I was going to start a Midseason Rookie Rankings thread, but I guess it makes more sense to put in here so: thoughts on the unusually large number of rookies in the season so far? I'll start with the brightest:
Bortoleto: Although Hülk is well ahead on points, Gabriel's performances have been better than this suggests. He's actually ahead 8-6 in quali and that's against a driver who was always more of a Saturday than Sunday talent. IMO, he's the most impressive of the rookies this year.
Bearman: A little behind Ocon, overall on points and quali but they've been closely matched with Bearman just two behind (6-8) in quali and with a number of race finishes ahead of Ocon. His points would be lot closer if he wasn't quite so fond of an 11th place finish. Apart from a costly smash in the very first session of the season, he's not been racking up the repair costs either. Ocon is a solid driver so matching up against him speaks very well to Oli's talents.
Hadjar: Began the season in particularly embarrassing fashion but has recovered well since. He's qualified well, picked up points through the season, and hasn't been particularly accident prone or in a huge number of dodgy incidents -- although driving into the back of Antonelli does stand out. Trouble is, most of the time he's been up against a clearly demoralised Lawson and that makes it hard to judge how well he's actually doing.
Antonelli: He's not had the stand out start to his F1 career he would have hoped for, or that his background and the hype around him suggested he could have, but I don't think he's been nearly as bad as is sometimes suggested. He's had a lot of bad luck lately, with technical issues and being taken out by Hadjar, and he's been comprehensively beaten by Russell but he's also had some remarkable bright spots: that Sprint pole and the podium in Canada, in particular. Also, unlike the other Rookies, he's up against one of F1's genuine talents and in a top tier car, as well as being the youngest and least experienced of the Rookies. I still think he'll come good before the end of the season.
Lawson: Hugely mistreated by Red Bull at the start of the season. His performance at two tracks he'd never driven before was far behind Max but then doesn't make him any different to Perez and Tsunoda, but dumping him so soon was brutal even by the standards of that team. Since then, he has spent most of the season underperforming and driving with reckless disregard to those around him. He's failed to match up against Hadjar and racked up a mass of penalty points. Still, recent races have been brighter, as he's begun to get the measure of his teammate and iron out some of the mistakes.
Doohan: Another hugely mistreated driver, but he was also well behind Gasly in quali and races and involved in so many costly incidents in those few races that he still sits near the top of the destructor's championship.
Colapinto: He's failed to match up to his bright entry into the sport last year. Like Doohan, he's been pointless, failed to come close to Gasly's performances, and been involved in a number of incidents. It's pretty much impossible to say which of them has the worse record but I'm rating Colapinto slightly behind on the basis that he had more F1 race experience before this season and so should be a little closer to Gasly.
Oof, and just after I finish typing this I see that Franco has had another big smash
in the tyre test. If there's a driver move over the break I wouldn't be too surprised to see that Colapinto is getting booted.
