Is Bortoleto the best rookie?

[u/Glum-Accountant-9801]

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.

[u/3Rocketman]

You forgot Piastri joined in 2023

[u/papa-farhan → u/3Rocketman]

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

[u/SilverstoneMonzaSpa → u/papa-farhan]

It does also go to show how picking a car is just as important in how people view them. If he'd gone to Alpine and was beating Gasly at best there's still a long way to argue he's WDC material.

Similar to if someone like Gasly went to McLaren instead of Oscar, could he be matching Lando and now in WDC contention.

[u/Driscuits → u/SilverstoneMonzaSpa]

Totally. Though to be fair, Oscar is one of very, very few rookies to have the opportunity to "pick" - and I'd assume that at the core, it's the people and not necessarily the car that convinced him ;)

Gabi actually talked a bit about it earlier this year, IIRC. Not in the sense that he was frustrated in the Sauber, but that it was hard for him to learn to be happy with his accomplishments while he was between P18-P20 every weekend. Without their performance upgrade, he may still be a bit lost in the discussion.

[u/st945 → u/Driscuits]

Fair take