Australian GP: Jack Doohan and Isack Hadjar crash as rookies face harsh introduction to F1
Sauber’s Bortoleto is a back-to-back F2 and F3 champion, and his F1 debut was a promising start, but was caught by the rain again on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Brazil surpassed his experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg but crashed late in the game and was forced to retire.
The rookie’s trend is 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who reached fourth place from the 16th in the bench for Mercedes.
He did have a spin and was fined for five seconds for an unsafe release from Pit Lane, but was later overturned.
The Italian became a third-year driver in F1 history and was “very happy” with the results and thanked the team for doing a great job in “guiding” his work.
Although it was a tough day for several rookies in the office, the fact that some experienced drivers were also caught by these conditions can comfort them.
Last year’s champion Carlos Sainz now hit the first lap at Williams but was able to provide valuable strategic insights for the rest of the game, helping teammate Alex Albon finish fifth.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso, the most experienced driver in F1 history, could not avoid the wall, hit Aston Martin, and took out the second of three safety cars.
The F1 calendar will bring the team to China next weekend, and rookies may be relieved that three days of sunny and dry weather are early predictions.
