Formula 1: 2018 mid-season awards
By Tim Wray
Best rookie: Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso
Whilst this is not *technically* Pierre Gasly’s first year in Formula 1, as he replaced the struggling Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso for the five of the final six races last season, his five races of experience from last season should not disqualify him from contention here, especially because he has not yet to raced at any of the same circuits.
In fact, this has probably helped the Frenchman to fly completely under the radar through the first 12 races of the season, as he sits in 13th place in the driver standings with 26 points, double that of fellow rookie Charles Leclerc and well ahead of rookies Brendon Hartley and Sergey Sirotkin.
Battling a Toro Rosso car that has taken a slight step backwards after the team swapped out their Renault engines for Honda engines, the 22-year-old has defied all expectations to score a solid haul of points with three top seven finishes.
As it stands, Gasly is the only driver other than Force India’s Sergio Perez and Haas’ Romain Grosjean from a team outside that of the “big three” of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull to place inside the top four in a Grand Prix this year. He did so with a stunning fourth place finish in Bahrain.
In comparison to his teammate, it is almost no contest. On Saturdays, Gasly has outqualified Hartley nine times with an average gap of 1.328 seconds over him. This is an absolutely staggering margin, especially when you consider that the next biggest gap on the entire grid is just over than half that mark at 0.672 seconds.
In addition, the Red Bull Racing junior driver has reached the third stage of qualifying three times to the New Zealander’s one appearance, outraced him seven times to five, and amassed 24 more points than he has, which seems unlikely to be surpassed by the two-time World Endurance champion.
With these regular glimpses of greatness, epitomized by Gasly’s two top six qualification efforts in Bahrain and Hungary (in the wet), it is no surprise that he is set to fill Daniel Ricciardo’s seat at Red Bull Racing for 2019. He deserves the “best rookie” crown over Charles Leclerc.
Honorable mention: Charles Leclerc, Sauber)
In contrast to Pierre Gasly, the one rookie who has stolen the spotlight this season is Charles Leclerc. The 20-year-old has burst onto the scene in Formula 1 following back-to-back GP3 and Formula 2 championships. He has drug his Sauber to five top 10 finishes. He has totaled 13 points and sits in 15th place in the driver standings.
The Monegasque’s class has been on full display, as he comfortably leads the fight with teammate Marcus Ericsson by outqualifying the Swede nine times with an average gap of 0.598 seconds over him and scoring more than double the amount of points than he has (13 to 5).
As Leclerc continues to shine in Formula 1 with an ability to scrap for position well beyond his years, evidenced by his sixth place finish on the streets of Baku, many have pegged him as a “future world champion” who is in line for a promotion to either Haas or Ferrari next season.