2023 Rookie Roundup
Rookie Roundup: How Are They Doing so Far?
This 2023 season brings surprising twists and turns to the grid, especially when it comes to the rookies. F1 hasn’t seen a rookie trio since 2019 with Lando Norris, George Russell and Alex Albon.
With three new faces on the scene, it's inevitable that comparisons between will happen. Let's dive into each rookie and their journeys so far.
Oscar Piastri
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| Oscar Piastri via Instagram |
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| Oscar Piastri via Instagram |
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| Oscar Piastri via Instagram |
And he also raced in Formula 3 in 2020 where he became a champion as a rookie with Prema Racing and a member of the Renault Sport Academy... and Formula 2 in 2021 with Perma Racing, securing another championship as a rookie.
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| Oscar Piastri via Instagram |
In 2022, Piastri signed on with Alpine to be their official reserve driver. At the time, WTF1 stated in an article that Piastri “is expected to fill the seat of Fernando Alonso once he departs F1 again." Piastri was also on standby for McLaren. Between 2022 and 2023, drama ensued between Alpine and McLaren involving the young driver.
In August 2022, Alpine prematurely announced that Piastri would be driving for them alongside Esteban Ocon. A couple hours later, the reserve driver took to Twitter saying he would not be driving for Alpine for the 2023 season.
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| Oscar Piastri via Twitter |
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| McLaren Instagram |
While in his rookie season, Piastri has had his fair share of disappointments involving DNFs, crashes and a car that was not performing well. However, toward the end of the first half of the season, things started looking up for the promising rookie and the team.
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| Oscar Piastri on Instagram |
At the British Grand Prix, Piastri along with teammate Lando Norris had astounding performances in qualifying. Piastri secured P3 to start off the race.
Due to a yellow flag at just the wrong moment during Sunday’s race, Piastri ended up just shy of the podium with P4, losing out to Lewis Hamilton in P3.
After the British GP, it was clear that McLaren was ready to fight for top positions and Piastri was ready to drive with the more experienced drivers and top teams. The Aussie rookie has shown that he is here to fight and continues to impress fans across the sport.
Logan Sargeant
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| Courtesy of Sargeant on Instagram |
Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri have been close friends for years, racing against each other and being teammates at one point for Prema Racing.
Like most drivers, Sargeant started karting back in 2008 and ended up moving to Europe at the age of 12 for karting. The young American’s career path is quite similar to that of Oscar Piastri:
Formula 4 UAE Championship in 2016 where he was Vice Champion:
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| Logan Sargeant on Instagram |
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| Logan Sargeant on Instagram |
Formula Renault Eurocup in 2018 finishing as the second 
Sargeant on Instagram
highest-placed rookie of the season in 4th place.
And... Formula 3 from 2019 to 2021 racing for Carlin Motorsport, then switching to Prema Racing in 2020-becoming teammates with Oscar Piastri.
In 2020, Sargeant was leading the championship until some unfortunate collisions and a grid penalty. He was left four points behind the Champion Oscar Piastri and just one point behind Vice Champion Théo Pourchaire.
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| Sargeant on Instagram |
He came in 4th in the championship standings, just one point behind his teammate Liam Lawson.
At the Texas Grand Prix in October 2022, it was announced the Sargeant could be joining Williams as long as he was able to acquire all the points needed to obtain a super license. By the end of the F2 season in Abu Dhabi, the talented young driver was able to snag all the points required and on November 21, 2022, it was officially announced that Logan Sargeant would be replacing Nicholas Latifi for Williams- alongside Alex Albon.
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| Logan Sargeant on Instagram |
The rookie’s time in F1 has been one for learning the ropes. Within 10 races, Sargeant has DNFed three times and tends to stay toward the back of the field in most races. The Florida native has shown improvement with the second half of the season, seeming to build on his skills learned.
Nyck de Vries
As a 27-year-old, Nyck de Vries came into the 2023 season as a more experienced rookie. 
Nyck de Vries on Instagram
Unfortunately however, de Vries will not get to finish the 2023 F1 season as he was released from Alpha Tauri after the 11th race- the British Grand Prix in Silverstone- two races shy of summer break.
Like all F1 drivers, de Vries started out karting and won the Karting World Championship in 2010 and 2011 before moving up to singer-seater series. It was no surprise to anyone that Nyck de Vries got a chance at a seat in F1 due to all of his accomplishments in an impressive list of racing series leading up to his debut.
He raced in the Formula Renault Eurocup from 2012 - 2014. In 2012, he finished fifth at the end of the season.
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| Nyck de Vries on Instagram |
In 2013, de Vries again ended in fifth place after switching teams from R-ace GP to Koiranen GP. For the Dutchman’s third year in the Formula Renault Eurocup, he spent 11 out of 14 races on the podium and won the championship in 2014.
He competed in the entire Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series in 2014 and won the championship title. In the same year, he won the Eurocup championship title.
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| Nyck de Vries on Instagram |
In 2015, as seen below, he raced for DAMS in the Formula Renault 3.5 and finished third in the standings.
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| Nyck de Vries on Instagram |
He also raced in the GPS Series in 2016, coming in sixth place behind his teammates Charles Leclerc (Champion) and Alex Albon (Vice-Champion).
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| Nyck de Vries on Instagram |
He went on to race in Formula 2 from 2017 to 2019, racing for Rapax Team at first then switching teams to Racing Engineering where he finished seventh his first year. The following year, de Vries moved to Prema Racing and ended up in fourth place at the end of the season behind George Russell (Champion), Lando Norris (Vice-Champion), and Alex Albon. The Dutch driver was 17 points behind Norris and 10 points behind Albon. In 2019, de Vries moved to ART Grand Prix alongside Nikita Mazepin and was champion at the end of the season.
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| Nyck de Vries on Instagram |
He raced in Formula E from 2019 to 2022 and in the first year, he came in 11th driving for Mercedes-Benz EQ FE Team.
Nyck de Vries on Instagram
In the 2020-21 season, de Vries became FE World Champion and in the 2021-22 season, he finished 9th overall before securing a contract with Formula 1.
In 2021, de Vries became a reserve driver for Mercedes and throughout the years the FE World Champ had opportunities to partake in practice sessions, stepping in for Alex Albon (Williams), George Russell (Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).
The driver also tested the Alpine A521 (2021 livery) and was going to step in and drive for Mclaren at the Brazilian Grand Prix if Lando Norris couldn’t race due to food poisoning. Norris recovered, so de Vries didn't end up racing then.
At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, de Vries would step in for Alex Albon for practice 3,
qualifying and
the race due to Albon suffering from Appendicitis. Impressively, de Vries made it to Q2- qualifying 13th and starting 8th on the grid for the race due to other drivers receiving penalties. 
Nyck de Vries on Instagram
The reserve driver finished 9th in the race, scoring points in his first official F1 race and received the Driver of the Day title.
Nyck de Vries’ time in Formula 1 was short-lived and the seasoned rookie’s performance was constantly criticized. Red Bull Racing is notoriously vicious when it comes to booting drivers. Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly both met the same fate as de Vries.
Ultimately, the Dutchman’s performance didn’t impress Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko with his best finish being P12 in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Only time will tell where Nyck de Vries will go next with an extensive career already under his belt.
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