Bernoldi is the latest of the seemingly endless conveyor belt of
Brazilians to make it to Formula 1.
He has joined Arrows at the expense of the popular and quick
Pedro de la Rosa, so the news of his signing with was not
greeted with universal enthusiasm.
But while he is has big budget courtesy of Red Bull behind him, Bernoldi is not your run of the mill paydriver and should
be allowed a fair crack at F1.
He has a good pedigree in the Junior formulae, winning the 1996
European Formula Renault championship and finishing runner up in the '98 British F3 series.
However, he blotted his copybook in F3000 where he only managed a best of 16th place in the championship.
The 22-year-old has acted as Sauber's test driver for the past two seasons and so he has plenty of F1 miles under his belt. He has been quick in testing for Arrows and looks as though he will be useful
addition to the F1 grid.
Some will say he's taking a risk by jumping into F1 at such a tender age. But the emergence of Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen confirms F1's obsession with finding the next big thing and despite his tender years Alonso shows every sign of being made of the right stuff.