Yep that will be the hardest question to answer.

Because they were IMO quite below average even for rookies. Is this the weakest crop for years?

Even so. Buemi for me.

Buemi. Retired SB.

I blame the testing rules more than the drivers. Well, the testing rules and, in the case of Alguersuari, Red Bull just throwing another driver at the wall to see if he sticks. I'm sure that he and Grosjean are much better than they've managed to show so far and that their teams would be making a big mistake in dropping them after dropping them in it.

Buemi's been the best, though. He's done a good job.

Please, don't make jokes, and don't vote for somebody else than Buemi, I know,no testing rules and so on, but besides that, Buemi is for now the best without any doubts.

Besides driving skills, Buemi team radio talks, are sometimes quite funny,f.e. after he spun out on qualies. "OOOOOO NOOOOOO I WAS SO FAST! NOOOOO!"

Grosjaen on Singupur trening, was funny too "Sorry, I crashed, on turn.... [one-seconds silence] seventeen"

Buemi wins, but its a rigged comp. He was the only one to have had any testing, and has had the whole season to get up to speed.

Err, Luca Badoer isn't a rookie. He drove for Scuderia Italia, Forti and Minardi in the 90s.

Buemi. Had a great start to the season. Was very impressive. Less so during the middle of the season. Not sure where Torro Rosso stood as far as Red Bull updates went, did Red Bull take their time in passing them down? Cos Buemi was pretty good last weekend as was Algersuari, something which i definitely didnt expect given how tough a track like Suzuka is to get right.

Buemi, a good start to the season great races at Melbourne and China.

I also love his "NOOOOOOOOOOOOs" over the radio too.

Buemi is real F1 material. I can see him driving for some better teams in 2012, in search for podiums.

Fisichella.

Seriously? Buemi.

Yep, since Nov. last year he practically lived in the STR's.

Buemi.

Buemi is the only one of the 3 - Badoer is nowhere near a rookie with 50 F1 starts btw- who has shown any real pace.
He did especially good on fp's last weekend, too. Pity it went pear-shaped.
ALG has shown that he understands set-ups and his cars behavior, and can communicate that well to his engineers- before he crashes
And although F1 is a circus, we have no need for one more clown, so Goujon last...

Buemi.

Congratulations on that stellar post. You must feel so proud of yourself.

Buemi. And to be fair on the rookies, they haven't exactly had a lot of testing mileage.

yep we know, but beeing 10 years out of racing, he became "rookie" again, for me. Realy he has much less late experience than is "rookie mates"

I'm gonna say Alguersuari.

Because, not counting Buemi who had a lot of pre-season testing, he's been the most impressive. That he was so close to the pace in only his first race, and in such a tiring track as the Hungaroring, seriously impressed me.

In fact it's been his most impressive performance so far, maybe excluding the last race.

I think Buemi is average. He didn't really do greater things than SB. Grosjean and Alguersuari are hurt by coming in mid season, but I presume Grosjean at least had some experience.

Looking at the results you have to say Buemi. Looking into future, I dont see great things. I don't know about Alquersuari but he could be interesting.

Rumours of Di Grassi grabbing a Renault drive before the end of the season and Seb Loeb having a go in Abu Dhabi tells me this poll might be too soon.

None of them have excited me much, but maybe Alguesari just edges it because he seems right up there on pace even if he doesn't keep it on the track that long.

2009 Formula One Rookies


Jaime Alguersuari 15 16 Ret Ret Ret Ret
Sébastien Buemi 7 16 8 17 Ret Ret 15 18 16 16 Ret 12 13 Ret Ret
Romain Grosjean 15 Ret 15 Ret 16

Hardly captivating....

Oh and OP, you forgot to add Seb Loeb- definate ROTY after he Poles and Wins in Abu-Dhabi

Buemi, easily. Saying that, he hasn't kicked on and started to impose himself as a star of the future. If he was a casualty of a revolving door policy like Toyota used for years i would not be surprised. If you asked me back in June I would have said different.

Buemi wins the prize, but i think that Alguersuari might be doing a better job than most expected considering his lack of experience overall and no testing. In doing better than Grosjean with an inferior package i think he deserves my vote.

Heres a tricky question:

In regards to cost-cutting, how do you quantify the benefits of paying very little to a rookie driver/nothing for a pay driver,
versus the cost of repairing/replacing the cars they keep smashing up?
Follow?

I realise racing incidents and mechanical failures happen, but when do you start thinking about ditching your rookie programs for drivers that aren't so damn crashhappy?

Thats the bane of teams like STR and before it, Minardi...
Or am i insane?

Taking into account each driver's unique circumstances, Alguersuari has impressed me the most. Buemi is good, but I think Alguersuari has the potential to be better.

Buemi, but none of them are convincing. It looks like that flood of talent we got a few years ago was a one-off.

BAD wins the entertainment factor contest with flying colours!

Hulkenberg.

Hell make his debut in Abu Dhabi

Alguersuari.

Sure, he might have retired a few times, but for a kid who only just started after finishing up in Formula Three, he's been getting better and better, especially in qualifying. Buemi, on the other hand, has been all over the place; twentieth in Malaysia, the tenth in China and seventeenth in Bahrain.

If he hadn't had 4 DNF's in a row, I would have said Alguesuari. He held off - Sutil I think? - in Singapore quite well and at Hungary and Valencia he was solid and didn't make mistakes.

So, accounting for those DNFs, I'm gonna have to say Buemi.

Vettel. If he can win rookie of the year in 2008, which wasn't his rookie year, why not again in 2009?

You do know that he was some 2-3 sec. off the pace there, I mean from everybody else, not only from the front bunch.

Yes, exactly.

Perhaps we need a sit down to quantify the meaning 'rookie' for the haters...?
SV started in USA '07 IIRC- 1 point.
So lets give ALG, GRO, and BUE another year to get pole, youngest winner ever and a promotion in the following year....
Guarantee they won't do what SV has done since...
If anyone comes close, its going to be Buemi.

He's one of my favourite drivers actually. I just disagree that someone can do 8 races (45%) of the previous season and still take out the ROTY award.

Hardly a difficult question, Buemi by far.

Yep.

Buemi is the only "real rookie", insofaras he got the winter testing and preperation to go to F1. The others just got thrown in a car. I think both Jamie and Romain have shown they are good. IMHO, both will beat Buemi in the long term. Romain has shown pace to beat Alonso at times, and Jamie has been close to Buemi despite no testing. At the end of 2010, Jamie and Romain will be shown to be better than Buemi.

I voted Romain Grosjean. Buemi is good but I think JarnoA is 100% right. Romain Grosjean will be a better driver in the long run. I hate these no testing rules

But when judging surely you need to do that based on what they have actually done, not on what they might do.

I don't think there can even be a question over this one.

I'm the first to admit I didn't expect anything from him this season, but he outdrove and outraced his more experienced team-mate and has carried the team on his shoulders, also acting as a mentor for his even younger rookie team-mate in the second half of the year.

Buemi has flown so high above pre-season expectations that its really quite astonishing.

While in the long term, Grosjean may be the better bet, on the basis of what we've seen this year, Buemi walks this vote.

I doubt buemi could of been as quick as the jenson/trulli lookalike. I see what you are saying, but i can see Grosjean being a better driver overall than Buemi. I think they all have done well. Have to wait for next year i feel to answer this question.

Well Grosjean did beat Buemi as a team-mate in F3. But as much as I like him, he isn't being as impressive this season.

Time to brag as I did predict Buemi would go well this year, and nobody here believed me.