Jambier wrote: ↑07 Sep 2025, 16:45
Another good job from Bortoleto.
I think he really is the rookie of the season.
Hadjar is good as well but he doesn’t have HUL as a teammate.
This comment hasn't aged well, has it?
It's incredible how 2-3 months ago, there was discussion about whether Bortoleto was the best rookie on the grid, and now the discussion is about whether he's the worst.
In this second half of the season, his performance has dropped considerably compared to Hulkenberg. Before, he regularly managed to outperform Hulkenberg in qualifying, sometimes even reaching Q3, and now Hulkenberg is qualifying way ahead of him, while he's not even managing to get past Q1. And to make matters worse, 3 consecutive DNFs, 3 crashes, and 1 chassis destroyed due to his own mistakes, including that amateur error in Las Vegas.
Basically, his performance has inexplicably plummeted at the end of the season, going against the trend of the other rookies who have only improved. Antonelli, who until recently was called a "terrorist", is now delivering good results. Bearman is regularly outperforming Ocon, and Hadjar is surely the rookie of the year: Consistent and delivering great results for Racing Bulls, overcoming his blunder at the Australian GP.
Bortoleto needs to calm down and focus on doing only the basics in these last two GPs to regain confidence without taking unnecessary risks and finish the races with the car intact.
It broke my heart.
