Who is Rookie of The Last Month?

Led ZeppF1 · 2 Apr 2003, 09:02 (Ref:555639)

After two races, who has show the best performers? So, who is Rookie of The Last Month?

Led ZeppF1 · 2 Apr 2003, 09:10 (Ref:555643)

My money for the Brazilian. Da Matta, not the Jungle Boy Pizzonia.

Mr V · 2 Apr 2003, 09:12 (Ref:555646)

Never thought i'd say this...but the way Firman drove in Sepang makes him my rookie of the first 2 races.

Led ZeppF1 · 2 Apr 2003, 09:14 (Ref:555650)

Quote:

Originally posted by Led ZeppF1
After two races, who has show the best performers? So, who is Rookie of The Last Month?

Ups, I mean performance. Sorry, English is not my native language.

krt917 · 2 Apr 2003, 09:16 (Ref:555651)

I think all, with the possible exception of Pizzonia, could develop into pretty decent GP drivers. Da Matta has the best car under him at the moment so will probably be highest scoring rookie this year. However, I think I'll go for Wilson for the 'rookie of the month'. I know he's been outqualified by Jos, but that isn't exactly unexpected as Jos is pretty useful. Justin's brilliant early laps, in both Melbourne and Sepang made some of the old hands look a bit silly. Reckon driving for that long with a trapped nerve in Malaysia showed a lot of spirit too.

BootsOntheSide · 2 Apr 2003, 09:24 (Ref:555656)

It was close between Da Matta and Wilson. As krt says, Justin showed real guts and determination in Malaysia, and has driven extremely well in both races, especially as he had so little time in the car pre-season. I can see him outqualifying Jos in Brazil as he has great experience of the Interlagos track.

That said, my vote was for Da Matta. He's adjusted to F2 really well, ran Panis very close, and is unlucky not to have scored good points in Brazil, just as Olivier is.

As for the other two, Pizzonia didn't seem like the right choice at the time, but there is some potential, as he showed in qualifying in Brazil under difficult circumstances. He's got to be more careful at the starts though.

Other than his generally substandard performances (the race in Malaysia being the one exception), what really worries me about Firman is that he seems pleazsed with his performances, when he's just qualified a Jordan last, and where even with a standard fuel laod he would've only beaten the Minardis, on a track he knew. He's got to sort his approach out.

Mr V · 2 Apr 2003, 09:45 (Ref:555671)

Quote:

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide

That said, my vote was for Da Matta. He's adjusted to F2 really well,

What series have you been watching Boots?

**BertMk2** · 2 Apr 2003, 09:50 (Ref:555674)

Wilson has been the most impressive so far, he seems to be making the most of his opportunity and has been very impressive through the confusion of the opening laps in both Melbourne and Sepang.

Da Matta clearly has the best car out of the rookies so he will probably end up with more points than the others.

Pizzonia seems to be trying too hard, testing the Williams he seemed to be able to set competitive times but he does seem to be struggling with the Jaguar.

Firman drove well in the race in Sepang but I still have reservations about his chances, he seems to be far too nice to be a racing driver. Good luck to him though.

Thorstone · 2 Apr 2003, 09:50 (Ref:555675)

It is Firman so far

ASCII Man · 2 Apr 2003, 10:15 (Ref:555690)

I'm not sure, it's almost a tie between Justin and Watts but Watts wins it with a very small margin.

Smokey 6 litre · 2 Apr 2003, 10:56 (Ref:555720)

Firman and wilson, Firmans dirve in Sepang was soldid but not fantastic but wilsons drive was trully a lesson for all, is someone wants to drive they will no matter the conditions.

scrappy · 2 Apr 2003, 11:19 (Ref:555738)

No doubt about it, Wilson has been the best so far! In the worst car he has managed to shine. If he can complete a race (hopefully this weekend) after making one of his blistering starts I think he will almost certainly get into a points position.

corkholio · 2 Apr 2003, 11:26 (Ref:555752)

Wilson. He is the only one not to make a mistake so far.

da Matta has been faster than expected even with a good car but having seen him throw temper tantrums in CART it wouldn't surprise me if he starts getting fraustrated if Toyota doesn't get its reliability rate up. That and the only thing I ever saw him pass in CART was gas.

Pizzonia has pretty much shown that he can't adapt his driving style to a car that he doesn't like. Then again, outside of Eddie Irvine, pretty much no one else has been able to drive the Jagged-Wire either.

Firman has been slow during qualifying, but hasn't exactly been a moving chicane like Yoong was all last year during the race.

Glen · 2 Apr 2003, 11:42 (Ref:555775)

DaMatta is the one with the classy driving style - he looks very experienced at times, and Panis is a formidable team-mate (if you believe jaques!).

I think da Matta gets the edge on Wilson, but this is largely because it is pretty hard to judge Wilson since he's been in a car unlike any other (lacking power steering).

Firman looks out of his depth, as does Pizzaman.

Raven · 2 Apr 2003, 11:46 (Ref:555782)

Pizzonia is the only one who has outqualified his team mate so far.

Miss Hardt · 2 Apr 2003, 11:53 (Ref:555791)

Why isn't there an option "no one yet"?

Wrex · 2 Apr 2003, 12:34 (Ref:555850)

Miss Hardt, I agree.

None of them have really shined IMO, all have shown ups and downs.

However, we are only 2 races in, give me 4 or 5 more and we'll have a better idea.

**Adam43** · 2 Apr 2003, 12:57 (Ref:555883)

None of them has impressed significantly yet.

Pizzonia tried to impress, but needs to just get on with his job. Da Matta has just got on with his job, so for the sake of voting I chose him.

golem · 2 Apr 2003, 13:09 (Ref:555899)

Firman for me. I watched him during Sepang and was quite happy at how he drove on dying bridgestones but light against the rather well balanced and more experianced Renault-Trulli combo. Seems he can race, just like Wilson in the opening laps seems he can race quite well. Personally those two I'll be watching into round three.

Da Matta and Pizzonia... we'll see. Pizzonia's been flat and Da Matta's made a small slip up or two. We'll see what happens by race 5.

Mr Hahn · 2 Apr 2003, 13:41 (Ref:555938)

Wilson without a doubt.

Pizzonia has made a multitude of mistakes, amoungst which driving into the back of two different and entirely separate cars at the start in Malaysia, the second while he was waving his fist at the first! NOT impressive.

Da Matta has been quick, but has also made a few mistakes, and I haven't noticed him do anything particularly impressive in the races so far.

And as for Firman, frankly I'm amazed that people have picked him as their most impressive rookie so far! I think this probably has a good deal to do with the fact that we saw a lot of him on TV in the Malaysia race. To my mind, yes, he did a good job holding off Trulli and yes, he's generally not been far off Fisi in most of the sessions. But...

That doesn't even rank near taking a Minardi from the back row up into the top ten in the first couple of laps of a Grand Prix. Twice. On circuits that he'd never raced on before. If the camera's had chosen to show us, we'd have seen that Wilson is a hard racer and one who's not afraid to pass the odd Williams. Let's hope that they give him an onboard camera in Brazil, I would love to see that footage!

Lee Janotta · 2 Apr 2003, 14:12 (Ref:555968)

Wilson's looked very fast, much faster than any of the others. DaMatta's the only one even close in my book... Pizzonia and Firman are just... Yeesh...

paulzinho · 2 Apr 2003, 14:52 (Ref:556019)

Da Matta, looks very quick and definitely has alot of potential. I can see a few good results coming his way. He gets my vote.

Wilson, has lokked very impressive with tremendous determination to go with it, look forward to seeing how he takes the fight to his teamate as the season goes on.

Pizzonia, has looked a little messy, perhaps from trying to overdrive and impress quickly. That said he has already managed to outqualify the much raved about Mark Webber. Definitely potential there, he just needs to find his sweet spot.

Firman, finished in Malaysia but has been way off the pace of his teammate. Jury's out on him but he looks the least promising of the new batch.

Speedworx · 2 Apr 2003, 17:51 (Ref:556233)

This has got to be fixed!

How can Firman have more votes than Pizzonia???

Pizzonia has shown decent speed, while Firman just drives like an old woman.

avsfan733 · 2 Apr 2003, 18:49 (Ref:556315)

I wish it could be Alonso hes the closet to a rookie that really deserves it. And you can't really call De Matta a rookie in the same sense as the other three

Jellybabe · 2 Apr 2003, 19:00 (Ref:556326)

Quote:

Originally posted by Miss Hardt
Why isn't there an option "no one yet"?

Because the question was 'who is rookie of the last month' - who do you think has done best during the first two races, not which one of the rookies is a future world champion

My vote went to Wilson - no mistakes yet and he drove with all those problems with HANs in Malaysia.

View Poll Results: After two races, who has show the best? Who is the rookie of the last month?
Cristiano da Matta	16	41.03%
Antonia Pizzonia	2	5.13%
Ralph Firman	5	12.82%
Justin Wilson	16	41.03%
Voters: 39. You may not vote on this poll

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