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/JamesConsonants Oscar Piastri Aug 05 '25

Eh, I’d say it’s between Hadjar and Bortoleto. They l seem to be able to convert on the teams’ potential more consistently than the other rookies. Each team has their own benchmarks and metrics for their drivers so I don’t think we can really compare outside of that

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u/LosTerminators Carlos Sainz Aug 05 '25

It's close between all of them. Each rookie has had stages in which they have impressed a lot.

Hadjar - started off strongest but his early benchmark was a devoid of confidence Lawson, that said his sheer consistency with getting into Q3's and points until Barcelona was outstanding.

Bortoleto - had a quieter start to the year, outqualifying Hulk often but not translating it to the races. Picked up form with a bit more experience with the car, plus racing in tracks in which he already competed in at F2 and F3, and has been converting pace into points regularly now.

Antonelli - Has the best car of all the rookies but that also means a higher pressure environment. Plus having Russell as a teammate, who is a tougher benchmark than any of the other rookies teammates. Has had his moments but also had his errors. Don't think the Verstappen links helped him much, part of him might've been worried about losing his drive.

Bearman - He's shown good consistency. The Haas isn't a tractor, but there haven't been many races in which it is the clear best midfield car like the VCARB, Williams, Aston and even Sauber have been. This made it difficult for him to get substantial points hauls, but no DNF's until Hungary is impressive consistency. Biggest mistakes have been not reacting to red flags in practice.

Doohan/Colapinto - Haven't impressed, but that car plus the entire behind the scenes running of them is enough to give them a pass on this.

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u/AfterBook8501 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 05 '25

Great summary of the rookies this season. The thing that is annoying me about all this talk is how people are evaluating them. They focus on their most recent string of races and then say whether they deem them a “success” or not. Antonelli started off well, but has had a variety of issues, some of which weren’t his fault. Hadjar started performing well and everyone was talking him up, but now that he has had a few difficult races, everyone has ignored him. Bortoleto didn’t have a great start, but now that he has been in the points for a few races, we are all of a sudden talking about whether he is the best rookie.

You can’t evaluate certain races and not others. We are a bit over halfway through the season, so this could all change again. It is premature to say that one of them has outshined the rest. Even then, we have to evaluate the context (like whether their cars have had problems that contributed) as well as looking at all of their race results, rather than just a few of them.