Rookie of the year 2013.

[Nuvolari_the_legend]

Because we are halfway into the F1 season, I think we can start to talk about who will be this years best rookie.

For those that don't know it there are 5 rookies this year, they are:

Esteban Gutierrez
Valtteri Bottas
Giedo van der Garde
Jules Bianchi
Max Chilton

[raymondu999]

My vote goes to Walter Boots. While it's debatable whether he or Bianchi have been the better rookie, the fact that Maldonado in the right car is a racewinner is to me an added bonus.

[stefan_]

My vote goes to Walter Boots. While it's debatable whether he or Bianchi have been the better rookie, the fact that Maldonado in the right car is a racewinner is to me an added bonus.

Same here.

[sennafan24]

Jules for me.

Embarrassed his teammate and has at times competed with and beaten a faster car in the Caterham. Other than when mechanical failure has hindered his efforts, he has outclassed Chilton in race craft and qualifying every weekend, most of the time to a hefty degree.

Bottas is a close second. The rest have not made any serious impression in my opinion.

[Mika1]

Bottas doing a good job, but I am not very impressed by the rookies this season to be honest.

[SectorOne]

Bottas because we know how strong Maldo is in terms of pace. Bianchi looks promising but Chilton definitely does not so it´s hard to quantify just how good he is.
(no doubt he´s probably very good but Bottas seems like the obvious one here)

[iotar__]

Too early and impossible to say. Tricky season, especially for rookies. The way they were selling 2012 as "a lottery" applies more to 2013. Not a lottery of course but variable and difficult conditions, Toro Rosso's or Force India's form and drop of form, tyre approach, tyre approach changes, tyre change, Barcelona/Canada/Hungary type of results, teams' struggles - Williams, Sauber, poor ones. Also it's hard to follow them without TV coverage.

Gutierrez - Sauber had some doubts about him and maybe it shows? Over one lap too far behind Hulkenberg, the rest impossible to say, car not consistent enough, I remember him being quite good in GP2, not against the best competition ever though, wasn't he rather aggressive/inconsistent there? Still young

Bianchi - good start, a bit oversold no doubt thanks to association with Ferrari, only proof - being better than Chilton, OK, had good results against Caterham too
Chilton - way behind over one lap, blaming tyres? Average in GP2, young, may get better?
Van der Garde - same as Chilton over one lap, had this one good race, decent racer

Bottas - decent, quite close to Maldonado, hard to tell with a car, took it easy in Canada, maybe it's the car maybe it's the approach - finish, don't risk, learn. You may give it to him or Bianchi but what's the point? It's not NBA.

[Nuvolari_the_legend]

I think that some of them won't be in the championship next year but I think we are going to see bottas again because he is doing really well (qualifying 3e in Canada).

[Shrieker]

Bianchi would be kicking Bottas' ar$e driving the same car.

[raymondu999]

Bianchi would be kicking Bottas' ar$e driving the same car.

Debatable. We lack any benchmark against which to perform a scientific comparison

[sennafan24]

Bianchi would be kicking Bottas' ar$e driving the same car.

If someone asked me at this stage to say which one was the better driver I would say Jules, but it would be pure speculation as a direct comparison is hard to come by. Both compete in very different cars, Jules is at the back of the grid and Bottas is usually around mid field in positions like 12-14. Bottas you could argue performs against a better teammate in Pastor as well.

Its hard to base such a argument with such little evidence to go on. We are all guilty of this mind, I think Alonso would beat Vettel in the same car, based only on relative performance and perception of what machinery they have had in the past to support my claim

[Nuvolari_the_legend]

Now the year is over, I think we can choose the best rookie of the year 2013. Any thoughts?

[MOWOG]

Valteiri Botas. There IS no second place!

[Juzh]

Bianchi by far.

[Jonnycraig]

Bottas.

VD Garde started slowly but finished strongly.