The Rookie class of 2010

The Rookie class of 2010

Part 1.

Just a little bit of housekeeping first, was I the only one to choke on my cup of tea yesterday when I read that Hispania were to be known as HRT? oh they should have taken advice on that particular team title, at least they could be building a large following among women of a certain age in Britain.
At least we now know the twelve teams that are to contest the 2010 races, although I am surprised and sad to see USF1 not make it, at least the spectre of the Stefan GP - style over substance team – has finally been put down. I sincerely hope that Hispania do make it to Bahrain as it will make my afternoon to hear the Senna name being used in commentary again, man I enjoyed watching his uncle race in the 70’s and 80’s.

Nico Hulkenberg
If ever there was a good bet in sport, this man would fit the bill. GP2 champion last year, F3, A1GP and with more karts than Sainsburys, Hulkenberg was a contemporary of Hamilton and should be looking to move to a topflight team in a couple of years. Imagine Vettel and Hulkenberg at Mercedes, they would be fighting off the sponsors with sharp sticks.
Alongside Barrichello at Williams, he could show his potential early in the low fuel practices.

Vitaly Petrov
I am not so sure about Petrov, on the plus side; he came to Renault with lots of roubles and has already attracted Lada to come along with sponsorship for him and the car, there was also some talk from him last week about attracting a direct injection of Russian state support to the team. Genius at Genii if that is the case.
On the downside, however, are reports from GP2 (where he finished 13th, 11th and 2nd) are that he is great with an empty track ahead of him but doesn’t excel in duels in the pack, which is where Renault is likely to start the season if observations from testing are right.

Kamui Kobayashi
Showing the advantage of waiting in the wings for long enough, Kamui stepped in for the injured Glock last year. He finished off the season with a couple of very differing drives for Toyota, firstly showing the classic GP2 driving style of weaving in front of faster drivers. Mildly terrifying apparently.
Hopefully for the other driver’s sake and piece of mind he will settle down this year and learn his responsibilities, to his team, as Sauber want as few bent cars as possible and to his competitor’s heart conditions. He needs to drive like he did in Abu Dhabi, that’s the ticket.

I should have the second part for Sunday featuring Senna, Di Grassi, Chandhok and possibly Alguersuari he didn’t have a full series last year.