Rate the Rookies

[DNQ]

Well, the eight rookies (or nine if you include Manning) have had their first race in Champ Car. How do you think they went? Who's a star of the future, and who's going to be replaced next round?

Sebastien Bourdais Very quick, could do with a little more racecraft 9/10
Mario Haberfeld Total madman, but much faster then I expected 8.5/10
Darren Manning Third fastest Reynard race lap, ran well 7/10
Tiago Monteiro Quite impressive once he got used to the car 6.5/10
Ryan Hunter-Reay Off colour all weekend, best is still to come 6/10
Joel Camathias Nothing to get excited about 4.5/10
Patrick Lemarie Very disappointing, I expected more 3.5/10
Roberto Gonzalez At the bottom of the timesheets all weekend 3/10
Rodolfo Lavin Qualified last, slow fastest lap, never on the pace 2/10

So at this stage, I am prepared to say that Bourdais, Haberfeld (if he doesn't get himself killed...) and Manning are stars of the future.

Montero and Hunter-Reay will improve I am sure but are still a little too hard to judge at this stage.

I think Camathias will do enough to stay out of trouble and collect some points over time, but unfortunantly, I can't see Gonzalez or Lavin doing the same. I am not sure what happened to Lemarie, but he was disappointing to say the least.

[Raven]

Accurate observations from race 1. Monteiro & particularly Haberfeld were quicker than I expected. But as the season wears on, I expect Bourdais, Manning and Hunter Reay to be the rookies coming to the fore.

It would be nice to see Salo and Lotterer on the grid soon.

[tanalised]

Tiago Monteiro put on an awesome display considering his preparation time ; emmo must have been stoked

[DNQ]

Yeah, Monteiro was surprising, infact I don't think the 6.5 I awarded does him justice

[f1manoz]

Qualifying is where Bourdais was spectacular. But he just lost his head in the race, so in my book he loses points for that.

Out of them all Monteiro was the most spectacular during the race, dicing with veterans and rookies alike and remained quick throughout the race.

Manning was also exceptional and was desperately unlucky not to finish.

Haberfeld appears to have the goods, but will not have to appear so desperate next time.

Hunter-Reay appears to have the goods, but with minimal testing, don't expect too much too soon.

Lemarie was disappointing, but like so many, had minimal testing.

Camathias was slow but at least kept it on the road. With experience should come a bit more pace.. hopefully.

Gonzalez just proved to be well out of his depth.

Lavin was just plain unfortunate and from what I've heard had troubles all weekend. So I'm a 'wait-and-see' with him.

[corkholio]

I don't know why everyone keeps making excuses for Leskirie. He had a better chassis and more testing than Monteiro did, so I don't know why he shouldn't be faster than Monteiro. It's not like Monteiro blitzkrieged F3000 last year, and Lemarie has sucked in Atlanics, F3000, F1 testing, and now CART, what's the big surprise? After the BAR fiasco, is anyone really surprised that Pollock is just a blowhard?

On another note I thought Monteiro was more impressive than Blockerfeld. Monteiro stayed relatively closed to the pace and raced everyone clean. He seemed to be in control during the whole race.

Bourdais was fast but a team and rookie mistake cost him.

Just like his F3000 days, Manning doesn't have a real teammate to work with.

Blockerfeld should get his crew to fix his car so that it won't swerve across the whole track everytime a faster car approaches.

Hunter-Wall will happen again. He showed that he should be doing another year of Atlantics this year but then again so should half the field. I expect him to keep crashing until next year.

Camathias at least gave his hometown plenty of exposure when getting lapped over and over again.

Coyne should be happy if Gonzalez defaults on his payment.

Rodolfo Lavin is the Viktor Maslov of CART.

Tagliani - Oh wait, he just made another rookie mistake.

[Speedworx]

Mario Haberfeld Best of the bunch, future champion9/10
Darren Manning Great run, shame his car let him down8/10
Tiago Monteiro extremely good, on little testing8/10
Ryan Hunter-Reay best is yet to come7/10
Sebastien Bourdais quick, but too messy in the race5/10
Joel Camathias Decent debut4/10
Rodolfo Lavin Tough debut4/10
Patrick Lemarie PK should have gone for Salo3/10
Roberto Gonzalez Filled my expectations3/10

[DNQ]

Originally posted by hakkiman
Ryan Hunter-Reay best is yet to come7/10
Sebastien Bourdais quick, but too messy in the race5/10

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[enemy-ace]

Bourdais - 9/10: Got a little anxious on cold tires after being mauled by Tracy and Carpantier. He's going to be a force this year.

Haberfeld-8/10: Other than his overly-aggressive tendencies (which I believe were detrimental to his ultimate pace), he showed to be quick\par
and racey. A good addition to the series.

Tiago - 7/10: Emerson stated that he wanted his driver to drive a smart, consistent race and he delivered. For a team that was formed such a short time ago I was mightily impressed. The car was obviously setup pretty good considering how little time Tiago has had in a ChampCar cockpit and the team managed the yellows well. Better than Newman-Haas actually!

Manning- 7/10: Another mature drive from a rookie. Clutch failure being his ultimate downfall. He'll only get quicker and quicker; Dario who???

Hunter-Reay- 6/10: Good kid! Was able to match his more experienced team-mates pace and with his guidance may even beat him.

Camathias- 5/10: Nothing spectacular but did keep it on the road, time will tell.

Lemaire- 4/10: Really a non-factor all weekend. Has a lot of in-car experience so let's see. He may surprise................maybe. And is it just me but doesn't he look as if he has a permanent case of bed-head?

Lavin- 4/10: For somebody who was having as much difficulty finding speed as he was, he should have followed Camathias' lead and just stayed out of trouble and got some much needed seat time.

Off all the rookies I wouldn't be surprised if any of the top five were able to bring home a win this year or least a podium. After the first race I'm feeling pretty good about the ChampCar grid this year.

Bring on Monterry!!!

[Liz]

Montiero was the best of the rookies this weekend; he is like Gil de Ferran, just keeps running his own race and not getting noticed.

Haberfeld will be a love-him-or-hate-him guy like PT; I predict he will lose his Schumacher Chop fairly quickly or else will break his leg when he tries it on PT, and then he will get the idea. I hope this doesn't have to happen though.

Hunter-Reay is still driving like he's in Barber Dodge or Formula Ford; he will get over it with Vasser to help him calm down and think ahead.

The only two who seem to be really out of their depth are Lavin and Gonzales. The others will shape up as the season goes along.

I think Bourdais is going to feel a lot of pressure based on his qualifying (short sprint) abilities, but it will take him several races to sort out a long race distance. I hope everyone will give him the chance to bed in before dismissing him as all flash and no cash. I also hope he gets some more stylish glasses, but that is just my opinion.

And Tags is acting as if he's a rookie; he needs to settle down and wait to bed in his new team before trying to prove Players should not have fired him and instead proving they made the right decision.

[Speedworx]

DNQ: why the question mark faces?

Ryan did a better job in my view. Seb was good in qualifying, but let himself down badly in the race.

[brightline]

SeaBass - is very quick, but he has the best equipment of all the rookies 7.5/10

Monteiro - totally impressed, never even stalled the car in the pits the whole weekend and with minimal testing reynard 8.5/10

Ryan Hunter-Daddy Paid - Good rookie showing, typical rookie error 6/10

Haberfeld - Look out we could have a Brazilian Brawl if him and Bruno touch next race, good drive 7/10

Lemarie - Not a lot of speed, but he stayed out of trouble, drove smart never damaged as much as a winglet all weekend, scored some points. 6/10

Dale Coyne Rookies - there cars were yellow. one finished.
Lavin - too many Coronas race weekend.

[BootsOntheSide]

Bourdais blitzedd qualifying and was quick in the race until making one mistake. Hunter-Reay was respectable in qualifying (but behind 3 other Reyanrds, 2 of them driven by newboys), until making one mistake. So I'm not sure how Bourdais was better.

Overall:
Bourdais 8
Manning 8
Montiero 8
Haberfeld 7
Hunter-Reay 7
Camarthias 5
Lemarie 4
Gonzalez 3
Lavin 3

I think Joel will score consistantly, as he's never been a crasher. Same could go for Lemarie, but I'm especially optimistic about Montiero once the team is more gelled.

[GP Racer]

My top 3 are:

Haberfeld- I hate to make him #1 because of some of his very dangerous moves, but he is quick, aggresive, and fearless, and those attributes will make him a real force in this series.

Bourdais- was unflappable in qualifying and did well in early part of race. Did get beaten badly on cold tires, looked shaken up, but all the skills are there to make him a great one.

Hunter Reay- ran a good clean consistent race. moved through the field really well and didn't show any real rookie mistakes. To bad he had steering problems.

Tiago- didn't make my podium, but what a good race he ran on so little prep time. Will he do that consistently though?

Hey Tags, your driving me crazy!!!!!

[Kicking-back]

Bourdais - Great job in qualifying and the early stages, but seemed to lose the plot. Performace very similar to a lot of his F3000 races.

Haberfeld - Seems to be back to the form that brought him the British F3 title in 1998. Never really shone in F3000 but could be a Champ Car star if he can become slightly more polished - ie remember he's not just racing against one car.

Monteiro - Better than expected, kept it calm and he and the team worked a very good strategy.


Manning - Solid qualifying and was on for a good race result before problems struck. Will get even better with more time in the car.


Hunter-Reay: Didn't really notice him till he stuck in in the tyres. The jury's out.

Camathias: Backmarker in F3000 - don't really expect much of him but seems steady enough to keep out of trouble.


Lemarie: It's a few years since he's raced full time and while he didn't do too well this weekend, his improvement in times from Friday to Saturday was good. Might do better with a team-mate, but he's a journeyman at best.


Gonzales: Out of his depth in Dallara Nissan. Shouldn't be in Champcars. Hopefully Lotterer can get the sponsorship together to take over this seat.


Lavin: Expected nothing from him - and nothing was what he delivered.

[Snrub]

Sebastien Bourdais - The Champ to be just needs a little more experience. We've seen vets mess up the cold tire thing. The vet French Canadians certainly didn't look better and we know they're both very good. The Fernandez blocking was BS, but he was told to by the team. He flew in the race and was a ton faster than Bruno. None of the other rookies had race conditions half as rough as he did. Given it's his first race: 11/10.

Mario Haberfeld - bloody fast but needs to learn what's acceptable and what isn't. Being a rookie they should have given him a big penalty so he learns an early lesson. 8/10

Darren Manning - Did well all things considering. 7/10

Tiago Monteiro - Good job. The direct comparison to Tracy wasn't flattering, but he did keep his cool and I'm sure his setup sucked. 7/10

Ryan Hunter-Raey - Showed some real promise. 6.5/10

I don't want to pass judgement on the other rookies, they're too new. However, the guy who should be the least "rookie" of the rookies - Lemare is not inspiring confidence given all his experience and Pollock's endorsment.

[BootsOntheSide]

Doh! I meant I'm not sure how HUNTER-REAY was better than Bourdais (as Hakkiman suggested). Or maybe I could've passed that off as sarcasm.

[macdaddy]

While the announcers kept repeating how this street circuit has many passing points, Monteiro was able to keep PT behind him. Without blocking. He gets great kudos from me just for keeping his wits about him and not being pressured into a mistake. Especially considering he had just jumped into the car!

Haberfeld is the next PT. Although I've heard otherwise regarding his past, he seems quite aggressive. Calm the boy down some before he kills somebody, and he's a star of tomorrow.

Lavin has got the best paintjob, and that's good because he'll get alot of TV exposure every time he's lapped.

Bourdais? What can I say? Future champion. Made Bruno look the fool. His apparent brain-fade on his new tires came as rather a surprise. Perhaps the problem was with his new boots, moreso than with his ability.

Hunter-Reay, I think, has what it takes. Vasser will certainly help.

Manning is a good racer. With experience all of these rookies will come to form.

Although some may need more "experience" than others. Camathias, Lemarie and Gonzales (along with Lavin) have much room for improvement. Alot of room.

But I don't care. This is our grid! Nineteen of 'em! And I love 'em all!

[BobbyB]

I'm puzzled about the high marks given to Manning by many on this thread. His Rockingham performance last year was mostly by attrition... his momentary lead there was simply due to pit-in of the rest of the field. This past weekend at St. Pete, he was nothing special at all, yet he garners 7's and 8's from many reviewers. Huh? True, he clutched out, but as I watched both of these races, I've yet to see why he gets such optimistic ratings. DNQ's opening post putting Manning ahead of Monteiro is absolutely baffling! Did we watch the same race?

Hopefully, my opinion is based on too-few results to show his real talents. Time will tell. He seems like a nice dude, but show me the results!

[tanalised]

Originally posted by BobbyB
I'm puzzled about the high marks given to Manning by many on this thread. His Rockingham performance last year was mostly by attrition... his momentary lead there was simply due to pit-in of the rest of the field. This past weekend at St. Pete, he was nothing special at all, yet he garners 7's and 8's from many reviewers. Huh? True, he clutched out, but as I watched both of these races, I've yet to see why he gets such optimistic ratings. DNQ's opening post putting Manning ahead of Monteiro is absolutely baffling! Did we watch the same race?

Hopefully, my opinion is based on too-few results to show his real talents. Time will tell. He seems like a nice dude, but show me the results!

I'd say Bobby B there's a fair bit of sentiment in the 7 and 8's given to Mr Manning!
Monteiro definitely ahead of Manning in my score book

[Dov]

Sebastian Bourdais/Only going to get better, but dumb move hitting the wall...then blocking Fernandez.
Mario Haberfeld/Loved his aggression...though he has to watch his racecraft.
Tiago Monteiro/The best rookie in the race...was on pace and kept it clean...for only his second time in the car.
Darren Manning/Rookie mistake...he will soon challenge Haberfeld for the #2nd best rookie in the series....behind SB of course.
Ryan Hunter-Reay/Rookie mistake...will slowly improve...tried hard...did you see those hands.
Joel Camathais/Slow but kept the car between the walls.
Patrick Lemarie/ There is an opening at B.A.R. for a test driver.
Roberto Gonzalez/You are definitely not Speedy Gonzalez!
R. Lavin/ Lavin's been havin to many Coronas. Remember he's a small guy...he can't hold his alcohol. Some rookies did better then others (of course), but this is how I think they rank after race #1.
1)Sebastian Bourdais
2)Mario Haberfeld
3)Darren Manning
4)Tiago Monteiro
5)Ryan Hunter-Reay
It really doesn't matter annymore, but...
6)Joel Camathais
7)Patrick Lemarie
8)R. Lavin
9)Roberto Gonzalez

[Kicking-back]

Dov - you say Manning made a "rookie mistake".

What mistake's that, then??

[Speedworx]

I have never rated Bourdais highly and his performance on cold tyres left a lot to be desired.

I am only counting the race in my ratings, qualifying means nothing. It only decides the grid, NOT how well your going to go in the race.

As Tiago Monteiro proved.

[Snrub]

But in his first CART race he blew away PT, PC and Bruno. These are the championship contenders. He's learned a valuable leason, one that PT seems to have to learn a few times every year. Had the team not screwed up, Bourdais wouldn't have been in that position, probably wouldn't have smacked the wall and would be hailed by all. After the bad call, had he been more experienced he probably wouldn't have smaked the wall and would have ended up second, possibly first.

[Raven]

Bourdais is a very quick driver and a very good on Street circuits. He excelled at Pau and Macau in F3 and was on the front row at Monaco in his rookie year of F3000 (2000- the year Bruno won). I think someone pointed out that he took 7 poles last year from 10 races, but only managed to convert 3 into victories. It will be interesting to see how he manages some of the quicker tracks like Road America, Montreal and Mexico City ...and of course, the ovals, where Bruno excelled last year. I think Seb can mount a championship challenge if he gets some consistency going, but lets keep in mind he;s still on the learning curve.