60 replies to this topic

[Peter Perfect]

So... 3 new drivers for 2014. Who will you be watching?
 
As a McLaren fan I'm really excited about Kevin Magnussen in a way I haven't been about a driver since Button jumped into the Williams. He's obviously extremely talented, but you can say that about quite a few drivers. His Dad's experiences though really seem to have grounded him and he appears to be putting a huge effort into getting his head around F1 while still keeping his enjoyment of it. His testing so far has been extremely promising. Obviously lap times mean pretty much nothing so far with everyone working on general handling and reliability but visually he's been able to push the McLaren in a steady repeatable way. I think this years car could be a good one for him to start in, it appears to be well balanced and responsive to changes.

 

I must admit I'm not too knowledgeable about Kvyat or Ericsson but I'm pleased that there's some fresh blood coming into F1. Does anyone have some good background on them? What should we be hoping for?

[JHSingo]

Magnussen for me too. Not only is he extremely talented on track, he seems to have a very good attitude and work ethic too.

 

Kvyat was pretty average through first half of last year's GP3 championship, but really stepped it up in the second half. As for Ericcson, I think he's only won something like two GP2 races in four years, so on that basis, he should provide a good rival to Max Chilton.

[P123]

Kvyat and Magnussen look very promising. I'm sure there will be plenty of forum discussion through the season about those two. I'm not so sure about Ericsson- another ok-ish GP2 driver. His survival probably depends on money as much as performance.

[Seanspeed]

Kyvat and Magnussen are obviously the ones to watch.

I'm not getting overexcited like some are over Magnussen topping the times on a bleeding winter test day, but he seems quite talented. It was his 2nd year in WSBR, but he had to win the title last year against quite good competition.

Kyvat is younger and less experienced, especially in higher powered machinery, but I personally don't feel that this is as important as a lot of people think it is. He seems to adapt quickly and has natural talent, which is what matters most.

Ericsson isn't bad, but he's really not anything to get excited about. There's always a chance he'll surprise, but I'd bet on the other two having much better chances of becoming mainstays in the top category.

[lixlax]

Magnusseen, because hes driving for my favourite team. The other rookies will be interesting to watch as well.

[HaydenFan]

Kyvat and Ericsson on are the wrong teams. Yes, Vettel and Ricciardo came from there, Toro Rosso is good at tossing drivers aside sooner than later. With no Red Bull seat available in the near future (unless Ricciardo just cannot match even the pace set by Webber), he will be in the same place where Algesuari and Buemi where. 

 

And Ericsson is with a team that still has yet to score a point in a car those front end looks like was trying to copy the Ferrari 312T5. 

 

Both have zero pressure though! And that is where I think the best drivers emerge. Kyvat is not openly auditioning for a Red Bull Racing seat. And Ericsson is probably just happy that the check cleared to get his seat. That means Kyvat has at least 2 seasons to show what he has. And if Ericsson can be quicker than the Marussia and Kobayashi, maybe a chance with the midpack teams would open up.

 

And Magnussen has shown to be quick in what looks to be a quick car. Benefited the last rookie to occupy that seat if I remember correctly. Not saying anyone is expecting Kevin to even remotely match the performance Lewis threw down in '07, but he has the pressure to be close to Button during the season. And McLaren has shown with Kovalainen and Perez they are not afraid of cutting drivers when they disappoint. I think he is the rookie to watch. Not only because he's with McLaren, but because he's the son of an F1 alum. Always fun watching the kids of former world championship level drivers race. 

[Markn93]

Magnussen for me. Macca know what to look for in rookies and they must think he's special. Be great if he had a Lewis- like impact this year to add to an already strong grid.

[Module]

Magnussen and Kvyat seem very interresting and I expect atleast one of them to realy shine this year.

 

Ericsson...I think it's nice that Chilton got somebody to race with

[eronrules]

wookie watch     WTH ... oh wait, it's rookie watch ... phew

 

 

Daniil kvyat is the obvious choice. 

[jrg19]

Kevin, mainly because right now he looks like the most likely to achieve something of real note.

 

Potentially youngest WDC and as a rookie?

[InSearchOfThe]

How is Kvyat the obvious choice ? That car wasn't a world beater last year.STR will be lucky to finish 9th this year.

 

Magussen is in the better team by far against a seasoned WDC. He has to perform right out of the box.

[Farhannn15]

How is Kvyat the obvious choice ? That car wasn't a world beater last year.STR will be lucky to finish 9th this year.

 

Magussen is in the better team by far against a seasoned WDC. He has to perform right out of the box.

And he has to beat the likes of JB, Nico, Lewis, Nando, Kimi, RoGro will definitely be interesting how he compares to with the top guns in F1

[olliek88]

K-Mag and Dani K "for sure". Both have buckets of talent but if i had to bet on who's going to be the more impressive then it'd have to be Kvyat, his ability to adapt quickly and consistently perform at the front in his junior career was a tad impressive. Marcus is just you're average back of the field driver at best, had reasonable speed in GP2 last year at times but you would've expected more for someone with so much experience at that level.

[scheivlak]

Formulated this way I miss the "all three" option.

[Spillage]

Couldn't really vote in the poll because the answer is 'all three', particularly Magnussen and Kvyat. Both were surprise appointments and will naturally be under big pressure to perform. I'd be surprised if Magnussen does any better than Perez did last year, and I'm expecting Kvyat to struggle at first and then ultimately settle down into a form that effectively ends Vergne's career.

[eronrules]

How is Kvyat the obvious choice ? That car wasn't a world beater last year.STR will be lucky to finish 9th this year.

 

Magussen is in the better team by far against a seasoned WDC. He has to perform right out of the box.

well, for one, proving to be a top rookie is easier in mclaren (if it proves to be a rocketship)

 

secondly, any driver who joins STR is kinda like one of those soldiers who volunteers for suicide mission, they know the price of failure, and let's be honest, what are the chances of becoming of the second coming of Vettel

 

thirdly, the main aim of a STR driver is to migrate to RBR and knowing how many are in the pipeline, makes the job mentally exhausting. yeah sure doing good in Mclaren also matters as well, but the price of failure is much less severe and the management is much more forgiving.

 

Fourthly, presence of Helmut is much more menacing than Good ol' Ron in the garage, franz tost doesn't improve the odds either.

 

Fifth, weight of a nation like russia on your shoulder is heavier than that of Denmark.

 

so ... in fairness (and logically), Daniil kvyat is really the rookie to watch .... IMHO 

[Stallknecht]

Magnussen is the one I will keep an eye on.. Besides from the fact that I am a Dane, he has really impressed me so far. Starting with the test he drove at Silverstone last year, and Bahrain the year before that. He seems to adabt rather quickly to new machinery. That said he will be under real pressure from the start, being teammates with Button will be a real challenge is his first F1 season. Can't wait to the lights is out in Melbourne..

[OSX]

Magnussen. He looks like a potential new F1 star in the making. Button beware...

 

 

[bub]

Both Magnussen and Kvyat look like they could have a lot of potential. Voted Magnussen because he's in a top team. 

Edited by bub, 02 February 2014 - 18:10.

[Andrew Hope]

I can't tell you who I'll be watching in 2014 or she'll figure out there's a camera in the mirror.

 

Voted Kvyat. Interested to see if he's the killer Red Bull seem to think he is.

[st99]

I'm going for Kvyat, his second part of the season last year was impressive, he was in a class of his own and then on the FP1 he did, he was quick. Also don't forget he almost won the FRenault 2.0 against Stoffel Vandoorne, Magnussen main rival in 3.5 and another driver who looks like a future star two years older than Kvyat.

 

I also think Magnussen will do pretty good, I expect him to beat JB at least in qualy.

 

I don't know much about Ericsson, I haven't watched GP2 this season (GP3 was far more interesting IMHO) so I don't know how he'll do.

[Mohican]

You guys really are a miserable and negative bunch. Do you REALLY think that somebody like Ericsson gets a seat in preference to for example Kovalainen, Petrov vdGarde or Di Resta if money is the only thing that he has to offer ? Have you even considered in your wisdom that there might be more to him than meets the casual eye ? James Hunt, just to take one example and without making further comparisons, was nowhere before Lord Hesketh brought him into F1.

The wonderful coming of Magnussen junior may work out, I hope it does. But to make predictions based on severely engine-hampered tests in Spain is just ridiculous. And to compare him to Hamilton in 2007 is equally so; in those days there was unlimited testing, not so now.

Unlike you, I think that anybody who makes it into F1 is going to be at least a reasonable (and that includes Chilton). Many years ago, we had Piercarlo Ghinzani bringing up the rear in an Osella; he was talked about the same way as you guys talk about people here - but when let loose in a Porsche 962 he blitzed the field in Group C.

[alfa1]

History has shown you simply cannot tell how good a driver is in F1 until he races in F1.

 

Historians will be able to produce large lists of "star" drivers who failed in F1, and "average" drivers who excelled in F1.

[Jerem]

Since the McLaren looks quite good, it'll be interesting to see if Magnussen can pull a Hamilton against Button and maybe fight for WDC. However I'll also keep an eye on Kvyat, because I think he has a lot of potential. Quite impressive in GP3 last year.

[Imateria]

Magnussen and Kvyat are the obvious choices, both come in with a lot of much warranted hype, it'll be interesting to see how they do especially since their immediate goals will be different given the teams their in.

 

Ericsson is a different matter, throughout his career he's been fast but very inconsistent. I suspect he'll end up being just like van der Garde and Pic, good drivers but nothing special. 

[bub]

You guys really are a miserable and negative bunch. Do you REALLY think that somebody like Ericsson gets a seat in preference to for example Kovalainen, Petrov vdGarde or Di Resta if money is the only thing that he has to offer ? Have you even considered in your wisdom that there might be more to him than meets the casual eye ? James Hunt, just to take one example and without making further comparisons, was nowhere before Lord Hesketh brought him into F1.

The wonderful coming of Magnussen junior may work out, I hope it does. But to make predictions based on severely engine-hampered tests in Spain is just ridiculous. And to compare him to Hamilton in 2007 is equally so; in those days there was unlimited testing, not so now.

Unlike you, I think that anybody who makes it into F1 is going to be at least a reasonable (and that includes Chilton). Many years ago, we had Piercarlo Ghinzani bringing up the rear in an Osella; he was talked about the same way as you guys talk about people here - but when let loose in a Porsche 962 he blitzed the field in Group C.

 

I think people are basing their predictions on performance junior categories more so than testing. Also you'd assume that the top teams would have the pick of the talent so the fact that RBR and McLaren chose them suggests they might be better. Also money is important for the smaller teams so it makes some sense to think that could be the primary reason they signed someone.

[MP422]

Kmag, as he is the one with a benchmarks to compare him too. Both as in a teammate and being that he is with Woking. 

[InSearchOfThe]

well, for one, proving to be a top rookie is easier in mclaren (if it proves to be a rocketship)

 

secondly, any driver who joins STR is kinda like one of those soldiers who volunteers for suicide mission, they know the price of failure, and let's be honest, what are the chances of becoming of the second coming of Vettel

 

thirdly, the main aim of a STR driver is to migrate to RBR and knowing how many are in the pipeline, makes the job mentally exhausting. yeah sure doing good in Mclaren also matters as well, but the price of failure is much less severe and the management is much more forgiving.

 

Fourthly, presence of Helmut is much more menacing than Good ol' Ron in the garage, franz tost doesn't improve the odds either.

 

Fifth, weight of a nation like russia on your shoulder is heavier than that of Denmark.

 

so ... in fairness (and logically), Daniil kvyat is really the rookie to watch .... IMHO 

Yeah, there's no pressure to perform at McLaren, just ask Checo

 

DK may turn out to be worhty, but more is expected in a top team against a top 6 teammate.Macca

 

As for the weight of your country goes, that's far down the list of rating a drivers F1 adaptability.

 

You have your "logic", and I have mine.

[Shiroo]

Magnussen is more likely to get podium.

So we will probably rate him best out of the rookies at the end of the season

[Arn]

I have been telling people to watch out for Kevin Magnussen since he was a 15 year old kid back in 2008 ;)

 

http://forums.autosp...2/#entry3257511

 

I expect him to do well compared to Button, and be rated highly after 2014.

[Mohican]

I think people are basing their predictions on performance junior categories more so than testing. Also you'd assume that the top teams would have the pick of the talent so the fact that RBR and McLaren chose them suggests they might be better. Also money is important for the smaller teams so it makes some sense to think that could be the primary reason they signed someone.

You'd assume that McLaren/Whitmarsh would choose Hulkenberg - or keep Perez - rather than pick a rookie whom they could not test. It could of course be that Whitmarsh painted himself into a corner, going round for weeks trying to place Magnussen elsewhere before being forced to bite the bullet and take him into the main team - thereby being forced to fire Perez. Why bringing Magnussen in as 3rd driver for 2014 was not an option is strange.

It may be that Ericsson turns out to be no great deal - but I think that he has been unfairly singled out as The Pay Driver of 2014, and would like to see some of you eat your dismissive words. The fact that he has somehow got a package together deserves respect and not derision; he certainly deserves his chance as well as many others.

[Farhannn15]

I have been telling people to watch out for Kevin Magnussen since he was a 15 year old kid back in 2008 ;)

 

http://forums.autosp...2/#entry3257511

 

I expect him to do well compared to Button, and be rated highly after 2014.

Good call sir 

[michaelmyers]

You'd assume that McLaren/Whitmarsh would choose Hulkenberg - or keep Perez - rather than pick a rookie whom they could not test. It could of course be that Whitmarsh painted himself into a corner, going round for weeks trying to place Magnussen elsewhere before being forced to bite the bullet and take him into the main team - thereby being forced to fire Perez. Why bringing Magnussen in as 3rd driver for 2014 was not an option is strange.

It may be that Ericsson turns out to be no great deal - but I think that he has been unfairly singled out as The Pay Driver of 2014, and would like to see some of you eat your dismissive words. The fact that he has somehow got a package together deserves respect and not derision; he certainly deserves his chance as well as many others.

If you want to win the championship and seriously be the best team you really can't afford to take valuable setup time from your drivers. It's the smaller teams that don't have so much to sacrifice that do this. And even then it seems many of them only for money. Luckily there are exceptions like Williams.

[Fastcake]

History has shown you simply cannot tell how good a driver is in F1 until he races in F1.

 

Historians will be able to produce large lists of "star" drivers who failed in F1, and "average" drivers who excelled in F1.

 

Although the latter list is considerably smaller than the former.

[noikeee]

I have been telling people to watch out for Kevin Magnussen since he was a 15 year old kid back in 2008 ;)

 

http://forums.autosp...2/#entry3257511

 

I expect him to do well compared to Button, and be rated highly after 2014.

 

I'm slightly embarassed to find out that at the time I was more impressed with Mika Maki in the F3 Euro than Hulkenberg and Bianchi.    Didn't do too badly on my post otherwise, called dibs on Pérez being good before he had much hype, was suspicious on van der Garde, brought up Bottas and Felix da Costa in their early days... could've been worse.

 

Re the 2014 lot:

 

CV, momentum and attitude, back Magnussen and to a slightly lesser extent Kvyat, to do well. They were the top guns in the feeder series ladder last year. Kevin beat a very strong field in possibly the strongest series below F1, Kvyat got a title in his first year of GP3/F3 level in a fairly important international championship at a very young age. Both look very good. However it's obvious that in F1 you need to be at the right place at the right time and at the moment Kevin's on an infinitely better place. He's the only of the 3 rookies in anything resembling a top team, and said top team has looked as good as anyone else in testing so far. He's also the only of the 3 rookies who actually seems to have an engine fit for racing at the moment.   He's obviously going to make many more headlines than the other 2 this year.

 

However there is one slight issue people are overlooking regarding Kevin - he has by far, by far by far by far, the toughest team-mate of the 3 for next year. No disrespect for Jean-Eric Vergne whose talent I rate (bar qualifying) or Kobayashi who has surprised the **** out of me in F1, but Button is a tough seasoned bastard who has won the world championship and beat a world champion on points as team-mate. Benchmark is just set at a much higher level for Kevin than for the others. Also, whilst in a much much better car it's much easier to impress by racking up podiums and points even if you're 7 tenths of your team-mate's pace, you're also much more exposed to the public. Mess up this year and it's bye bye to a F1 career forever for Kevin. Whereas Kvyat can just chillax (well, as much as any Toro Rosso driver can ever chillax as Red Bull are cruel bastards keen to spit you out) knowing he has time on his side to develop.

 

Re Ericsson, I obviously don't put him on the same level as the other 2, and I can think from the top of my mind of another 10 drivers who would've merited that seat more than he did, who never raced in F1 and probably never will. Still, one caveat, it would be very naive and short-sighted to count him out at this stage. He might have flopped in GP2 but before that he used to be tipped constantly as a fairly promising driver, and his speed never really disappeared in GP2, his consistency did. Look no further than his team-mate for a guy who flopped in GP2 and clicked much better with the F1 cars, it could very well happen again with Ericsson. Actually, who knows whether Kobayashi will click with these turbo cars, and he's also been out for a year, won't he have to adapt from scratch almost as much as Ericsson will? I don't think Ericsson will ever be a star, but also wouldn't be terribly shocked if he ends up as the one of the 3 rookies who actually beats his team-mate.

Edited by noikeee, 03 February 2014 - 00:50.

[DanardiF1]

Button is a tough seasoned bastard

 

That nearly made me spit my tea out... never heard Jenson described like that before, even though I completely agree!

 

Regarding Magnussen... It's strange that I don't really think of him as a rookie, he gives off this very measured vibe and has that McLaren professionalism that some drivers don't reach even after a few seasons in F1. He might only have his two YDT's behind him, but he jumped straight into that McLaren last week and got going immediately. Okay there were a couple scrapes over the two days, but that's expected. I really think he can score a lot of points and perhaps challenge for podiums if the McLaren is as good as it's hinting right now. I don't expect him to beat Jenson this season, but he might give him a few scares over the year... Jenson isn't as quick over one lap as he used to be, but is almost the perfect driver for how we expect races to play out this year, so Kevin's got a real challenge. McLaren know this, which is why they were so decisive in saying Perez was not for them last season... he just couldn't convincingly handle Jenson even with JB having a mild dip in form for a few races in the latter part of the season.

 

I think the best things going for Magnussen are the team he's at, the teammate he's got, and his Dad. McLaren know how to look after rookies, he's got Jenson Button for a teammate (WDC, 15 wins, most experienced driver on the grid, very unique driving style), and his Dad can give him some useful advice about how NOT to go about an F1 career, whilst still being respected as one of the best GT drivers in the world.

 

Can't wait to see how he does... he might go some way to taking Jenson's place as my driver to follow for when he eventually decides to retire.

[Jimisgod]

I get the funny feeling Kev will be the best rookie since Hamilton & Vettel. The McLaren looks about level with Merc and Ferrari at this early stage, so I don't think a win is impossible for K-mag.

[Nonesuch]

Given the car advantage he'll most likely enjoy over the other rookies, Magnussen seems most likely to attract special attention.

 

Speaking for myself, I don't particularly care about any of these guys - but I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do with an F1 car.

[sopa]

Re: Magnussen. Ever since testing ban, do we expect a rookie truly shine and stand out already in his rookie season? And I mean over a full season, as Kobayashi's P6 in Abu Dhabi 2009 was just one race. Even the highly rated Hulkenberg scored less than half of Barrichello's points in his debut season and he is now the highest rated driver of all those, who have made a debut since 2009.

 

I ask this because do we expect KM to give a run for Button's money, maybe some even expect him to match JB, or we just expect K-Mag to have a solid start into his career and collect maybe half of Button's points, which - if we compare him to Hulkenberg - would still be a good job. Especially as Hulk is very highly rated now. Would Magnussen matching Button over a full year be almost a super-human effort?

 

Grosjean had a terrible start in 2009 and in 2012 collected less than half of Raikkonen's points. Perez collected about half of Kobayashi's points. Ricciardo is hard to rate, because 2011 HRT and 2012 STR don't paint a good team-mate comparision, but his 2013 seemed stronger with some standout qualifying sessions. And these are the drivers, who are currently rated as somewhere after Hulkenberg in talent stakes.

[MetallurgicalHedonist]

Re: Magnussen. Ever since testing ban, do we expect a rookie truly shine and stand out already in his rookie season? And I mean over a full season, as Kobayashi's P6 in Abu Dhabi 2009 was just one race. Even the highly rated Hulkenberg scored less than half of Barrichello's points in his debut season and he is now the highest rated driver of all those, who have made a debut since 2009.

 

I never understood the buzz about Hülkenberg. He should've been more impressive against Barrichello in his rookie year. Not necessarily talking about "more points" here, but about "more often faster in qualifying" or "having less points only because of mostly not self-induced DNFs".

 

I ask this because do we expect KM to give a run for Button's money, maybe some even expect him to match JB, or we just expect K-Mag to have a solid start into his career and collect maybe half of Button's points, which - if we compare him to Hulkenberg - would still be a good job. Especially as Hulk is very highly rated now. Would Magnussen matching Button over a full year be almost a super-human effort?

 

No, it wouldn't, because: I mean, look what Kvyat did in 2013 (ok, it was only one or two free practise sessions but still...). Unless, Kvyat is a genius (and I don't know it). But is he really a genius?

 

That's what's so impressive about Hamilton. OK, he could test in 2006, but still no one would have been so strong in his rookie season against heavyweights like Alonso and Räikkönen in the same material respectively similarly strong material. He was instantly on it with manoevers you don't learn in testing sessions (I'm talking about his defensive manoevers in only his second or third GP, for example against Massa in Malaysia).

 

No one can match him: neither Stewart in 1965 (against GHill), nor Villeneuve in 1996 (single best car with "only" Hill as teammate compared to "Hamilton's Alonso").

 

Grosjean had a terrible start in 2009 and in 2012 collected less than half of Raikkonen's points. Perez collected about half of Kobayashi's points. Ricciardo is hard to rate, because 2011 HRT and 2012 STR don't paint a good team-mate comparision, but his 2013 seemed stronger with some standout qualifying sessions. And these are the drivers, who are currently rated as somewhere after Hulkenberg in talent stakes.

 

I don't think that the Grosjean from 2009 was really worse than the one from 2012. After a few gp-weekends in 2009, he was 2 years away from F1. So he was actually a rookie in 2012, once again. He was very inconsistent but at least fast (some incredible qualifyings in 2012 where the car admitted him to show his speed). The difference in 2009: the car was an entire headache. There we could see the class difference between Grosjean and Alonso. If the car was quite OK like the Lotus 2012, then Grosjean would have been more impressive in 2009 and he would have been somehow nearer to Alonso and everybody would've said, "oh look how incredibly fast he is!"

 

Btw: Points are sometimes overrated, if most of the points' losses are not driver-induced, of course.

 

So, if for example, Magnussen has 10 or 20 points less than Button in the end but had a few more technical incidents or a few more "Spa-2012-Grosjean" situations to suffer than Button, then it doesn't mean anything, if he has less points than Button.

[noikeee]

 

I never understood the buzz about Hülkenberg. He should've been more impressive against Barrichello in his rookie year. Not necessarily talking about "more points" here, but about "more often faster in qualifying" or "having less points only because of mostly not self-induced DNFs".

Think you've not been paying enough attention to him - yes he was a little disappointing vs Rubens his rookie year, but has improved immensely since. He's looked a completely different driver from about mid-2012 onwards.

[Imateria]

I think you're both being a little harsh there, I remember the 2010 Williams being a bit of a bastard in the first half of the year, it seemed particularly twitchy on corner entry and exit. Hulk was regularly outperforming Rubens in the second half of the year though after the car improved and he got on top of things.

 

As to the main point, I don't think an rookie can impress in the way Hamilton did, but they'll still have oportunities to impress.

[FredrikB]

I will probably follow Ericsson closest 

 

Re Ericsson, I obviously don't put him on the same level as the other 2, and I can think from the top of my mind of another 10 drivers who would've merited that seat more than he did, who never raced in F1 and probably never will. Still, one caveat, it would be very naive and short-sighted to count him out at this stage. He might have flopped in GP2 but before that he used to be tipped constantly as a fairly promising driver, and his speed never really disappeared in GP2, his consistency did. Look no further than his team-mate for a guy who flopped in GP2 and clicked much better with the F1 cars, it could very well happen again with Ericsson. Actually, who knows whether Kobayashi will click with these turbo cars, and he's also been out for a year, won't he have to adapt from scratch almost as much as Ericsson will? I don't think Ericsson will ever be a star, but also wouldn't be terribly shocked if he ends up as the one of the 3 rookies who actually beats his team-mate.

 

If you watched him drive, not only the total points in GP2, you know he's got some strong quality's.

He struggled in qual but excelled in the races with great racecraft. Thats what Caterham needs. 

 

In Kamuis two seasons in GP2 he finished sixteen in the standings (both 2008 and 2009). That´s even less impressive than Ericssons results in GP2.

[Kvothe]

Think you've not been paying enough attention to him - yes he was a little disappointing vs Rubens his rookie year, but has improved immensely since. He's looked a completely different driver from about mid-2012 onwards.

Agreed, from Hockenheim 2012 onward he's been a revelation, 

[icktums]

Magnussen is the obvious choice in the poll but I agree that Ericsson is underestimated and might surprise.

Although he had a tough time in GP2 his preformances in Formula 3 and Formula BMW are quite impressive.

In 2009 Daniel Ricciardo took the British Formula 3 championship with two rounds to spare. Ericsson was a guest driver in that championship and with two wins, a second, a third and two fourths he beat Ricciardo in five of the six races he attended.

He also took pole in macau infront of Bottas, Ricciardo and Bianchi amongst others.
 

[Cosmonaut]

I think Kvyat is in the best position right now, unlike Magnussen, he isn't going to face that much pressure, due to worst car/engine/both, nobody expects from him to fight for a championship, and he's, unlike Mag., capable of beating his teammate, and, if RB would continue to struggle this, maybe even next, year, Vettel is certainly going to leave them, and who will be the first candidate on his place? Kvyat, next thing we know, RB gets back it's superiority, and Kvyat is WDC .

[MetallurgicalHedonist]

Think you've not been paying enough attention to him - yes he was a little disappointing vs Rubens his rookie year, but has improved immensely since. He's looked a completely different driver from about mid-2012 onwards.

 

and

 

I think you're both being a little harsh there, I remember the 2010 Williams being a bit of a bastard in the first half of the year, it seemed particularly twitchy on corner entry and exit. Hulk was regularly outperforming Rubens in the second half of the year though after the car improved and he got on top of things.

 

Yeah OK sorry, but come on: Maldonado was not really less impressive from the get-go in 2011 against Barrichello compared to Hülkenberg. I mean... Maldonado. Having in mind that he is probably not the most highly considered in that Perez-Grosjean-Bottas-Hülkenberg group...

 

And please don't say that it was Barrichello's last season when Maldonado had to face him. Was Barrichello really that much better in 2010 where Hülkenberg had the "stronger version of Barrichello" than Maldonado in 2011? I mean it wasn't so that Hülkenberg competed against a muuch fresher and better Barrichello than Maldonado.

 

And I think Hülkenberg is also not really better than the likes of Grosjean (it was, for example, very even in GP2 in 2009 between them before Grosjean was appointed to higher spheres during that season (--> F1)).

[bourbon]

Eye on Daniil.  To me, it is best to start in the midfield and get your feet wet before diving in.  Hamilton did great in terms of driving, but I think a year getting his feet wet would have saved him a lot of the off track grief.  Drivers can still excel in the pack, as we have seen in the past.  Looking forward to what he can do.

[Jimisgod]

I don't want to invite the Hamilton judgement fight into this topic, but 2007 remains his most consistently fast season. Hulk on the other hand has improved markedly from 2010.

People get to hung up on rookies making a splash and miss the drivers who build into winners. Mansell would have been out of the sport in 1985 at this rate. Hell, name one rookie who has done what Kubica, Hamilton or Vettel did in their debut seasons since the testing ban?

If the Macca is WDC fast then Magnussen has the chance to take wins. Expecting him to match a WDC with near zero seat time (vs Lewis who had tens of thousands of kms) is naive.

[MetallurgicalHedonist]

If the Macca is WDC fast then Magnussen has the chance to take wins. Expecting him to match a WDC with near zero seat time (vs Lewis who had tens of thousands of kms) is naive.

 

No, the thing is it is possible even with near zero seat time, if the car is exceptional (Button is by far not unbeatable... he is not Alonso stuff).

 

The following example is not F1, but look at Marquez in MotoGP. Pedrosa is comparable with Button as a teammate and the material was not the single best one...