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My understanding is that the definition of a rookie is a driver competing in their first full season and I've stuck with that despite the fact that I think sometimes it seems a bit unreasonable to make comparisons when some drivers have had a half season as well. I think I have it right, though open to corrections.

Mine is Vergne. I don't think he's the most talented of the rookies or has the most potential. He was impressive to me because IMO he raced as well as, if not better, than Ricciardo who had a half-season of experience towards the end of last year. He didn't make as many mistakes as the others, and although I expect rookies to make mistakes and overdrive the cars, I think credit where it's due to rookies who don't.

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Formerly kai_

im gonna give my point to Pic. Grosjean...... No.... Ricciardo, has had some experience already and imo didnt impess me all that much. Narain, cant really be called a rookie, hes been around for a while. so it was between Vergne and Pic for me. and Pic gave his more experienced team mate Glock a run for his money which is why he got my vote

I am really torn because despite all the crashes I find myself rooting for RG. However I couldn't bring myself to vote for him based on actual performance though, so my next pick would be Vergne.

Ricciardo had half a year's experience in what was essentially a GP2 car and Vergne got plenty of time in a torro rosso doing practice session the year high.

Imo its by far Ricciardo. He has trounced Vergne all season and in a top car the points gap would be far more obvious. The difference between them in qualifying is laughable.

Imo, Vergne is a very good driver. Vettel beat Liuzzi and Bordais and I rate Vergne far better then either of those drivers. For Ricciardo to seem so much faster is very impressive.

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Supporting in 2012:
Mark Webber.
Lewis Hamilton.

Both Romain and Nahrain have had previous in F1 (if not necessarily a full season) so I'm writing them off. I've been more impressed by Daniel than by Jean-Eric but I'd probably go with Charles Pic on the same basis as Khazrak:
I still rate Timo and felt that he deserved a better drive after Toyota withdrew from F1. For Charles to keep him honest, that's pretty good going in my eyes.

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What did you say... Douglas?

Although I think Ricciardo has the brightest future ahead of him, I think Pic showed a lot while having less experience than the others.

Romain is not a rookie.....more of a Returnee

Narain isnt a rookie too

My vote goes to Pic.

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Lewis Hamilton - 2008 World Drivers Champion! Mercedes - 10 Grand Prix Victories.

If we assume that the Toro Rosso was the worst of the serious teams then Ricciardo has been a monster in quali so I voted for him.

By your logic shouldn't Senna be there? I vote Senna.

I voted for Vergne because IMO he showed a tendency for improvement towards the end of the season. He seems to be an upward learning curve and could do better in 2013.

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Vettel / Raikkonen / Button

Ricciardo. By a mile. 17-3 in qualifying says a lot.
Pic was good but Glock was still better overall.
If vergne was as good as people think then Dan might be a match for Vettel one day.
Ricciardo also developed his racecraft in 2012. He was consistently in the points in the second half. In Brazil they chose him for the 'wet experiment'. Why? Consistency..

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‘Ayrton had taken pole and now Alain said to me: “where the f*** did he find that time? How the hell can he be that quick?” In the corner, Senna…he looked up and winked at me. Ayrton had a look in his eye that said, “I’ve done it.”
Jo Ramírez

I am a supporter of RoGro, so I voted for him on the basis of that he got quite a few podiums and until the summer break was actually doing quite well in terms of points and nearly winning in Valencia.

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Bruno Senna had a full season with Hispania Racing in 2010 (apart from the British Grand Prix) and he did 8 races with Lotus in 2011 so I don't think it would be reasonable to to class him as a Rookie for 2012.

How is Narain included in this list? He has a full season at Jordan in 2005 AND raced in half of the 2011 season for HRT.

I voted Pic. Stacked up very well against Glock.

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Quick Nick Heidfeld, he's not done yet!
KAMUI KOBAYASHI! Podium count: 1 (Suzuka)

PF1 Pick 10! Podiums: 2 (2nd, India 2011; 1st, Japan 2012)

Kimi!!!

Pic

Some of those are not rookies, a null poll.

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Driver Instructor & Test Driver

NK is not rookie :S

Wow, surprised many picked Charles Pic too. I like his composure. But not too sure about his raw speed, especially in qualifying.

Only two drivers in the poll are actually rookies of 2012.

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"OHO!-magazine number 46/2006: - I read somewhere that I drive with the luck of a drunk."

The poll should only have Vergne and Pic, all the others are not rookies, really stupid putting them on the poll. It don't matter what car they been in or what, they have all been in F1 for enough time to not be considered rookies. The only rookies this season are Vergne and Pic. I'm sure we don't need to spell out the definition of rookie.

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Driver Instructor & Test Driver

Must be between Ricciardo and Vergne from the list. But my choice is Vergne because Ricciardo isn't a rookie.

To be fair, the OP did set out the criterion he was using - not having competed in a complete F1 season and he did express reservations about it.

On that basis, Narain Karthikeyan and Nico Hulkenberg are clearly ineligible: Narain did a full season with Jordan in 2005 and Nico did a full season with Williams in 2010. Bruno Senna is technically eligible because Hispania dropped him for 1 race in 2010. Romain Grosjean is eligible because he only did 7 races in 2009. Daniel Ricciardo is eligible because he only did 11 races for HRT in 2011. There is no question about Jean-Eric Vergne and Charles Pic as neither had done an F1 race before 2012 - but my vote goes to Pic because unlike Vergne, he had not even been an F1 test driver.

The trouble with the OP's definition of a rookie is that it means that Grosjean will still be eligible next year (if he gets a seat). After all, thanks to his 1 race ban, he still hasn't done a complete F1 season!

DR for me i know he had a stint in HRT but being in HRT is hardly the same as being in an actual formula one car

Pic for me. First driver in the Marussia team to actually challenge Glock.

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From the list I'd say Ricciardo,though Pic has been impressive against Glock and Vergne is a good driver but has to improve his qualifying pace.

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Favorite Current Drivers :Kimi Raikkonen,Susie Wolff,Nico Rosberg,Lewis Hamilton,Danica Patrick,Carmen Jorda,Katherine Legge

Past Drivers : Ayrton Senna,James Hunt,Eddie Irvine,Jacques Villeneuve,Martin Brundle

Vergne has also made some extremely stupid mistakes throughout the season

The criteria used by Autosport is that of a driver in their first full season. So whilst I take your point that for some this was not their [i]first[/] season, based on that criteria it was their rookie season. I did explain that in the initial post. I also went with that criteria because I didn't think a poll of Pic vs Vergne would be very interesting for discussion and I also felt that people could factor in the greater experience when making their decisions.


I did indeed make a mistake with Karthikeyan. I knew he'd had part of a season with HRT in 2011 and thought he had had another season somewhere but only checked back as far as 2006. Doh! Fortunately I didn't think he'd be on anyone's lists anyway.

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Formerly kai_

Who voted for Karthikeyan?

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Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.

Grosjean, then Pic. I've become fans of both. I genuinely wasn't impressed that RoGro got the drive before the season started, but I've become a big fan of his... so that makes him my rookie of the year. Pic has also gained my support with some good drives and randomly beating the Caterhams in one of the quali sessions. So, them two for me.

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

Karthikeyan did.

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"You are the universe expressing itself as a Human for a little while..."

Gotta be Pic simply because of how close he has been to Glock all season and how consistent he seems to have been. That race where he outqualified his teammate and both Caterhams was phenomenal. I have never really seen what all the Ricciardo hype is because Vergne has outscored him with less experience and has had some very good races (admittedly with poor qualifying).

I think all of them did good but I'm inclined to vote for Romain. Why is Narain still on the list? 4 people voted for him, are they serious???

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F1 fan since 1989

Narain is not a rookie?

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Drivers I like:
Raikkonen
Grosjean
Perez
Vettel

Teams I like:
Lotus
Merc
RBR
Marussia

he's the vegetable of the year

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-Ayrton Senna fan-

2013 follower of :

Fernando Alonso