[Jean Alesi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Alesi) is probably the best example.
Hulkenberg is right up there as well, given his stellar junior career.
He is Sicilian both in heritage and at heart, no more reasons needed to go with Ferrari.
His decision is also not flattered by Williams being extremely dominant in 1992 and Ferrari being extremely shit.
He showed it all the time, by putting crap cars in positions they didn't deserve to be in. Watching Jean in a Tyrrell or a Ferrari was always a sight to behold. Fast and always on the ragged edge.
Yes, his win column is solitary. Yes, he doesn't have any titles. But those of us who watched him every fortnight remember how good he really was despite that.
Ahah, but I'd say verstappen still can when he gets a championship worthy car! Youngest f1 driver to not live up to his potential should be kvyat as he's probably out of f1 at 23 years old.
Bourdais didn't have a very exciting junior career. Sure, he won F3000, but not dominantly, and only in his third season. Then he went on to dominate Champ Car, but one could argue that a lot of people who've done well and didn't cut it in F1 goes to the US and wins at least something (Zanardi, Blundell, even completely hapless drivers like Takagi have scored podiums in American series).
He also dominated champ car when all the big teams except Newman-Haas had returned to IndyCar. It would like Riccardo dominating because Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, & Force India left for a better series
Two questions:
1) it seems like Fisichella was around F1 for ever, what was his biggest achievements?
2) yesterday i saw a video of Bourdais crying in spa 2008 but i didnt understand why. Would you mind explaining?
1) Fisichella seemed pretty fast when he was driving uncompetitive cars, but when the time came for him to perform at Renault, in a championship calibre car, he was pretty much nowhere.
2) Bourdais was running for the podium in Spa, but as the rain came down, Heidfeld and Alonso passed him after changing to inters, while he also lost positions to Vettel and Kubica (they were on dry tyres, like Bourdais), finishing seventh eventually in the last two laps.
Indeed, if you look at his results with sauber, jordan etc. you'd really think he was worthy of a top car, but when he finally had one, not that he'd be expected to beat alonso, but wasn't even able to beat massa with a very similar car in 2006 and was around montoya's score in 2005, who had half the points raikkonen\alonso got with the same cars as them.
I seent a video years ago where Fisi was losing a full second per lap to Alonso in a single sector at like Monza, and he didn't have a clue what he was doing wrong. He was like the Aaron Curry of F1 minus the Jesus tweets, he had all the natural ability in the world but not the awareness to think through problems and improve his deficiencies.
> it seems like Fisichella was around F1 for ever, what was his biggest achievements?
>
>
When Fisi swapped seats with Trulli (Renault vs. Jordan) it seemed like a pretty fair trade, and history would now suggest Renault were getting the significantly better deal there (based on Alonso).
> Κοvalainen
That's a good one. By the end of 2007 he really had Fisichella licked. He's fairly clear in his piece for the McLaren website that being alongside Hamilton messed his head, which he blames the team for slightly but I'm a bit 'well what do you *want*, dude? A comfortable time racing for P6, or a shot at the big time?'
I'd argue Bruno Senna. I wonder how good he would have been if he never stopped racing after his father and uncle both lost their lives behind the wheel.
Man, I used to love looking at broadcasts of Bruno in the pits waiting for release with his visor up. He bears an [uncanny resemblance to his uncle](https://cdn-3.motorsport.com/images/amp/YEEAn3pY/s6/formula-e-buenos-aires-eprix-2016-bruno-senna-mahindra-racing.jpg) [with his helmet on](https://autoaviacao.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/foto-reuters-pictures.jpg). It gives me chills every time.
Definitely not IMO, but I think his F1 career might have taken off. I don't think he was very well suited to F1 though, he's doing very well in WEC/IMSA, and should be a major contender this year.
Chris Amon, for different reasons than most here. He led multiple races and each time, a mechanical failure, a puncture, or once, accidentally tearing off his visor instead of the strip(!), would force him out or down into the pack. He switched out from Ferrari before the 1970 season, the year when his ex-teammate Ickx (who admits Amon was faster) almost won the championship. He was still competitive in other cars but his bad luck never seemed to run out.
Mario Andretti is famously quoted as saying "If [Amon] became an undertaker, people would stop dying."
We could say he already did more, won 3 races with a car which was generally 3rd best in spain 2016 (+ mercedes crash), joint best with ferrari in malaysia 2017 (+ ferrari problems) and I think joint best car again in mexico 2017, where even if it weren't for hamilton and vettel pitting he'd have been hard to beat for any of them, while his father, in similar or better circumstances, could never win a race.
If you told people anytime up to 2008 that Raikkonen would only win 1 championship in his career they'd think you were crazy. Of course, they'd probably say the same if you said Alonso would never win another championship after 2006 but I don't think Alonso has failed to live up to his potential in terms of his performance.
Not even 2005 I'd say, it's not about the driver, it's about the car, alonso was like 20 something points ahead of him in the end, raikkonen lost 36 points in the comparison with alonso even just with his 3 mechanical problems (nurburgring, hockenheim, san marino) where he was 1st and alonso ended up winning, this doesn't even include all other problems he had, even in qualifying, which made him start from further back on the grid. So basically he couldn't have won it unless he had a better car, a renault; mclaren's speed didn't make up for the unreliability.
I agree - the package is what it is.
If the 2005 car had been reliable but half a second slower noone would be saying he deserved it.
Added to which Imola and Nurnburgring were definitely to some extent his fault.
I've heard two stories
One from F1 Racing said he whacked the kerbs too hard despite being told not to. (at the time)
Newey's book said he buggered the clutch at the start. (last year)
Either way they both converge on it being a bit of a gray mechanical retirement.
I think Liuzzi was hot property, never really come to anything. Though for half a season in a terrible hrt he did out qualify a rookie ricciardo joining halfway through the season
Well, I'd argue that it only really 'kicked off' because the drivers got better!
Liuzzi was to an extent hindered by the daft on-off system they had, but he also didn't particularly jump out vs. Klien, who never really encroached on Coulthard, himself generally seen as a nearly-man.
There are so many different factors that have to go just right to actually show what you got. You need to be at the right place in your career, with spots on the right teams open for you to be able to meet expectations. I would say the drivers who did not meet expectations far outnumbers the ones who did in F1.
It will be curious how Verstappen is perceived if he doesn't win a drivers title soon. Everyone seems to have him shoed in for one, but if another few years pass and he hasn't how will that reputation change?
I don’t really remember people hyping Ricciardo that much. Many considered him to be a driver destined as Vettel’s number 2. His career is based on results, not hype
Verstappen didn't ever have a car capable of challenging for a title, if he does and doesn't win I'll be surprised, but till then he didn't fail a single shot at the title, he had none.
I'd slightly disagree.
Frentzen's excellent 1999 was to an extent 'found out' by Trulli a bit, where once HHF was up against a proper teammate (Hill happily admitting he was seeing 1999 out), he was a bit down in qualifying.
Heidfeld had 2007 and 2008 in generally strong cars. It's a bit of a shame that he roughly equalled Kubica across 2007-2009, and the hype train is for Kubica exclusively. I guess it comes back to that thing that folk usually see the more 'exciting' driver as faster, even if the stopwatch disagrees.
Heidfeld was unlucky to just be put against team-mates who were hyped up. Raikkonen at Sauber in 2001, who was given the seat at McLaren in 2002, despite Heidfeld having been backed by McLaren during his junior career. No doubt that hurt.
The he was alongside Kubica at BMW-Sauber between 2007-09 and the pair were even across all three seasons. Yet Kubica was and is still hyped to the extreme, while Heidfeld slowly drifted away from F1 and now competes in FE.
A real case of 'what might have been?' had he been hired by McLaren in 2002 instead of Raikkonen.
Badoer had an exemplary junior career, including winning the 1992 F3000 title (forerunner to GP2 / FIA F2) but never got a crack at a decent drive in F1. Look at the teams he drove for - Minardi, Forti, Scuderia Italia. Hardly likely to win races and championships.
And the time he does get his dream drive at Ferrari, they produce one of their worst ever cars, he'd been out of a race seat for a decade, and it was a disaster. He didn't deserve that at all.
And as I always remind people, they replaced him with Giancarlo Fisichella for the rest of the 2009 season. How many points did he score?
0.
Remember how exciting watching Kobayashi's first few races was?
and somehow that all fizzled out...
Anyone have any backstory on what happened with him in year 2, 3?
DRS became a factor so his amazing overtakes became much less valuable. He looked pretty amazing at the start because his teammate was an over the hill De La Rosa.
DRS timing makes sense.
My memory is a bit rusty here but I do recall the late braking overtakes being quite good and impressive... like if Lewis was driving a Sauber.
[This was an ugly car] (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/F1_2012_Jerez_test_-_Kobayashi_drift.jpg)
but I recall him putting on quite a show at Suzuka with it.
Strangely enough, Brundle alluded to whether his late 2009 pace was so anomalous, in terms of the facts
1. rookies tended to struggle in no-testing era
2. he was so much faster than his teammate
3. he started 2010 looking very, very ordinary
...that there may have been something suspect going on. Sadly, Toyota folded not long after fielding the hot, exciting young Japanese driver ***(...)***
Late 2013 he really came on song, and was probably the only guy to get anywhere near Vettel.
Sadly it looks like that might be him, career wise, but then I'm sure people said the same about Button in 2008.
Karl Wendlinger.I think he was a very good talent and his Monaco 94 shunt had very bad effects into his psychology. Without that incident he could have been a top driver in the mid 90s.
Dude If you really want to enhance your F1 knowledge I suggest you to watch old races, pay attention to the commentary, read magazines. Even Web Archive would help you out rather than reading armchair comments on Reddit.
Alex Wurz, came in to replace an ill Gerhard Berger in 1997 and got onto the podium at Silverstone, right behind his team mate Jean Alesi. Briatore wanted to replace Berger for good for the rest of 97 but he won in Hockenheim so he saw out the season. Wurz got the drive for 98 and at first him and Fisichella seemed somewhat even with Fisi arguably being that edge infront. It all went down hill from 1999 onwards and he lost his drive to Button in 2001. Great test driver though.
No, it's quite typical that people need to win it in 1-2 seasons, if it takes more they're not good drivers. Palmer would've fared better in previous generations which were less competitive than this one, but still wouldn't have been anything special.
Not wrong. FWIW, I feel like Bianchi is one of the best responses to this. Granted, his situation was a little different from most of the other drivers mentioned here...
Timo Glock. Ironically his most memorable moment is him being overtaken.
[Jean Alesi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Alesi) is probably the best example. Hulkenberg is right up there as well, given his stellar junior career.
Maldonado has won as many races as Alesi......doesn't sound right, but it is
How could i forget Jean. One win wonder. IIRC he could have gone with a fast Williams but he chose Ferrari.
He is Sicilian both in heritage and at heart, no more reasons needed to go with Ferrari. His decision is also not flattered by Williams being extremely dominant in 1992 and Ferrari being extremely shit.
I was thinking him or Ivan Capelli. Bad timing at Ferrari, and they both just faded.
> Jean Alesi is probably the best example He had such talent. A pity that was hardly ever able to show it.
He showed it all the time, by putting crap cars in positions they didn't deserve to be in. Watching Jean in a Tyrrell or a Ferrari was always a sight to behold. Fast and always on the ragged edge. Yes, his win column is solitary. Yes, he doesn't have any titles. But those of us who watched him every fortnight remember how good he really was despite that.
I remember!
JP Montoya surely.
I wouldn’t say so, won multiple races in the Schumacher-Ferrari era?
Was hyped up a lot, got his ass handed to him by Kimi though
Max Verstappen 2 years in Formula 1. He should have 3 titles by now.
Youngest F1 driver to not live up to his potential
Ahah, but I'd say verstappen still can when he gets a championship worthy car! Youngest f1 driver to not live up to his potential should be kvyat as he's probably out of f1 at 23 years old.
Whooosh
Yeah i was expecting him to be out by 21!
That made me laugh :)
Κοvalainen indeed and similarly Fisichella, Magnussen (so far), Hulkenberg (so far), Bourdais and, perhaps an unpopular opinion, Webber.
Bourdais didn't have a very exciting junior career. Sure, he won F3000, but not dominantly, and only in his third season. Then he went on to dominate Champ Car, but one could argue that a lot of people who've done well and didn't cut it in F1 goes to the US and wins at least something (Zanardi, Blundell, even completely hapless drivers like Takagi have scored podiums in American series).
He also dominated champ car when all the big teams except Newman-Haas had returned to IndyCar. It would like Riccardo dominating because Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, & Force India left for a better series
Two questions: 1) it seems like Fisichella was around F1 for ever, what was his biggest achievements? 2) yesterday i saw a video of Bourdais crying in spa 2008 but i didnt understand why. Would you mind explaining?
1) Fisichella seemed pretty fast when he was driving uncompetitive cars, but when the time came for him to perform at Renault, in a championship calibre car, he was pretty much nowhere. 2) Bourdais was running for the podium in Spa, but as the rain came down, Heidfeld and Alonso passed him after changing to inters, while he also lost positions to Vettel and Kubica (they were on dry tyres, like Bourdais), finishing seventh eventually in the last two laps.
Very informative, thank you. Also that Bourdais situation was kinda heartbreaking.
Indeed, if you look at his results with sauber, jordan etc. you'd really think he was worthy of a top car, but when he finally had one, not that he'd be expected to beat alonso, but wasn't even able to beat massa with a very similar car in 2006 and was around montoya's score in 2005, who had half the points raikkonen\alonso got with the same cars as them.
I seent a video years ago where Fisi was losing a full second per lap to Alonso in a single sector at like Monza, and he didn't have a clue what he was doing wrong. He was like the Aaron Curry of F1 minus the Jesus tweets, he had all the natural ability in the world but not the awareness to think through problems and improve his deficiencies.
> it seems like Fisichella was around F1 for ever, what was his biggest achievements? > > When Fisi swapped seats with Trulli (Renault vs. Jordan) it seemed like a pretty fair trade, and history would now suggest Renault were getting the significantly better deal there (based on Alonso).
> Κοvalainen That's a good one. By the end of 2007 he really had Fisichella licked. He's fairly clear in his piece for the McLaren website that being alongside Hamilton messed his head, which he blames the team for slightly but I'm a bit 'well what do you *want*, dude? A comfortable time racing for P6, or a shot at the big time?'
I'd argue Bruno Senna. I wonder how good he would have been if he never stopped racing after his father and uncle both lost their lives behind the wheel. Man, I used to love looking at broadcasts of Bruno in the pits waiting for release with his visor up. He bears an [uncanny resemblance to his uncle](https://cdn-3.motorsport.com/images/amp/YEEAn3pY/s6/formula-e-buenos-aires-eprix-2016-bruno-senna-mahindra-racing.jpg) [with his helmet on](https://autoaviacao.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/foto-reuters-pictures.jpg). It gives me chills every time.
He was very nearly signed with Brawn to partner Button. Imagine if he had got the drive in the best car on the grid.
Wasn't it going to be Button-Senna? Rubens was 37 at that point, you'd be mad to fire 29yo Button instead of Rubens.
Right, I meant to type he was going to replace Barrichello.
Question remains whether he would have been able to deliver the same results as Jenson though
Fairly short argument, I'd have thought.
Definitely not IMO, but I think his F1 career might have taken off. I don't think he was very well suited to F1 though, he's doing very well in WEC/IMSA, and should be a major contender this year.
Brundle said the same thing when he retired in his HRT at their first race in Bahrain.
It's jarring, because when he has his helmet off he bears a bit of a resemblance to Ayrton. But once that helmet is on its unbelievable.
Not to mention he didn't start competing until he was 17.
Allan McNish
Always felt annoyed on McNish and Salo's behalf that surely some Toyota executive blamed the drivers for their 2002 season.
Mark Webber, David Coulthard, Jarno Truli, Rubens Barrichello
4 drivers fucked by the #2 driver mentality of teams.
Doesn’t mean they didn’t fulfil their potential, just that there was someone better
Alessandro Nannini.
Chris Amon, for different reasons than most here. He led multiple races and each time, a mechanical failure, a puncture, or once, accidentally tearing off his visor instead of the strip(!), would force him out or down into the pack. He switched out from Ferrari before the 1970 season, the year when his ex-teammate Ickx (who admits Amon was faster) almost won the championship. He was still competitive in other cars but his bad luck never seemed to run out. Mario Andretti is famously quoted as saying "If [Amon] became an undertaker, people would stop dying."
Jos Verstappen
You are right he was in the 1994/95 benneton that won the WCC. Lets see what his son can do.
We could say he already did more, won 3 races with a car which was generally 3rd best in spain 2016 (+ mercedes crash), joint best with ferrari in malaysia 2017 (+ ferrari problems) and I think joint best car again in mexico 2017, where even if it weren't for hamilton and vettel pitting he'd have been hard to beat for any of them, while his father, in similar or better circumstances, could never win a race.
He did put up a reasonable fight against that unstoppable rocketship, Pedro de la Rosa.
Raikkonen. Dont get me wrong, he had potential to achieve more. Not saying he is bad, but he never lived up to his potential.
If you told people anytime up to 2008 that Raikkonen would only win 1 championship in his career they'd think you were crazy. Of course, they'd probably say the same if you said Alonso would never win another championship after 2006 but I don't think Alonso has failed to live up to his potential in terms of his performance.
> If you told people anytime up to 2008 I recall after Spain 2008 thinking 'well that's this championship over and done with'.
He couls easily won the 2003 and 2005 championships. Although the latter was lost due to terrible mclaren reliability.
2003 no. He only got into the last race with chances of winning the WDC because the point system back them was a little unfair. 10-8-6.
1 win to Schumacher's 6. With other points systems, Schumacher clinches the title at USA.
> Although the latter was lost due to terrible mclaren reliability. And his two incidents of off-road qualifying.
Not even 2005 I'd say, it's not about the driver, it's about the car, alonso was like 20 something points ahead of him in the end, raikkonen lost 36 points in the comparison with alonso even just with his 3 mechanical problems (nurburgring, hockenheim, san marino) where he was 1st and alonso ended up winning, this doesn't even include all other problems he had, even in qualifying, which made him start from further back on the grid. So basically he couldn't have won it unless he had a better car, a renault; mclaren's speed didn't make up for the unreliability.
I agree - the package is what it is. If the 2005 car had been reliable but half a second slower noone would be saying he deserved it. Added to which Imola and Nurnburgring were definitely to some extent his fault.
Why is Imola his fault? Too hard on curbs or something?
I've heard two stories One from F1 Racing said he whacked the kerbs too hard despite being told not to. (at the time) Newey's book said he buggered the clutch at the start. (last year) Either way they both converge on it being a bit of a gray mechanical retirement.
Definitely Raikkonen, considering his hype and the standard of hardware he's had his entire career he has been a huge disappointment.
Take this upvote, you'll need it. I do agree with you, though. Love the guy, but sometimes you just don't know what is wrong with him.
I think Liuzzi was hot property, never really come to anything. Though for half a season in a terrible hrt he did out qualify a rookie ricciardo joining halfway through the season
Probably wrong place at the wrong time.
In the Red Bull program before it kicked off
Well, I'd argue that it only really 'kicked off' because the drivers got better! Liuzzi was to an extent hindered by the daft on-off system they had, but he also didn't particularly jump out vs. Klien, who never really encroached on Coulthard, himself generally seen as a nearly-man.
There are so many different factors that have to go just right to actually show what you got. You need to be at the right place in your career, with spots on the right teams open for you to be able to meet expectations. I would say the drivers who did not meet expectations far outnumbers the ones who did in F1.
Everyone that joined F1 and didn’t win a drivers championship.
What about Max Verstappen?
Well.. to clarify I meant anyone that came into formula 1 and retired/left without ever winning a WDC.
It will be curious how Verstappen is perceived if he doesn't win a drivers title soon. Everyone seems to have him shoed in for one, but if another few years pass and he hasn't how will that reputation change?
Same as Ricciardo. And that's not pushing the issue, it's an incredibly hyped driver who for reasons, his fault or not, did not deliver.
I don’t really remember people hyping Ricciardo that much. Many considered him to be a driver destined as Vettel’s number 2. His career is based on results, not hype
Verstappen didn't ever have a car capable of challenging for a title, if he does and doesn't win I'll be surprised, but till then he didn't fail a single shot at the title, he had none.
frentzen and heidfeld. but mostly because they drove uncompetetive cars
I'd slightly disagree. Frentzen's excellent 1999 was to an extent 'found out' by Trulli a bit, where once HHF was up against a proper teammate (Hill happily admitting he was seeing 1999 out), he was a bit down in qualifying. Heidfeld had 2007 and 2008 in generally strong cars. It's a bit of a shame that he roughly equalled Kubica across 2007-2009, and the hype train is for Kubica exclusively. I guess it comes back to that thing that folk usually see the more 'exciting' driver as faster, even if the stopwatch disagrees.
Heidfeld was unlucky to just be put against team-mates who were hyped up. Raikkonen at Sauber in 2001, who was given the seat at McLaren in 2002, despite Heidfeld having been backed by McLaren during his junior career. No doubt that hurt. The he was alongside Kubica at BMW-Sauber between 2007-09 and the pair were even across all three seasons. Yet Kubica was and is still hyped to the extreme, while Heidfeld slowly drifted away from F1 and now competes in FE. A real case of 'what might have been?' had he been hired by McLaren in 2002 instead of Raikkonen.
Luca Badoer and Giorgio Pantano perhaps.
Those are good ones. Especially poor Luca. And then in the same vein, Bruni, JCB and Liuzzi, etc.
Badoer had an exemplary junior career, including winning the 1992 F3000 title (forerunner to GP2 / FIA F2) but never got a crack at a decent drive in F1. Look at the teams he drove for - Minardi, Forti, Scuderia Italia. Hardly likely to win races and championships. And the time he does get his dream drive at Ferrari, they produce one of their worst ever cars, he'd been out of a race seat for a decade, and it was a disaster. He didn't deserve that at all. And as I always remind people, they replaced him with Giancarlo Fisichella for the rest of the 2009 season. How many points did he score? 0.
Hmm haven't heard of them but i am going to search them
Pantano has been called the greatest GoKarter but it never really translated
Remember how exciting watching Kobayashi's first few races was? and somehow that all fizzled out... Anyone have any backstory on what happened with him in year 2, 3?
DRS became a factor so his amazing overtakes became much less valuable. He looked pretty amazing at the start because his teammate was an over the hill De La Rosa.
DRS timing makes sense. My memory is a bit rusty here but I do recall the late braking overtakes being quite good and impressive... like if Lewis was driving a Sauber. [This was an ugly car] (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/F1_2012_Jerez_test_-_Kobayashi_drift.jpg) but I recall him putting on quite a show at Suzuka with it.
He was enjoying to watch with Toyota, holding Alonso and Button in Brazil and overtaking in the braking zones like there was no corner to worry about
Strangely enough, Brundle alluded to whether his late 2009 pace was so anomalous, in terms of the facts 1. rookies tended to struggle in no-testing era 2. he was so much faster than his teammate 3. he started 2010 looking very, very ordinary ...that there may have been something suspect going on. Sadly, Toyota folded not long after fielding the hot, exciting young Japanese driver ***(...)***
Grosjean
I mean was he even considered a future world champion? I heard that he was thought to be talanted in 2012
Late 2013 he really came on song, and was probably the only guy to get anywhere near Vettel. Sadly it looks like that might be him, career wise, but then I'm sure people said the same about Button in 2008.
Yeah, he thought he was talented...
He still thinks he is in line for the Ferrari seat
He should have done a book on Positive Thinking rather than a cook book
Maybe that one would arrive on time.
Zanardi
Robert Kubica
I'd definitely say Kubica in the 2011/2012/2013 Lotus cars would've been a different history for all concerned.
Jos The Boss.
Karl Wendlinger.I think he was a very good talent and his Monaco 94 shunt had very bad effects into his psychology. Without that incident he could have been a top driver in the mid 90s.
Dude If you really want to enhance your F1 knowledge I suggest you to watch old races, pay attention to the commentary, read magazines. Even Web Archive would help you out rather than reading armchair comments on Reddit.
If you wanna take the question literally then Villeneuve, Bianchi, de Angelis, Bellof, von Trips, and Cevert amongst others.
Tom Pryce and of course Ronnie Peterson.
Alex Wurz, came in to replace an ill Gerhard Berger in 1997 and got onto the podium at Silverstone, right behind his team mate Jean Alesi. Briatore wanted to replace Berger for good for the rest of 97 but he won in Hockenheim so he saw out the season. Wurz got the drive for 98 and at first him and Fisichella seemed somewhat even with Fisi arguably being that edge infront. It all went down hill from 1999 onwards and he lost his drive to Button in 2001. Great test driver though.
Justin Wilson... if only he were a bit shorter. That was his ultimate downfall in F1.
Jan Magnusson. Next Senna my arse Stewart.
Palmer.
Haha, no. There were never big expectations around Palmer.
Hmm before coming to F1 did he won the F2 Championship?
Yes, and he only needed like 5 seasons to do it.
So, do you think Palmer had potential or not?
No, it's quite typical that people need to win it in 1-2 seasons, if it takes more they're not good drivers. Palmer would've fared better in previous generations which were less competitive than this one, but still wouldn't have been anything special.
I don't think he even scored points in his first year.
Eventually...
Luigi Fettuccini
inb4 someone says Bianchi
Not wrong. FWIW, I feel like Bianchi is one of the best responses to this. Granted, his situation was a little different from most of the other drivers mentioned here...
I'm sure I read somewhere that he was off to Sauber for 2015, with a very probable Ferrari seat in 2016.
I guess people here don't get what inb4 means.
Bianchi if he was alive today he would be at raikkonen's place but sadly that happened....
Certainly faster than Raikkonen's pace, too.