Which Driver most impressed you in 2010?

[paipa]

But I believe that was also a one-off test like Lewis tested the McLaren for BRDC, right? Or was it? I can't remember... sorry. I just remember that he was a Renault junior driver.

Yeah, he wasn't regular at Renault. This was a one time test he could participate in as an award. It was an official F1 test though, not a brief backyard drive as the McLaren BRDC prize.

[Donuts]

LH has had the support of McLaren, he started tesing for them in 2004, three years before his "rookie" season in F1! It's absurd to call that a rookie season! Could somebody please "dig out" the number of testing hours he did? I know somebody posted it a while ago. RK got his first opportunity(thanks to winning Renault F3 Series) in 2006 when JV left the BMW-Sauber-F1 team.

Your point is either totally uninformed or willfully misleading. Kubica started his rookie season with a LOT more F1 experience than LH.

The 2004 test you were talking about was a one-off opportunity for winning the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, him and Jamie Green completing 21 laps in Silverstone. You could hardly call that testing, more like letting the kids have some fun. And you imply as if he'd done nothing but testing F1 cars for three years, come on...

LH's first proper test day took place in Sep 2006 in Silverstone and then another three days in October in Jerez. In November he was announced as the second driver for 2007 so he went on to join the winter tests like everyone else. So that's a whopping 4 test days as a "test driver".

As for Kubica, he was a Friday test driver in 2006 all year, getting to know all the circuits and he even secured a race seat for the last third of the season. So at the beginning of the 2007 winter tests he had 18 Friday practice sessions, a number of full-day tests and 6 races under his belt.

Maybe my "fanboism" got a hold of me and I used the wrong example, but I'm not convinced.

I'm not trying to imply that Lewis Hamilton is better or worse than Robert Kubica, but the fact that the basis for their rookie seasons were totally different. Testing is probably not the most important part, but more the support and "opportunity" to start of with a championship winning car/team.

Ofcourse you are right about the official testing days(including Renault test in 2005), but I did'nt have those in mind at all. It was'nt until 2007(?) when testing was restricted to the official testing days. I read some numbers here before, but I have trouble finding them, so I have to give it up for now(I'm sure this was brought up in another discussion about rookie's limited chances due to the testing ban).

[nipo]

My vote goes to Kobayashi. =D>

In terms of impressing me he's by far the best. To me he has sort of raised the question: Is overtaking really as impossible as the other drivers say it is? He might not have proved otherwise comprehensively, but for sure he leaves me doubting.