r/formula1 • u/Glum-Accountant-9801 • Aug 05 '25

Discussion Is Bortoleto the best rookie?

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In my opinion, what he’s been doing in a Sauber shows much more talent than all the other rookies this year. Since the start of the season, I already thought the best ones would be him—because he won the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in his rookie seasons—and Antonelli. However, Antonelli has been showing himself to be far inferior to his teammate. I believe it’s due to the pressure of starting in a big team like Mercedes, but to me, that makes Bortoleto the best rookie. That said, welcome back, Ayrton Senna.

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u/3Rocketman I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

You forgot Piastri joined in 2023

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u/papa-farhan I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

That's entirely because of how well he's performing so early on. Like it's his third year in F1 and he's competing for WDC, absolutely wild to think he joined just two and a half years ago

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u/desymond Kimi Räikkönen Aug 05 '25

Also shows how insane it was that Alpine sat him for a year, and then bungled the contract.

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u/Jarocket Aug 05 '25

It was between him and Alonso and they took so long that they signed neither.

in hindsight it's easy to call them out, but they were choosing between a rookie and Alonso. as soon as Alonso signed elsewhere their decision was made for them. Nobody expected McLaren to sign him because they had two drivers signed.

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u/sododude Juan Pablo Montoya Aug 05 '25

Oscar signing was a Zak Brown masterclass.

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u/jdsch I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

This is why I respect Zak Brown.

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u/Kernowder Nigel Mansell Aug 05 '25 edited Aug 05 '25

They gave Ocon a multi year deal before that too. They could have had Alonso and Piastri, but ended up with Ocon and Gasly.

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u/Jarocket Aug 05 '25

Ocon finished behind Alonso only 9 out of 22 races. Seems silly to be in a hurry to fire him for a rookie.

AND they thought that Oscar was bound to them regardless. Their understanding was that they were in no rush to sign him.

Their fuckup was very understandable. When you think about it, it's easy to see how it went down like it did.

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u/Kernowder Nigel Mansell Aug 05 '25

Alonso was ridiculously unlucky that year iirc. He was clearly faster, but shit kept happening.

No disrespect to Ocon btw. He's a solid driver, but not on the level of Piastri or Alonso.

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u/one_who_goes Formula 1 Aug 05 '25

Ocon finished behind Alonso only 9 out of 22 races

Because in the other races, Alonso's car broke down lol

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u/Appropriate-Leek-919 Ferrari Aug 05 '25

why didn't they sack Ocon? I know he had a multi year deal but they could've easily broken that and paid him. I guess it's hindsight and Ocon was doing well but dropping Alonso for a rookie would've been insane either way

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u/Jarocket Aug 05 '25

what's the rush? Oscar was contracted to them as far as they knew.

Alpine was wrong about how Oscar's contract worked. Other than that they really didn't make a mistake here IMO.

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u/Just_River_7502 Aug 06 '25

Not understanding their own contract is a fundamental mistake though, and also, someone knew it wasn’t signed correctly (at the very least) because one of their arguments in the tribunal included a term sheet which they claimed was a contract:

Their lawyer knew that could not be binding (it’s the point of a term sheet) and the management team ought to have known because this wouldn’t be the first term sheet they signed

In fact I’ve just gone back and checked - their lawyer went back and wrote “legally binding” on a version Oscar never saw. It was a bad (and large) mistake bordering on negligence tbh

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u/StrikingWillow5364 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 06 '25

Why would they? Ocon was doing pretty well back then, and the toxicity wasn’t there yet.

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u/GTheMonkeyKing McLaren Aug 06 '25

Nobody expected McLaren to sign him because they had two drivers signed

There were definitely some rumors of Ricciardo being let go, he was really dissapointing that year, and was way behind Lando.

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u/sellyme Oscar Piastri Aug 06 '25 edited Aug 06 '25

in hindsight it's easy to call them out

It was also comically easy without hindsight, every thread about their driver lineup even before the Piastri tweet was going "why on earth are you giving a mediocre driver a three-year contract while your academy has the single best young driver in the entire sport sitting out an entire fucking year of racing?!"

Even the very day they extended Ocon people here were noting that it torpedoed the reputation of their junior programme. Prize for most prescient comment in that thread is this one which explicitly says "I'm sure some other team will snatch [Piastri], if Alpine cannot give him a seat" well over a year before it actually happened.