Drivers you liked who never made it (In F1)!!

supremenovice

We always here about people who love Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton etal.
But we all have a fondness for drivers who always seemed to be on the brink of greatness but never quite made it.

Id have to mention Heinz Harald Frentzen.
Loved him in Sauber from '94-96 and I was so excited for his debut year at Williams but he never really fit in that team and Villeneuve wasnt the greatest team mate to have anyway.
I was delighted when he won two races at Jordan to shove it up Martin Brundles a**e. He alsways criticised Frentzen unnecessaraly.

Also Sebastian Bourdais. He kicked asss in Champ Car.Remember his drive in Belgium '08, looking good for a podium if not for the rain on the last lap.

TheChrisD

Justin Wilson. Stuck with the under-performing Minardi for most of 2003 and then goes to Jaguar for the rest of the year, scores a point an Indy, only to be replaced by a pay driver for next year.

And then goes to Champ Car and nearly kicks Bourdais' ass :P

frostie500

supremenovice wrote: »

We always here about people who love Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton etal.
But we all have a fondness for drivers who always seemed to be on the brink of greatness but never quite made it.

Id have to mention Heinz Harald Frentzen.
Loved him in Sauber from '94-96 and I was so excited for his debut year at Williams but he never really fit in that team and Villeneuve wasnt the greatest team mate to have anyway.
I was delighted when he won two races at Jordan to shove it up Martin Brundles a**e. He alsways criticised Frentzen unnecessaraly.

Also Sebastian Bourdais. He kicked asss in Champ Car.Remember his drive in Belgium '08, looking good for a podium if not for the rain on the last lap.

I think its pretty crazy to say that drivers of the caliber of Frentzen and Bourdais 'never made it.' Heinz Harald challenged for a world title and Sebes won four titles in Champ Cars. I'll admit that Frentzen underperfomed in F1 in relation to his abilities but there's no way I'd say that he was a failure as the heading of this thread might indicate. Both drivers have made a very good living out of racing and have competed at the top of the sport for a prolonged period of time. Just because Bourdais didnt succeed in Formula 1 doesnt meant that his successes in America should be written off an he is looked upon as a failure.

TheChrisD wrote: »

Justin Wilson. Stuck with the under-performing Minardi for most of 2003 and then goes to Jaguar for the rest of the year, scores a point an Indy, only to be replaced by a pay driver for next year.

And then goes to Champ Car and nearly kicks Bourdais' ass :P

Again I'd say the same about Wilson, he has been successful in the states and races full time in one of the worlds top series, is it far to say that he 'never made it?' Again its fair to say that he never made it in Formula 1 but he has had success in the top tiers of racing.

lendrew1

Anthony Davidson is the one for me, he never seemed to have any luck and I was certain he'd get a drive for this year. With these new teams money is more important than talent which is a shame.

The main reason Justin Wilson never succeeded in F1 was his 6'4" frame. For 2003 Minardi built a special chassis just to accomidate his height!

RayM

Mika Salo. In his three years in a painfully slow Tyrrell, he scored a total of 12 points. His team-mates (Katayama and Verstappen) scored zero between them. When he lucked his way into a Ferrari in 1999, he would have won the German GP, but for team orders (remember Irvine handing him the winners trophy on the podium?)

enzo7

I wouldnt consider frentzen of not making it, didnt like him though always though he was a bit lazy.But if you mean drivers who never won a f1 world championship. Then for me it would have to be alesi or massa (though im still hopeing he still will). Also really like vettel and i really really hope were not talking about him in 10yrs as not having made it/not won a f1 title.

I dont think ive ever like a driver who never made as for me f1 is all about talent and if your talented enough you make it:)

rua1972

Define "never made it" Jan magnussen was a great talent, i believe an accident on track changed his future. Alesi challenged Senna big time in one of his first F1 races but later on he never became the big winner. Trulli is another one, very fast on a single lap but not a real champion.

amacachi

lendrew1 wrote: »

Anthony Davidson is the one for me, he never seemed to have any luck and I was certain he'd get a drive for this year. With these new teams money is more important than talent which is a shame.

The main reason Justin Wilson never succeeded in F1 was his 6'4" frame. For 2003 Minardi built a special chassis just to accomidate his height!

Completely agree. More than kept up with Sato and from what I gather seems to be very useful when it comes to testing. Comes across as a cool guy too, if he doesn't get one of the last drives I hope he'll still be on the BBC coverage.

lendrew1

amacachi wrote: »

Completely agree. More than kept up with Sato and from what I gather seems to be very useful when it comes to testing. Comes across as a cool guy too, if he doesn't get one of the last drives I hope he'll still be on the BBC coverage.

I read that he'll be with the Beeb again this year, he gives a great insight. Hopefully he'll do Le mans again, he showed good pace last year in the Aston.

Charlie-Bravo

I liked Pedro Diniz...was always rooting for him. Maybe he wasn't that great a driver but was definitely never given a chance in a big team.

RocketRonnie

HH Frentzen was a great driver, he was around when a lot of big names were there! If he was driving in this era he would be with one of the big names!!

On the lesser drivers, Oliver Panis was a personnal fav.....

T-Maxx

Coulthard - best driver to have never won a world championship.

frostie500

astrofluff wrote: »

I liked Pedro Diniz...was always rooting for him. Maybe he wasn't that great a driver but was definitely never given a chance in a big team.

Diniz was a driver that really improved during his time in F1. When he came in he was solely a 'pay driver' but over time he developed into a solid driver that teams would legitimately look to sign for his talent as much as his cash. He gave some very good drivers-Hill, Salo and Alesi-competition when he was their teammate and had truly maximised all of his talent by the end of his career, but what did he do to show he deserved to drive for a team bigger than a midfield team like Sauber?

Grim.

fair play to him he deserves it

http://www.crash.net/le+mans/news/157078/1/davidson_added_to_peugeot_line-up.html

RocketRonnie

T-Maxx wrote: »

Coulthard - best driver to have never won a world championship.

The king of cock-ups

joesoap007

enzo7 wrote: »

I wouldnt consider frentzen of not making it, didnt like him though always though he was a bit lazy.But if you mean drivers who never won a f1 world championship. Then for me it would have to be alesi or massa (though im still hopeing he still will). Also really like vettel and i really really hope were not talking about him in 10yrs as not having made it/not won a f1 title.

I dont think ive ever like a driver who never made as for me f1 is all about talent and if your talented enough you make it:)

i think after frentzen woman had his baby he got slower and slower,,

dsmythy

Jos Verstappen. Always tried his best and gave us a couple of close shaves while he was at it!

Iron Hide

dsmythy wrote: »

Jos Verstappen. Always tried his best and gave us a couple of close shaves while he was at it!

Agreed!! Jos the Boss was a damn good driver, bit of a basket case aswell but sure we'll get over that..

Fisichella i think is another one, would have loved to have seen him get the Ferrari drive instead of Rubens in 2000

Edit: Marcus Winkelhock! :P