Rating F1's 2019 rookies so far

It doesn't matter how strong or weak you are in the junior formulas - it's how you perform in Formula 1 that will define your career. The top three drivers from last year's Formula 2 championship all made their first grand prix start in 2019 with various levels of experience and expectation. Would they handle the pressure and, in the case of all three, a quick team-mate?

Five months on and they are into the second halves of their debut years. Alex Albon has found himself promoted into a top team, Lando Norris has more than justified McLaren's faith in him and George Russell has impressed greatly in adversity at Williams. But which of them has been the standout?

In terms of prior track time coming into Australia, Norris had the most F1 experience (despite only being 19), but by driving for McLaren he's also ended up in one of the best cars in the midfield as 2019 proved to be a turnaround season for his team.

Albon (23) was given a late call-up by Toro Rosso, so his first laps in an F1 car came in pre-season testing, meaning he would start at a significant disadvantage. Despite that, he's now at Red Bull.

Finally, Mercedes junior and F2 champion Russell (21) had to step from a race-winning car into one at the back of the grid, so had to significantly adjust his mindset while also coping with experienced one-time grand prix winner Robert Kubica on the other side of the garage.

Due to the differing performances of each car on the grid, the only fair way to make an accurate appreciation of how the three youngsters have performed so far is to analyse their pace against their team-mates in qualifying, and study their wider performances in detail to determine how well they have started their careers and whether they deserve to be in F1 for the long haul.

Lando Norris
McLaren-Renault

Pure pace 4/5

Norris immediately impressed in qualifying when he hauled his McLaren into Q3 in Australia, notable because team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr failed to escape from Q1 after being slowed by Kubica's Williams. But without that issue for Sainz, would he have been ahead of Norris in Q3?

In Austria, Norris was fifth, but Sainz was rooted to the back of the grid with engine-related penalties. A week earlier, in France, there was a better chance for comparison. The McLarens were fifth and sixth on the grid, but Norris was quicker, by 0.104 seconds.

When the most representative qualifying times are compared (a sample of nine) it's close - and Norris just edges Sainz (someone who ran Max Verstappen close in their Toro Rosso days). With qualifying times expressed in percentage terms (to neutralise the laptime discrepancy created by differing circuit layouts), Norris was on average just 0.001% ahead before the summer break, almost a dead-heat!

Racecraft 4/5

Although Norris has made a habit of qualifying strongly, when the lights go out he's struggled a little. In the first 12 races Norris lost an average of 1.4 positions on the opening lap, with his biggest losses in Bahrain (five places) and Spain (six places). In Bahrain, Norris was unfazed by the error at the start and battled past some tough competitors - Kevin Magnussen, Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo - to finish sixth.

After losing a place to Verstappen in Canada, Norris repassed him on the opening lap, and wasn't put off duelling with Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in the opening stages in Austria, where he finished a brilliant sixth.

And he showed signs of learning from his earlier struggles last weekend at Spa, where brilliant handling of the unfolding first corner mess put him on course for a top five finish before his last-gasp engine problem.

Perhaps Norris's most impressive drive was at Paul Ricard (where he won the fan vote for driver of the day). He brought his hobbled McLaren home in the points despite a late hydraulic failure. He was also excellent at Silverstone, before the safety car timing spoiled his race.

Penalties and mistakes 5/5

Norris's driving has been impressively clean so far. He's suffered no major practice shunts or any driving misdemeanours that have warranted penalty points. He was unfortunate to be tripped up by Kvyat's Toro Rosso on the opening lap of the Chinese Grand Prix - and subsequently produced a hilarious Instagram story featuring his flying car.

Norris did briefly get into trouble with the stewards in final practice in Canada for rejoining the track incorrectly - but they took no further action. He also escaped sanction for his collision with Lance Stroll in Spain.

Norris was recovering from a bad start and came up to pass the Racing Point on the outside of Turn 1. They clashed at the apex of Turn 2 and were both forced to retire, but the stewards decided that "neither driver was wholly or predominantly to blame" so no penalty was imposed.

Alex Albon
Toro Rosso-Honda/Red Bull-Honda

Pure pace 3/5

Just like Norris, Albon's arrival in F1 began well when he outqualified an experienced team-mate in Australia. Albon came into the weekend with very little F1 mileage and made a mistake, crashing in the opening session. But the next day he recovered to beat Kvyat by 0.138s and line up 13th for his first GP.

Albon's first Q3 visit came at arguably the toughest challenge of the season so far: Monaco, although he was down 0.382s to Kvyat.

The qualifying head-to-head is balanced 5-4 in Kvyat's favour (discounting Bahrain, China and Austria where circumstances prevented a representative comparison) and as a percentage, overall his deficit to Kvyat has been small - just 0.123%.

In later races, Albon's Saturday pace was better and he was faster at Paul Ricard and Silverstone, the latter his biggest qualifying margin over Kvyat, where he was 0.239s quicker. A sign perhaps that he was gaining the upper hand as the car improved and he gained experience. We're yet to see how he measures up to Verstappen in a proper head to head, and won't before Singapore due to engine penalties.

Racecraft 5/5

Albon has impressed in a couple of races this year where he's managed his brakes and tyres to the flag and held back a determined opponent in the closing stages. Under pressure from Sergio Perez's Racing Point in Bahrain, he withstood the attack to hold onto ninth and did similar in the following race in China to keep Romain Grosjean's Haas at bay for 10th. This earned Albon the driver of the day award and another point, despite starting from the pits.

There were strong drives in Austria and Britain, although the latter was scuppered by a high voltage issue with his power unit that prevented him from making a second stop for tyres.

Arguably his best drive came at the German GP. Having never driven an F1 car in the wet, 
he hauled himself into a points position and spent much of the race in the top six, until a
 late safety car cost him track position when others pitted earlier.

His Red Bull debut was also exemplary on this front. Charging from 17th to fifth may be easier with one of the best cars on the grid, but the nature of the passes he was pulling off was outstanding at times.

Penalties and mistakes 3/5

While Albon has avoided the attention of the stewards and has picked up no penalties for driving infringements, he has caused a few headaches for his Toro Rosso mechanics.
 The loss of his front wing in first practice in Australia was understandable and on the opening lap of the Canadian GP he was boxed in at the first sequence of corners, which ultimately caused him to retire from the race.

But Albon's biggest blunder so far came in the Saturday morning practice session in China, when he lost control of his Toro Rosso coming out of the final corner and made heavy contact with the barriers. This destroyed every corner on his car and required a change of gearbox. But he salvaged his weekend with that brilliant recovery drive on Sunday.

There was another crash in Hungary practice, but Albon understands that mistakes will always happen - the important thing is how you deal with them.

George Russell
Williams-Mercedes

Pure pace 5/5

Arguably, Russell is the toughest to assess of the newcomers. While team-mate Kubica has impressed just by returning to the cockpit, there remain significant question marks about his outright pace. The starkest statistic from the first 12 races was the qualifying head-to-head between the pair: 12-0 to Russell.

On average, Russell was 0.529% faster with some large margins at certain races. The difference in Montreal was 0.776s and on the short Red Bull Ring 0.302s. A sensational performance in Hungary led to a deficit of 1.293s for Kubica. This has led to suggestions of disparity in equipment between the two drivers, either from the chassis or engine, which has been refuted by the team.

So, has Russell been stellar in qualifying or has Kubica been underperforming? The truth is probably a bit of both - but there is no doubt Russell has been comfortably the faster of the two.

Racecraft 5/5

At the tail of the field, it's difficult to know how good Russell would be racing wheel-to-wheel with more experienced drivers but he has at least maintained a 100% finishing record.

Like Norris, but not to the same extent, he has lost out in the opening laps but has done a fine job of recovering afterwards. The best example was Monaco, when he lost out to Kubica at the start, but finished the race three places ahead.

Compared with his team-mate he has been 0.25-0.45s per lap quicker in the races, underscoring the sense Russell is faster than Kubica. Only in France and Germany has Kubica actually finished ahead in their private battle.

Russell's most impressive overtake actually came against Kubica in France. He caught and tried to pass the other Williams into the daunting 180mph Signes curve. On the first attempt he ran wide and hit a bollard, but achieved the breathtaking move second time around.

Penalties and mistakes 4/5

With a 100% finishing record, Russell's mistakes on race day are rare. The two slip-ups he has made have come on Saturday. For the avoidance of doubt, his biggest incident of the year came on the Friday in Baku, when a loose drain cover destroyed the floor of his car - but he was completely blameless for that. In fact, he impressed in Azerbaijan since he was getting over the effects of flu.

His first Saturday issue was at the Spanish GP, where Russell spun backwards into the barrier in final practice, necessitating a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

In qualifying in Austria, Russell was deemed to have impeded Kvyat at the penultimate corner by running slowly on the track. Although the stewards noted that Russell wasn't given adequate warning by the team about Kvyat's approach, he was hit with a three-place grid sanction and a point on his licence.

In conclusion...

Three undoubted stars of the future, with one already moved up the grid, but it's the man at the back who has probably just edged ahead after their first 13 F1 races. Here's how they match up on average scores in our head to head:

Alex Albon 3.7/5

Inevitably, Albon's lack of F1 car experience meant a slower start to his season than Norris and Russell. But he's improved as the races have ticked by - perhaps aided by the European part of the schedule, where he's more familiar with the tracks. He'll now be judged at a totally different level with Red Bull, and Spa was a very encouraging start.

Outside the cockpit, Albon is extremely personable and polite, with a happy-go-lucky, almost apologetic attitude. He is also intelligent enough to know there is a world outside of F1.

"He's good, he's methodical, he's not emotional, and he's learning quickly. I'm really impressed so far," says Toro Rosso technical director Jody Egginton.

Lando Norris 4.3/5

Outside the cockpit Norris is laidback, with a down-to-earth persona, and is very witty on social media. He has a great rapport with Sainz and both enjoy playing pranks together, such as hiding after a debrief to avoid PR duties. Norris gets on well with his peers and regularly races online with Verstappen or Albon. In fact, if he's not in an F1 car he's on his own simulator.

This approach shouldn't be seen as a lack of commitment. He's self-critical and was annoyed in Austria when he qualified fifth, 0.02s down on Kevin Magnussen.

"The most important thing is raw speed," says McLaren boss Andreas Seidl when asked to sum up Norris, whose results don't fairly reflect how well he's performed. His reward is another year with McLaren in 2020.

George Russell 4.7/5

Russell comes across a little more polished than the others, probably because of his background as a Mercedes junior. Politically, it gives him power and could be decisive in his future career. Russell is clear, direct and switched on to maximising his opportunities.

The external view is that Russell has enjoyed the upper hand over Kubica - which, although predicted by some, is still impressive. Russell is mature for his 21 years, has experienced tough seasons before and says he has taken on the mantle of leading Williams through difficult times. He's a definite long-term project for Mercedes.

"Enthusiasm and drive, undoubted talent and raw pace are his main strengths," says engineering chief Dave Robson.