The Rookies

This year, there are more rookies on the field than any other season since 2004. Gutierrez, Bottas, Bianchi, Chilton, and Van Der Garde. the field is made up of about 22% rookies (22.27 repeating to be exact). While most of them are too far back to make a difference, Bianchi and Bottas have already shown their merit. Bianchi by dominating throughout the levels just below F1 (Ferrari Drivers Academy, Formula 3, etc.) and Bottas by being super quick in Friday practices and qualifying next to his much more experienced teammate in Australia. Still not enough? Look Bianchi's full impressive results set here. And Bottas' here. The others, have not yet proven their skills, but could very well do so.

Van Der Garde was plagued with bad weather, a bad car, and a plethora of technical issues. Gutierrez finished 13th, however it's hard to say how well he performed since Hulkenburg didn't even get the chance to start, there was no chance to compare. Then there's Chilton, who we can compare to fellow rookie Bianchi, who dominated him all weekend. Probably, that is a sign of what the rest of the season at Marussia will look like.

So, why does having rookies like this matter? Well, for one, it introduces new driving styles, which are always fun to watch. Rookies, as we learned last year, can also change up the game with mistakes and spectacular drives. However, this single most important thing is that this year, the rookies seem to be great drivers, so we could be looking at a batch of future front-runners.