Several fresh faces joined the Formula 1 grid in 2015, but how did they fare during their rookie season in the sport?
Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr and Felipe Nasr all debuted at the Australian Grand Prix, with Roberto Merhi and Alexander Rossi competing in their maiden races in Malaysia and Singapore.
Unsurprisingly, due to his age and the criticism Toro Rosso received, Verstappen dominated the 2015 headlines. Despite several disappointing moments, the Dutchman impressed and enjoyed some strong runs to top six results.
The record-breaking driver made his debut in Australia at the age of just 17. The Toro Rosso racer cracked under pressure a few times, but has overall made quite an impression on the F1 paddock, so it is hardly surprising that he is being tipped as one to watch for the future.
Reliability woes plagued Toro Rosso’s year, with the problematic Renault power unit holding the Italian outfit back. The STR10 chassis was good, but seventh place by the end of the season was representative of the car’s race pace. Verstappen scored his first points in Malaysia, finishing seventh.
He added to his tally nine more times, including spectacular drives to fourth place in Hungary and the USA. Verstappen came close to a podium at the Hungaroring and the regular top 10 results helped him finish 11th in the final standings. His brave, aggressive overtakes meant he was undoubtedly the most exciting racer of 2015, but they occasionally got him into trouble.
A few mistakes cost him dearly, with the best and most obvious example taking place in Monaco, where a misjudgement saw Verstappen clip the back of Romain Grosjean’s car on the run to the first corner, hitting the barrier hard. It was a nasty shunt and was not the only time he found the wall in 2015, but overall he calmed down as the season progressed.
Verstappen may have scored more points, but Sainz Jr still impressed many with his mature race craft and close fight with his team-mate in Toro Rosso’s inter-team battle. The Spaniard did particularly well in qualifying with some great laps and his extra feeder series experience was clear.
It was a solid start to the year, scoring points on his debut in Australia and finishing in the top 10 six further times. However, he was hit by more bad luck and unreliability compared to Verstappen, which cost him bigger and better results.
His best finish of the year came in the USA, where crossed the line in seventh place, despite starting from the back after a crash.
Like Verstappen, he made some rookie mistakes, but that is hardly surprising. A maiden F1 season will never be perfect. But Sainz Jr did a very commendable job and deserves more credit than he gets for his 2015 campaign.
Nasr made the jump from GP2 to F1 in 2015 with the Sauber outfit. After a rough 2014, the team made decent progress over the winter, but a lack of updates meant Sauber struggled to keep up with the rest of the midfield pack.
Driving the C34 made it hard to make a real impression on the F1 paddock, with his most common finishing position being 11th and 12th.
A fifth place result on his debut was a positive start. But the Albert Park Circuit doesn’t really give a true look at the pecking order and from then on it was near impossible to replicate the result.
However, nonetheless, Nasr quietly impressed with six top 10 finishes in total. He ended the season 13th in the constructors’ standings with 27 points, some way ahead of his team-mate, the more experienced Marcus Ericsson. He smashed the inter-team battle and did well with the car he had.
Considering Merhi raced alongside Will Stevens, who he finished ahead of in FR3.5 last year, it was a bit of an underwhelming start to the season for the Spaniard. Both Manor cars failed to race in Australia, but Merhi finished the Malaysian Grand Prix and did a solid job for the team.
With only Stevens to compare him against and a lack of track time, it was tough to really judge Merhi’s ability based on the races he competed in this year. He weighs more than Stevens too, which put him at a disadvantage from the very beginning, but after a slow start he cut the gap and regularly beat his team-mate in the European rounds.
Merhi was replaced for five of the final seven rounds by Rossi, who became the first American to race in F1 since Scott Speed in 2007. It had been a long time coming for Rossi, who had been on the fringes of the sport for quite some time in various test and reserve roles.
Despite a lack of experience in Manor’s revised 2014 car, he did well considering the circumstances, beating Stevens in three of the four races they both finished in. He did a solid job and proved he deserves another chance at F1 in the near future.
Which rookie has impressed you the most in 2015? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Unsurprisingly, due to his age and the criticism Toro Rosso received, Verstappen dominated the 2015 headlines. Despite several disappointing moments, the Dutchman impressed and enjoyed some strong runs to top six results.
The record-breaking driver made his debut in Australia at the age of just 17. The Toro Rosso racer cracked under pressure a few times, but has overall made quite an impression on the F1 paddock, so it is hardly surprising that he is being tipped as one to watch for the future.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Reliability woes plagued Toro Rosso’s year, with the problematic Renault power unit holding the Italian outfit back. The STR10 chassis was good, but seventh place by the end of the season was representative of the car’s race pace. Verstappen scored his first points in Malaysia, finishing seventh.
He added to his tally nine more times, including spectacular drives to fourth place in Hungary and the USA. Verstappen came close to a podium at the Hungaroring and the regular top 10 results helped him finish 11th in the final standings. His brave, aggressive overtakes meant he was undoubtedly the most exciting racer of 2015, but they occasionally got him into trouble.
A few mistakes cost him dearly, with the best and most obvious example taking place in Monaco, where a misjudgement saw Verstappen clip the back of Romain Grosjean’s car on the run to the first corner, hitting the barrier hard. It was a nasty shunt and was not the only time he found the wall in 2015, but overall he calmed down as the season progressed.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Verstappen may have scored more points, but Sainz Jr still impressed many with his mature race craft and close fight with his team-mate in Toro Rosso’s inter-team battle. The Spaniard did particularly well in qualifying with some great laps and his extra feeder series experience was clear.
It was a solid start to the year, scoring points on his debut in Australia and finishing in the top 10 six further times. However, he was hit by more bad luck and unreliability compared to Verstappen, which cost him bigger and better results.
His best finish of the year came in the USA, where crossed the line in seventh place, despite starting from the back after a crash.
Like Verstappen, he made some rookie mistakes, but that is hardly surprising. A maiden F1 season will never be perfect. But Sainz Jr did a very commendable job and deserves more credit than he gets for his 2015 campaign.
Nasr made the jump from GP2 to F1 in 2015 with the Sauber outfit. After a rough 2014, the team made decent progress over the winter, but a lack of updates meant Sauber struggled to keep up with the rest of the midfield pack.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Driving the C34 made it hard to make a real impression on the F1 paddock, with his most common finishing position being 11th and 12th.
A fifth place result on his debut was a positive start. But the Albert Park Circuit doesn’t really give a true look at the pecking order and from then on it was near impossible to replicate the result.
However, nonetheless, Nasr quietly impressed with six top 10 finishes in total. He ended the season 13th in the constructors’ standings with 27 points, some way ahead of his team-mate, the more experienced Marcus Ericsson. He smashed the inter-team battle and did well with the car he had.
Considering Merhi raced alongside Will Stevens, who he finished ahead of in FR3.5 last year, it was a bit of an underwhelming start to the season for the Spaniard. Both Manor cars failed to race in Australia, but Merhi finished the Malaysian Grand Prix and did a solid job for the team.
With only Stevens to compare him against and a lack of track time, it was tough to really judge Merhi’s ability based on the races he competed in this year. He weighs more than Stevens too, which put him at a disadvantage from the very beginning, but after a slow start he cut the gap and regularly beat his team-mate in the European rounds.
 |
| © Octane Photographic |
Merhi was replaced for five of the final seven rounds by Rossi, who became the first American to race in F1 since Scott Speed in 2007. It had been a long time coming for Rossi, who had been on the fringes of the sport for quite some time in various test and reserve roles.
Despite a lack of experience in Manor’s revised 2014 car, he did well considering the circumstances, beating Stevens in three of the four races they both finished in. He did a solid job and proved he deserves another chance at F1 in the near future.
Which rookie has impressed you the most in 2015? Let me know on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
No comments:
Post a Comment