Best rookie of the season

[proteus]

Definetly Rossi. He was the only one to be better than championship leader Hamilton in his first race in F1.

[efuloni]

An interesting number is that Hulk was beaten by his team-mate only in his first season (Barrichello). I guess 2015 it will happen again.

[Kingshark]

A lot of people will be eating humble pie at the end of this year. I recall a lot of people predicting that Hulk would trash Checo when it was announced they'd be teammates in 2014.

[knabbel]

A lot of people will be eating humble pie at the end of this year. I recall a lot of people predicting that Hulk would trash Checo when it was announced they'd be teammates in 2014.

Hulk was only really good this year in a few races after LeMans, the rest of the season he was average.

[Vasconia]

If Verstappen is the new Senna, Sainz would be Prost.

Like it happens with Hamilton and Alonso, some people prefer the pure speed and aggressiveness (plus the f**k the rules attitude) to the constant pace and regularity of Alonso/Sainz.

Its a matter of taste but in this case I would vote for Sainz.

[PlatinumZealot]

Sainz is a really good driver who is always driving on the edge, resulting in an oversteer racing style that is fun to watch but not always the best/fastest way to drive. I have the feeling that Verstappen is more in control of the car and is often quicker to respond if he has to make a correction.

Nasr isn't in the same category as Verstapen and/or Sainz, Nasr only delivers on circuits that rely on Power Unit strenght.

Ah... interesting observation you have there... OK. This is the same for Perez. Let me expound. When a driver is better on a power circuit it is not because he relies more on the engine as it would at first seem, actually it is because he is good on the brakes. I have been noticing that any circuit that has high speed braking Perez will outshine Hulk - every single time. The same for Nasr. The guys are very good on the brakes.

[TheRacingElf]

For me it has to be Verstappen. It has been difficult to compare the two Toro Rosso boys because of the many reliability problems both of them had. Max had more problems in qualifying and more engine/grid penalties while Sainz had more problems in races. In the beginning of the year Sainz was the faster of the two in qualifying and Verstappen in the races but to me it seems Verstappen has the upperhand in both qualifying and races since the start of the second-half of the season, only problems prevented him in showing that.

[efuloni]

Todays' race showed once more what a good team of rookies we found this year. Uncredible race by VES and SAI. Nasr, with 5 pits-stops and lots of problems, managed a 9th place. They are good, brodas.

[Vasconia]

Todays' race showed once more what a good team of rookies we found this year. Uncredible race by VES and SAI. Nasr, with 5 pits-stops and lots of problems, managed a 9th place. They are good, brodas.

Its great to see those gifted rookies after years of mediocre young drivers. Toro Rosso has two gems in its team.

[PlatinumZealot]

Yep.. Verstappen has turned me around... He may not be the outright fastest.. but he has the race craft, guts and skill... Reminds me of a thick eyebrow Spaniard... Not the the one in the other seat lol

[TAG]

I've been on the fence since the current crop of rookies as a whole is excellent; However Verstappen's drive yesterday sealed it for me. Very mature, controlled and certainly worthy of the big boy Red Bull car next year.

[George-Jung]

Has to be Verstappen.. what a drive yesterday, very mature!
Sainz 2nd for me, also a remarkable driver.. but makes a bit more mistakes.

[Shrieker]

I was inclined towards Nasr, but after yesterday's performance from Verstappen, he needs to wring out something special from the remaining three races.

[efuloni]

We still have 3 races to go, and with all his misfortune, I still don't think Sainz has a good reason to be behind Nasr in the WDC. And we are talking about 9 points (27 x 18). I know STR has reliability issues, but the car is at another level if compared to Sauber. As I said before, Sauber has the third (sometimes even second!) slowest car in the grid.

[Andres125sx]

We still have 3 races to go, and with all his misfortune, I still don't think Sainz has a good reason to be behind Nasr in the WDC.

Nasr suffered 1 car failure in race in the whole season
Sainz suffered 6 car failures in race with the added bad luck he was in top ten in all those 6 races


Anycase I must admit Max is earning the title of best rookie of the season, but I´d have loved watching the team mates battle with more reliable cars