The age old debate - Rookies v Experience in Formula 1

Having recently graduated I'm all too aware of the importance of experience - that missing link between many young people's academic achievements and their hopes of landing a job worthy of the hours of slog they've put in. I'm sure it was something on Jaime Alguersuari's mind this weekend too...

At 19 years and 125 days the Spanish teenager became the youngest rookie to plant himself in an F1 car, and, despite no major errors this weekend, the decision has been, well, less than popular. Button, Webber, Massa and Hamilton have all had objections pre-practice; not to Jaime per se, but to someone his age attempting bumper to bumper with the big boys. Fellow countryman, Fernando Alonso, has come out in support of Alguersuari stating, 'I am in favour of beginning as young as possible.' Ex-Torro Rosso rookie Sebastian Vettel has also come to Jaime's defence; instead criticising the ban of in season testing, stating 'it will be very hard for any young driver to enter F1.' The main concern seems to be Jaime's lack of actual time in the car, nearly all previous drivers have had testing experiences with F1 teams before being able to lay claim to one of the coveted driver positions.

Lack of time in an F1 car isn't, on the other hand, a criticism that can be leveled at Jacques Villeneuve. The former world champion has been seen hanging around at various races, stating 'it is true, I will return'. He also says 'I like the current F1 format in which tests are banned, and in this case maybe more experienced drivers would be more in-demand.' If Villeneuve were to return he would do so as the oldest guy on the track, beating Barrichello by 1 year and 44 days. And so we have both sides of the coin - the young rookie lacking experience or the ex-champ with more 'mileage' than most. If you were a team boss who would you go for?

You could look down the rest of the paddock; Only a quarter of the current drivers (Barrichello, Trulli, Heidfeld, Fisichella and Webber) are over 30 (although Raikkonen isn't far behind) and many don't go past 38 (although Mansell was 41 when finally hung up the helmet), therefore drivers looking to maximize their time at the top level would naturally want to begin as early as possible. F1 though is highly competitive and, aside from teams not really having time for drivers to find their feet on the track, driver experience counts for a lot behind the scenes.

It's widely believed that one of the main reasons Reuben's was retained by Brawn was for his experience in setting up a car and offering technician's accurate and workable feedback. Similarly part of the Renault resurgence of 2007 was likely to have been thanks to the feedback of Fernando. The other side of the debate however is that without opportunities how does a driver like Alguersuari gain experience?

The old argument of age versus experience is one that will likely never be settled but in F1, where points mean prizes, it could well prove to be a million-dollar question.

By Samantha Wilcox for enterf1.com