The F1 Pit Box

At the beginning of the 2006 season there was only one rookie name on everyone's lips, that of 21 year old Nico Rosberg. The son of the legendary Keke Rosberg was driving his debut F1 season with Dad's old team, Williams. Not only was this a marketing man's dream, but Nico was seriously quick too. Move over Mark Webber, there's a new guy in town.

He started off well with a seventh in Bahrain and Europe, ninth in Britain and the USA, plus a third place qualifying spot Malaysia, but in the latter half of the season the pressure of being an F1 driver seemed to take its toll, with Nico making some mistakes. It is after all, a lot of stress for a young pair of shoulders to bare.

When JV departed from BMW-Sauber, Mario Theissen wasted no time in putting the teams golden-boy test driver, Robert Kubica into his place for what looks like the rest of the season. Kubica, a year older than Rosberg, entered F1 by a baptism of fire ,as his first race was the incident-filled Hungarian Grand Prix. He finished 7th but was disqualified later for his car being underweight. In Turkey he ended 12th but at Monza he qualified 6th and came home for his first podium in third. His faultless and mature drive was a truly fantastic start to this young drivers F1 career.

So, if we stuck these two in the same car on the same track in a qualifying shootout, who would come out smiling? On paper it should be Rosberg; growing up in the world of F1, having the advice of a former champion on hand plus the helping hand of Frank Williams and Patrick Head make him the obvious winner. After all, Kubica is the first F1 driver from Poland and this is his first year in F1 with a team in a massive state of flux at present. Yet in the championship he has already amassed more points than Rosberg after just three races. Perhaps it isn't as cut and dried as first would appear.

Of course, a lot has to do with the car that these two young guns drive. The Williams has been notoriously fickle about finishing races this season and the Cosworth engine, although powerful, is not being assisted by the best aero package on the grid. BMW on the other hand have the base of the always impressive Sauber chassis and their always powerful engine. Reliability has been good and the car has improved no end since the start of the season.

If Robert lines up on the grid for BMW next year, which he truly deserves too, it will be interesting to see how a full year's racing takes in toll on him. Rosberg will have that super-tough rookie season under his belt, plus a Toyota engine behind his back. Watching these two for the remainder of this season and throughout the next, we should consider the possibility that someday soon, they could be battling each other for championship wins.

If I had to put money on one of them coming out in front of the other, in that hypothetical qualy session mentioned earlier. Right at this moment; much as I like Rosberg, it would have to be the Pole for pole.