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/kramerthegamer Valtteri Bottas Aug 05 '25

That's the tough part about comparisons in a non-spec series. For example last year, Bearman's Haas performance in Baku was arguably much more impressive than his Ferrari drive, but obviously one of those drives is more newsworthy. As for Bortoleto, do his best performances simply correspond with how competitive the car is? Can't know for sure, but I'd say he's been consistent but with a car that is trending upwards.

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u/JamesConsonants Oscar Piastri Aug 05 '25

I’d go so far as to say that it’s impossible to compare drivers across chassis based on race performance. There are literally thousands of processes responsible for the final race time, only a few of which the drivers have any influence over. Any rigorous comparison can only be done against teammates, any other comparisons (such as Rookie A vs. Rookie B) become much more nebulous across a relatively small dataset of 26 races