Top 3 best debut seasons in F1 in the turbo-hybrid era (2014-21)

The F1 grid has not been this talent-rich in a long time. There's a good mixture of youth and experience and a lot of this has to be attributed to the influx of new talent during the turbo-hybrid era. There aren't many drivers, however, that can adapt straight away and make a massive impact. A rookie season is not always the easiest for even the best of the drivers.

In this piece, however, we'll take a look at some of those who nailed it right from the start as we rank the top 3 best debut seasons of the turbo-hybrid era.

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Top 3 rookie seasons of the F1 Turbo-Hybrid era (2014-21)

#3 Esteban Ocon

Challenging and almost beating Sergio Perez in his debut season

The young French driver made his debut in 2017 at Force India alongside Sergio Perez (although he did race for Manor GP in 2016 for a handful of races). Coming across as a consistent performer in his initial days, Esteban Ocon stayed in the shadows of Perez in the first few races, where the Mexican held the advantage. As the season progressed, however, the gap between them got smaller, to be overhauled by mid-season.

Ocon's debut season is remembered for his famed rivalry with Perez. The two Force India drivers developed an intense competition that led to multiple crashes on the track, in turn compromising multiple races. What many don't remember or notice, however, is that Ocon stepped onto the F1 grid in his very first season and challenged a respected driver of the caliber of Perez.

Ocon showed quick adaptibility in his very first season. After the first few races, where Perez enjoyed the advantage, the Frenchman slowly cut the gap as the season progressed, finally taking over from the Mexican in terms of performance.

Ocon finished his first season just 13 points behind Perez. By the time the season came to a close, there was nothing much to differentiate between the two drivers, with Ocon finishing ahead of Perez in 4 of the last 5 races (he retired in the fifth one).

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#2 Charles Leclerc

Unprecedented promotion to Ferrari after just one season in F1

Charles Leclerc came to F1 as Ferrari's golden boy. He steamrolled the opposition in his debut season in F2 and everyone was keeping an eye on this young prospect. After spending the first few races learning the ropes at Sauber, Leclerc started putting things together from Baku onwards with a top-6 finish at the race.

After Baku, the young Monegasque driver never looked back. He established himself in his team and started dominating his team-mate Marcus Ericsson. After the race at Azerbaijan, Leclerc would not even finish once behind Ericsson throughout the season, eventually scoring outscoring his team-mate by more than four times — at 39 to 9.

Ferrari, a team notorious for opting for experienced drivers, took the punt on the young driver and promoted him in just his second season in F1.

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#1 Max Verstappen

Impressed everyone on his debut and was driving a Red Bull at just 18 years of age

Max Verstappen was a teenage sensation when he debuted in the sport. He had the talent and was pursued in a bidding war by Mercedes and Red Bull while he was still karting (with Red Bull edging out Mercedes).

Verstappen was only 17 when he made his F1 debut. Regardless of how good he was and how much everyone wanted to keep an eye on him, expectations were still muted.

They were even more muted when he teamed up with the son of legendary driver Carlos Sainz Sr. As soon as the season started taking shape, however, it became clear how good the Dutchman was. He was rough around the edges, sure, but simultaneously, he was already mature enough in many ways.

Verstappen displayed raw speed in just his first season and got tantalizingly close to a podium in a Toro Rosso on multiple occasions. Picking up fourth position at the US GP and the Hungarian GP only accentuated the faith Red Bull had in him. As a result, by the Spanish GP of the 2016 season, he was driving for the senior team.