his first year. That's a lot of pressure, considering he is running at the front with proven Grand Prix winning drivers. And at times given them a run for their money. But the expectations are greater on Montoya than any other rookie (Raikonnen runs a close second). I think all in all he's showing reasonably well, and NO he's not blowing Ralf away at the moment, but he is further along in his development at this stage of his career than Ralf was in his rookie year. So I don't think you'll have to wait to long before you see Ralf crumble under the pressure.
3&4-tie)Bernoldi needs to finish a few more races on a strong pace. We know he can be fast, but we need to see it over a Grand Prix distance. And holding up Coulthard at Monaco does not make him anything special, even Mazzacane could have done that.
As for Alonso, I know a lot of people on this forum love the guy, but for me he just hasn't done anything that special. He outqualifies Bennetons and Tarso Marques. The current Benneton has to rank up there as one of the worst F1 cars ever, and Marques is no great shakes as an F1 driver. He was a backmarker in CART, and even more so in F1. Replace Marques with a decent driver (no more Mazzacane's PLEASE!!!) and then we'll be better able to just his potential.

[badoer fan]

Originally posted by Speed
Where did you read that JPM said I'm going to win WDC 2001 ???. As far as I know, he never said that.

I don't know where Tiina heard this, but in Matt Bishop's column in Autosport a Williams source says that Montoya was fully expecting to win the monaco GP from pole. I have one thing to say to that. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Arrogant little ****.

[Damon]

He actually said in his own column in Autpsport that his dream when he was growing up was to drive the Indy 500 and the Monaco GP. He said that as he won at Indy on his first attempt it would have been nice to do the same in Monaco. Get your facts straight before critisising someone.

[Kalevi]

Kimi is no. 1.

Superb driving. Adapts very quickly to new circuits. Acts modestly: lets his driving do the talking. True future champion.

[Total-F1]

It amazes me how stupid and ill-informed some F1 fans seem to be...

Anyway, so say that Montoya should be discounted because of his experience....do people seem to forget that people like Raikkonen have been racing since they were 4/5/6?? Michael Schumacher had his first ride in a Kart at 4 - all the drivers in F1 already arrive as polished drivers who are better/richer than everyone else.

Montoya can fully be counted as a rookie, because F1 cars are so different from anything else - although Ayrton Senna said a Formula One car was an over-sized kart. He is inexperienced of F1 as it stands at the moment, and he's in a different boat to the one he was in in 1998.

[bulldogspirit]

Well, although I'm a huge Montoya fan I'd have to have the order as this (so far of course):
1. Raikkonen - unbelievably competitive so quickly, and makes very few mistakes (another Finnish Ice-Man).
2. Montoya - led 2 GPs, but only 1 finish and too many mistakes. Give him time and he'll be winning by the end of 2001.
3. Alonso - 18th on the grid 6 out of 7 GPs with a horrendous package. Sadly let down by unreliability so hasn't been able to prove himself in races. Bring on the new engines!!
4. Bernoldi - Has made little or no impression on me.

But as Faster said, they are an improvement on the F1 leavers.

[EERO]

Originally posted by Tiina
Hi, I am a pretty new here (haven't I advertised that enough, ****!) and I would like to give my opinion about the rookie of the year- issue! ...Even though I'm Finnish, I have to say that our boy Raikkonen is the best rookie of the year! ...I would have wanted to put here some smilies, who has sunglasses, but I don't know how....please help help finnish woman to survive in this jungle ...
Keep in touch !

Bononi, I believe this is your cue....


On to the topic:
Its interesting how people break it down-just because Montoya hasn't lit the world on fire after 7 races he's being written off. He's also given us plenty to talk about, led two races and showed a hard-headed aggressiveness that many here have moaned is lacking in F1.

Recall that NO ONE comes into this sport and instantly dominates. It took TGF one full season to win his first race. JV won his fourth, but the major competition TGF was in his first season at a rebuilding Ferrari.

Williams (and Michelin) do not currently have all the bugs out and Ralf has the benefit of 2 previous seasons on the team. Montoya IS good and WILL develop into a formidible presence.

However, on the basis of experience in cars and the quality of the team, I rate Raikkonen as most impressive rookie, Montoya next and Alonso third. Bernoldi is just taking up space.

[RALFANATOR]

Originally posted by EERO


Bononi, I believe this is your cue....


On to the topic:
Its interesting how people break it down-just because Montoya hasn't lit the world on fire after 7 races he's being written off. He's also given us plenty to talk about, led two races and showed a hard-headed aggressiveness that many here have moaned is lacking in F1.

Recall that NO ONE comes into this sport and instantly dominates. It took TGF one full season to win his first race. JV won his fourth, but the major competition TGF was in his first season at a rebuilding Ferrari.

Williams (and Michelin) do not currently have all the bugs out and Ralf has the benefit of 2 previous seasons on the team. Montoya IS good and WILL develop into a formidible presence.

However, on the basis of experience in cars and the quality of the team, I rate Raikkonen as most impressive rookie, Montoya next and Alonso third. Bernoldi is just taking up space.

Couldn't agree more ERRO!

[badoer fan]

Originally posted by Damon
He actually said in his own column in Autpsport that his dream when he was growing up was to drive the Indy 500 and the Monaco GP. He said that as he won at Indy on his first attempt it would have been nice to do the same in Monaco. Get your facts straight before critisising someone.

I quote from Matt Bishop's column pg 47 Autosport May 31st. 'Montoya arrived "expecting to win from pole" (said a source in the Montoya camp)' I satnd by my judgement

[Damon]

I'd rather beleive the words that come straight from the horses mouth rather than somone elses interpretation of a situation.

[badoer fan]

And he's really going to say, in international press "Oh and by the way, I reckoned I was going to obliterate everyone at Monaco"

[Damon]

Originally posted by badoer fan
I quote from Matt Bishop's column pg 47 Autosport May 31st. 'Montoya arrived "expecting to win from pole" (said a source in the Montoya camp)' I satnd by my judgement

And how exactly does he know that Montoya said this. I'm convinced this is another media ploy to influence the reader. Why would Montoya lie in his article, as we all know he usually says what he thinks.

[Raoul Duke]

For me the most impressive rookie is Montoya. He's done things this year that other drivers wouldn't even have the guts to do I'm sure. Unlike a lot of drivers who find it better to risk nothing, Montoya see's an oppertunity and he takes action. Yes, sometimes he ends up paying for his actions, but that's all part of the learning process.

[badoer fan]

I don't particularly like Matt Bishop either, and if Montoya did say that then my judgement stands. Like I said its not something he's going to admit is it? However, if it is not true, then I take it back (though I do think he's ginormously arrogant)