Petrov, Hulkenberg and Kobayashi: Analyzing the Rookies of 2010

Formula 1 is one of the hardest sports in the world to break in to.

When you get your chance, it’s vital not to waste it or you might never get the opportunity again. Six drivers made the step up this season, three in competitive cars.

But out of Hulkenberg, Petrov and Kobayashi, who is here to stay?

Nico Hulkenberg—Williams

A lot of pressure was riding on the shoulders of Hulkenberg in 2010.

He labelled the new Michael Schumacher and won the GP3 title in 2008 and GP2 in 2009.

He was partnered with the most experienced man in F1 Rubens Barrichello at Williams for 2010 and had a lot of promise to live up to.

‘Hulk’ failed to live up to expectations early on, picking up only two points in the first 10 rounds. But he had a much stronger end to the season.

At Hungary, he got his best result of the season with sixth place, ahead of Barrichello, who finished 10. He followed this up with valuable points at Monza, Singapore and Korea.

His best showing of the season, however, came at the penultimate round in Brazil.

Hulkenberg claimed the headlines by claiming pole by over a second, in drying conditions. He could only manage eighth in the race, but his first pole had given him plenty of attention.

While he had a slow start to his debut season, once he got up to speed, he showed he could compete at the highest level of motorsport. However, his 2010 showing has not yet been enough to secure him a drive for next season, with Williams opting to release him.

Force India have shown interest, and a Mercedes reserve drive is a possibility for next year.

Vitaly Petrov—Renault

Petrov has had a turbulent first season, to say the least.

It’s been a mixed bag of raw speed, school-boy errors and also playing a pivotal role in the title climax.

It’s difficult to judge Petrov’s performances over the season considering Robert Kubica, his teammate, scored over 100 points more. The Russian has also been accident-prone—spinning out in qualifying at Spa, for example.

He also retired out of the first three rounds and only finished in the top 10 five times this season.

However, he scored good points with a seventh spot in China and a well-deserved fifth in Hungary. At the final round in Abu Dhabi, Petrov held Fernando Alonso behind for over half the race and ultimately ended Alonso’s championship hopes.

It’s seems that Renault may choose to keep Petrov on for 2011 as long as he can iron out the errors. If he can, there could be great things to come.

Kamui Kobayashi—Sauber

Kobayashi like Hulkenberg had a slow start to his f1 career.

Although not strictly a rookie (He had two races with Toyota in 2009). this was his first entire season.

Kobayashi suffered six retirements in eight races at the start of the year. It left many questioning what had happened to the Kobayashi from the last two races of 2009.

There were rumours Kobayashi might even be replaced.

However, he turned his season around with a string of impressive displays and also managed to entertain fans with some daring overtaking. At Valencia, a late pit stop for soft tyres allowed him to pass title contender Fernando Alonso into the final corner and then overtake Sebastian Buemi on the last lap to finish seventh.

He would then finish sixth at Silverstone and take points finishes in Hungary and Belgium.

His best performance of the season arguably came at his home race in Japan. After a disappointing qualifying of 14th, he would drive a stunning race to finish seventh.

He wowed the home crowd by passing several cars into the hairpin of turn 11.

With a final position of 12th in the standings and a string of impressive drives, Kobayashi was the most impressive rookie of 2010.

The Japanese driver has also already secured a drive for next year, so we can look forward to more of his exciting style.