Rate the Rookie - Cristiano da Matta

[Brandy_snap]

How well is da Matta doing this year?

[DNQ]

6. or a 7.

[z2252314]

Send this motormouth back to America!!!!

[DNQ]

You're joking?

[Testure]

Motormouth?! Cristiano?!

He's doing great. Learns the tracks faster than the other rookies and is on the pace much quicker than Firman, Wilson or Pizzonia. He's pushing Panis; even considering his team-mate's reliability problems, he's easily level with him and sometimes outshining him. Car doesn't seem too great, but it looks to me like he's getting as much as possible out of it.

[roxana]

he's ok. but not more than 7

[Dani Filth]

he's gonna graduate ..

[Knowlesy]

He's doing OK considering the dump of a team he's in.....

Only criticism is that he says "man" at the end of too many sentences.

[jetsetter]

I'd say probably a 6 as he's doing a fair job in an absolute dog of a car.

[BootsOntheSide]

He's been really impressiv ein my view. He's having to learn all the tracks in just the short testing sessions, because Toyota opted out of the on-track Friday morning testing, yet is still giving Panis a run for his money. He nearly scored again in Canada, one of the few tracks he knows (and even then, CART races anti-clockwise on it), and did a great job in Spain, harrying Ralf for all he was worth. Given time to really develop, I'm sure Cristiano will be a Grand Prix winner. My hatred of Toyota's racing operations has been widely mentioned, however, so I hope he's winning for someone else.

[krt917]

I've gone for 7/10. Reckon he's doing a good job considering he has so little track time. I think Panis is a better driver than most give him credit for and da Matta's comparing fairly well with him at the moment.

[Red]

Below average. I ranked him at 5, but the only reason is that he's not playing the "big champion" role in the media. He certainly is not a motormouth (we've seen others before, doing a much "better" job ) but he didn't set the world on fire either. He's OK.

[billaboy]

I gave him a 10.....He's doing a really good job in a really s**tty car! I expect to see him driving in a top team in the next couple of years if he dosen't get fustrated and quit.

[MrSal]

6. He has kept pace with the highly(over?) rated Panis this year. Remember, most of the tracks are new to him this year and Toyota aren't one of the Friday morning teams ,so he isn't getting much practice on the track before qualifying.

[BootsOntheSide]

I think he's set the world on fire, very nicely. He's only had one crash or spin all season, and that was in his first race, should've scored in Canada and Brazil (would've if the race had continued or resumed) as well as Spain. I can only assume that the low rating can be attributed to either forgetting about the testing restrictions, bitterness at him tkaing McNish's drive, or sheer anti-CART bias. 6 is the lowest I could imagien giving him.

[Bleu]

He has been much better than I thought. Before last season nearly no one was calling him future F1 driver.

He has finished 6 out of 8 races, which is most along the rookies so far.

Excellent race in Spain and he had a good run in Canada also.

[Irv the Swerve]

I think he is coming on nicely.
No superstar at the moment but he has hung in well after a shakey enough start. The car is not really good enough for him to figure too strongly at the front.

[racefanatic]

He's doing a pretty good job and I'm really proud of him. Like I keep saying, he will definately improve. Once he knows all of the tracks he should have better qualifying laps too. As far as him getting frustrated and quitting, I can't see that happening. He has a positive attitude even though he's been struggling a little. Plus, it took him so long to decide that he wanted to join the team! I don't think he'd change his mind.

[Jay]

He's not a driver that's going to drive the pants off a car like a Montoya or a Villenueve, but he is a solid, quick and consistent driver - similar to Panis. His results this year have been exactly as I expected.

He didn't show much in Cart for a while, because it was only in the last two years that he found himself in the best car. I'm pretty sure there are other Cart drivers that would be faster than him, but possibly not as consistent.

[Mark Webber]

5/10 another cart/indy drive that won't make it

[Jay]

As opposed to another Aussie driver that won't make it...

[Mark Webber]

we shall see

[Jay]

I'm pulling your leg a bit... I think Mark's done very well as has Cristiano thus far. I dont think you can call Villeneuve or Montoya Cart failures. I think succeeding in F1 has less about where you come from and more about who you are. Some guys can take the pressure, and thrive on it, others just fall away. And it can't be compared to anything else in any racing series in the world. Having met Cristiano a number of times, I think he has the personality that F1 requires. Alex Zanardi most definately did not..he needed to be babied and got the opposite at Williams. Michael Andretti just didn't care about F1, and the team didn't care about him.

[bacon sandwich]

I think he's done a really good job (Oh sorry from an American series, so that's Goooood Jaaawb !) For me where he has impressed most is Qualifying. Unlike Firman & Pizzonia he's not made hardly any mistakes and been up there in qualifying - especially as Toyota don't test on the Friday - 8/10.

[mac]

Da Matta has done a very good job. I gave him 7, but I think he's probably edged ahead slightly in my ROTY rankings.

One of the nicest F1 drivers for a long time too.