Drivers Who Didn't Make It, But You Thought Were Good Enough?

[anfield5]

What surprises me is that when you look at the winners of the F1 feeder series: European F2 Championship, Formula 3000, GP2, nearly all of them did get Formula 1 drives, but only Hamilton has become a World Champion. Some secured a couple of wins but were essentially midfield runners and never championship contenders while the majority scarcely made it past the rear half of the grid.

Many of the truely gifted drivers were picked up directly from F3, GP3 etc and simply missed the second step. I guess then this questions the validity of the second tier as step to the top.

[Ex-Jagboy]

Masten Gregory was one of those rare talents who seemed destined for great things, but a career perhaps best remembered for a number of high speed bale-outs ignores the fact that on his day, his hard charging style made him one of the fastest drivers around, his victory in the Ecurie Ecosse Lister Jag at Silverstone in 58, when he beat most of the best drivers and cars around at that time, was right out of the top drawer, and the following year upon joining the works Cooper team, was frequently quicker than both Brabham and McClaren, His drive at the ultra fast Avus circuit when he slipstreamed the much faster Ferraris, particularly round the steep banking, only for his brilliant effort ruined by Gurney running over the gearbox of his Cooper, was yet another example of one of the most exciting drivers of that era.

Unceremoniously sacked by Coopers at the end of 59, he spent the remainder of his career campaigning in largely uncompetitive machinery, before retiring in the 60s, but for a mixture of bad luck and circumstances Masten could easily have been numbered among the best drivers of that era.

[D28]

Masten Gregory was one of those rare talents who seemed destined for great things, but a career perhaps best remembered for a number of high speed bale-outs ignores the fact that on his day, his hard charging style made him one of the fastest drivers around, his victory in the Ecurie Ecosse Lister Jag at Silverstone in 58, when he beat most of the best drivers and cars around at that time, was right out of the top drawer, and the following year upon joining the works Cooper team, was frequently quicker than both Brabham and McClaren, His drive at the ultra fast Avus circuit when he slipstreamed the much faster Ferraris, particularly round the steep banking, only for his brilliant effort ruined by Gurney running over the gearbox of his Cooper, was yet another example of one of the most exciting drivers of that era.

Unceremoniously sacked by Coopers at the end of 59, he spent the remainder of his career campaigning in largely uncompetitive machinery, before retiring in the 60s, but for a mixture of bad luck and circumstances Masten could easily have been numbered among the best drivers of that era.

Absolutely, The Kansas City Flash was indeed one quick, spectacular driver. Also a loyal Cooper team player, he had 2 podiums in 1959. A GP win was inevitable, had he managed to stay with Cooper, but logistics and money dictated a 2 car team. McLaren was not quicker, but he was an accomplished setup man; I don't believe Gregory was in the same league in engineering skills.
He was an early 2 time winner at the tricky Mosport circuit; also he managed the final win at Le Mans for Ferrari. He and Rindt took an unexpected win for NART in 65, the only win for the US team.

[Ex-Jagboy]

Following his brief and fleeting career Chris Bristow left a legacy of divided opinion and unanswered questions, with many claiming that he had the qualities of a future world champion, while his detractors felt that he was simply too wild, but there was no denying that he was exceptionally fast for one so young and inexperienced, qualities that were immediately self evident, for those of us who were watching him closely at the time, whether or not he was the world champion we never had, is something we will never know, but he demonstrated perhaps, the greatest potential of any British driver,then and since, with the certainty that in different circumstances he would have been one of the leading figures in motor sport.

[Bruce D]

Interestingly enough I was reading a book over the weekend where they ask Alastair Gibson (who was the chief engineer at BAR from 99 to 2008) who the best driver he worked with was and he said it was Kenny Brack, who he felt was faster and better than Button, Barrichello and the rest he worked with.

[journeyman racer]

I like the nomination of Jorg Muller. I remember reading about him in profiles or race reports and got the impression he was genuinely superior to most in the lower/middle formulas. I'm not sure how Europeans, who saw him live, thought of him.

I think it was a bad career move from Ricardo Zonta to join BAR, the wrong team to join F1, particularly debut. He was light years better than his F1 record. In Mercedes GT, he was Premier League to Webber's A-League. Considering Webber's moderate performance in F1 (despite his inflated reputation) he would've cost himself a title. Certainly in the case of the 10 season, if Zonta found himself in the exact position Mark was in, he'd have won the title with a race to spare, I reckon.

Gil de Ferran? He was probably better off not making it in F1.

I would've expected more in F1 from Christiano da Matta. His career ended barely before it started! Like with Zonta, maybe a case of going to the wrong team to debut.

I'm not sure about the Craig Lowndes's nomination. Talking about him with a friend of mine, he came up with an opinion which I understood and agreed with, in that he's too much of an Aussie to have made it in F1/Europe. He has it too easy over here.

Of the other Aussies? I'm most interested in why Ryan Briscoe didn't progress further in his F1 career. He appeared to be the real deal with a FReanult and Euro F3 titles. I'd be intrigued to know what Toyota thought his weaknesses were? Maybe Toyota were good at wrecking careers?

David Besnard could've done a lot more. I don't think he worked hard enough the higher he went up the ladder.