Well its the second half of the season already so lets rate This years up and coming.

In my opinion:
Kobayashi(under F1 rules he completeled less then 3 races in '09 so hes classed as a rookie for '10) - Clearly the best rookie by far at present, hasn't impressed much up untill recently though but to be fair the sauber wouldn't even last half a race distance now that it can hes been scoring plenty of points, Valencia showed hes got future potential and living up to hes '09 promise.

Petrov - Been Completely owned by Kubica, but has shown promise here and there but right now hes looking out of place being in F1 and he doesn't really seem to be improving much, he needs to get some points asap.

Hulkenburrg - Isn't doing too bad, i would say hes the 2nd best rookie this year, still needs alot of improvement but that will come with experience.

Di Grassi - Allthough hes been staying with Glock most races even beating him in others, the car is too slow to see anything.

Senna - Can't really see anything with that car but is having a good battle for chandhok seems very even

Chandhok - As said above, its very even in HRT but the car is much too slow to see anything because there never actually racing anyone just trying to finish.

Gotta be Kobayashi, when he can survive the first lap (and his car/engine lasts), he's delivering pretty good results.

Just that he has had plenty of accident in the first lap of races through, some of it his fault, some of it pure bad luck.

Hulkenberg followed by Chandhok. Even if you classify Kobayashi as a Rookie (which I reckon is silly) I'm not that impressed by him.

Quote from amp88 :

Hulkenberg followed by Chandhok. Even if you classify Kobayashi as a Rookie (which I reckon is silly) I'm not that impressed by him.

I reckon there isn't a rookie that has absolutely shined this year like Hamilton's first year. But if you sift through the rookies so far this year I say that Kobayashi has done pretty decent and has somewhat fulfilled his 09 expectations (which tbh is very high for a GP2 flunkie). Hulkenberg would be a second.

Hulkenberg has 2 points. Kobayashi has 15 so far (and those aren't just incidental points either).

Also Chandhok? He hasn't really whipped Senna. Senna has outqualified Karun for most of the year so far. IDK why people are so surprised that Karun can actually hold the car steady (which should be expected)

I'm the only one who voted for Chandhok?

too early for me to make a decision yet,

senna and chandhok are too close to tell, understandably HRT favoured senna at first just because of the publicity factor, chandhok impressed me just by the way he accepted this.

di grassi and glock are in such a poor car that it's quite possible they are both at the cars limits puely because the limits are so low,

hulkenberg is doing ok, i was hoping for more on tracks he knows but rubbens is currently enjoying himself and it shows in his confidence and driving.

kobyashi is doing well but it's hard to tell as he's got an experienced driver who's out of practice with him, is de la rosa fast or just passing his time?

petrov is up against a driver who a lot feel has the most raw speed in F1 so his performances can look poor yet actually be ok, what renault need him to do is to stop trying too hard and let the times come with experience, if he listens to them, and he appears to be doing so now, he may end up being quite impressive this season.

what i find more interesting is who's the best returning driver this year, schumacher or de la rosa?

is the driver with the most championships really unable to adapt his style to suit a car that doesn't behave the way he wants or is he just gererally slow or is rosberg driving far better than we give him credit for in a car that is slow and schumacher's actually doing ok?

is de la rosa just driving at the pace we all expected or are he and kobyashi actually driving out of their skins in a car that has no right to be where it is in the pecking order?

Kobayashi. Apart him, I would go with Chandhok. I think he is doing really well in that crap box of HRT.

Hulkenburg is "meh" for me.

The last couple of drives by Kobayashi have been enough for him to be my rookie driver of 2010.

I know they say first impressions count, but don't you think it is a bit soon for this topic to be posted? There are still loads of races to go, each one suiting each car/driver differently.

Quote from JPeace :

Also, I know he isn't a rookie as such, but I think Alguersuari has really proven what he can do this year - Buemi also has improved a lot. In a few years' time I really think we can return to the days when we have in excess of 10 drivers capable of winning the championship. I hope this happens, but I don't know if the fairness of F1 (the difference between top teams and mid field teams) will be enough to provide this.

I fully agree with you, he has had some outstanding drives, but as you said, he is not a rookie and some people forget this about Alguesuari, he may be in a small-ish team but he has had ample time to get up to speed with others(not Mclaren, RB, Mercedes ect ect) but atleast give the Force India's trouble in each race, which he is not able to do.

I'm the only one who voted Di Grassi
Yes the car sucks, but he's keeping up with Glock in it which is good enough for me ^^ I had major expectations for Kobayashi, and he's not living up to them.

Quote from lizardfolk :

Hulkenberg has 2 points. Kobayashi has 15 so far (and those aren't just incidental points either).

Heh, using points as the only barometer of success is a little short-sighted.

Quote from lizardfolk :

Also Chandhok? He hasn't really whipped Senna. Senna has outqualified Karun for most of the year so far. IDK why people are so surprised that Karun can actually hold the car steady (which should be expected)

I don't know if you're talking about me here, but just being able to "hold the car steady" is not why I'm impressed with Chandhok. He's under a lot of pressure to perform having Senna as a team-mate and he's had a lot of problems to cope with. He's done both remarkably well. He hasn't cracked under the pressure and he hasn't thrown a hissy fit about the performance of the car. He's been available to talk to the media and he's always put on a good performance. A lot of drivers in his situation would not have handled the situation as gracefully.

Hülkenberg.

A few weeks ago I would have said that Hulk was the best, just because they have all been pretty unspectacular, but in the last couple of races Kobayashi has been solid and has scored some decent points, so my vote goes to him.

Quote from amp88 :

[Chandhok has] been available to talk to the media and he's always put on a good performance. A lot of drivers in his situation would not have handled the situation as gracefully.

For me, he is one of the best at handing the media on the grid. He's friendly and honest. Then again, because he's not driving for a corporate giant, I guess he isn't having his strings pulled so much. But he seems to be a genuinely very nice guy.

In terms of driving, Kobayashi impressed me of late, and is hugely exciting to watch. If he continues in this vein, I think he will attract a lot more attention.

1. Kobayashi
2. Petrov = Hulkenberg
3. Chandhok

I'm really hoping that Parris Mullins' group is looking to merge with Sauber, so that I can root for Kobayashi on my "home" team.

Quote from Mp3 Astra :

For me, he is one of the best at handing the media on the grid. He's friendly and honest. Then again, because he's not driving for a corporate giant, I guess he isn't having his strings pulled so much. But he seems to be a genuinely very nice guy.

In terms of driving, Kobayashi impressed me of late, and is hugely exciting to watch. If he continues in this vein, I think he will attract a lot more attention.

Chandok have been busy doing the occasional commentating for ESPN Star Sports' coverage of F1 in Asia in the last couple of years. And when he wasn't commentating, he was usually around to provide a "race driver point of view" to the coverage. Which might help explain why he's friendly and honest to the media now that he's finally on the grid.

I personally believe the lot of them have been fairly poor, with Nico being my one little standout for his performance at Silverstone, even though he's binned it on several occasions this season. (afaik and remember)

Am I alone in thinking that Petrov actually seems to have gotten worse lately?

He was doing really well in the first 4 or 5 races, IIRC but not so much in the last ones.


Voted for Kobayashi with Hülkenberg closely following.

Quote from zeugnimod :

Am I alone in thinking that Petrov actually seems to have gotten worse lately?

He was doing really well in the first 4 or 5 races, IIRC but not so much in the last ones.

Well...

Retired in first 3 races and 7th in China. But that was mainly due to the rain...

In the previous 6 races he has not scored any further points, but IMO his driving is much more solid and stable.

Maybe I was wrong then.

Quote from Mustafur :

Kobayashi(under F1 rules he completeled less then 3 races in '09 so hes classed as a rookie for '10).

So there's a mention about "rookies" in F1 rules? Never heard of that.

Sources please

E: Voted Kobayashi. Not an hard choice, he was the only one to dominate his teammate. That, on the less reliable car of the grid. Okay, you might wanna say "It's only De La Rosa, and he hasn't done any F1 race since 2006". But remember, he was in the pace straight away while substituing Montoya in 2005 and 2006.

Quote from DevilDare :

7th in China.

He was on for a decent points score, but then he spun.....

Yeah but lets be honest, it was all due to the rain that he was so high up.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Montoya

:weeping::weeping::weeping:

Sorry.