The ‘Rookies’ of 2011 season: Maldonado, di Resta, Perez and d’Ambrosio – Formula 1
The 2011 Formula 1 season has started in the most spectacular fashion as no less than five world champions and four ‘Rookies’ are taking the fight to one another for the top stair of the podium in the final standings.
Four Rookies of the 2011 season, usually making their way with the small teams, are Pastor Maldonado with the Williams team, Scot Paul di Resta with the Force India team, Sergio Perez with Sauber and Jerome d’Ambrosio with the Virgin team.
The Rookies have not had the best of the starts to their careers. With disqualifications, accidents, engine failures and other mechanical problems, so far, the 2011 Rookies are not living up to the expectations of their fans. However, some of them are really
making their presence in Formula 1 felt.
Starting off with Sergio Perez of Sauber, the Mexican had some pretty good stints at the start of the 2011 Formula 1 season in Australia. He landed among points in his very first race making his debut season notable. However, the Mexican was jolted after
the race when he and his teammate Kamui Kobayashi were disqualified due to a rear wing design violation.
The Mexican made his debut season a drastic one when he crashed heavily in Monaco and was ruled out for a minimum of two races.
Perez recovered and drove in the Valencia Grand Prix and finished 11th, just outside the points.
Di Resta is second in the rookies challenge with 2 points on the board. Starting his Formula 1 career with Force India, di Resta has been able to outpace his much-experienced teammate Adrian Sutil in the Qualifiers. The British driver has driven well in
the first eight races of the 2011 season and he has been regarded as the one to replace a driver in one of the bigger teams in the future.
The point-less Rookies of the 2011 season are Jerome d’Ambrosio and Pastor Maldonado of Virgin and Williams’ teams respectively.
Maldonado, however, has one achievement in the 2011 season so far as he has been able to drive the Williams in Q3 on quite a few occasions in the 2011 Formula 1 season. Apart from the Qualifiers, Maldonado was sixth in the final moments of the Monaco Grand
Prix when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, either intentionally or accidentally, crashed Maldonado out of the race.
The Venezuelan driver has lived up to the expectations of his countrymen and his team members in the first eight races of the 2011 season.
D’Ambrosio is the other point-less Rookie of the ongoing season and rightly so as the Belgian has joined a lower ranked team and is mostly struggling for pace at the back of the racing order.
D’Ambrosio is 21st on the list without any points in the opening eight races of the 2011 season.
Apart from these four rookies of the season, Toro Rosso’s test driver Daniel Ricciardo will also try out his hand in the upcoming Silverstone Grand Prix with the Hispania Racing Team, replacing Narain Karthikeyan.
The upcoming British Grand Prix will feature five Rookies on the track with five Formula 1 world champions. This makes for a wonderful treat for Formula 1 fans this weekend. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for that one.
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