Driver who never got the break

[nik]

Put forward a few nominations to drivers who never got the F1 breaks they deserved.

My main one for me is Pierluigi Martini. He put some great performances in, for Minardi and never got a top drive. Also Alex Caffi was underrated. (even though he was prone to accidents away from the race track)

[jens]

Stefano Modena.

Managed to beat his Brabham team-mate Brundle.
Then destroyed Nakajima by at least the same margin as Piquet.
Marvellous drive in Canada and especially at Monaco in 1991.
Joined Jordan after team's promising debut season, but the second season turned out to be a disaster, which also destroyed Stefano's career. He was anonymous in races and got no notice from stronger teams from there on...

And I agree that Martini was also definetely better than his results show. On several occasions he qualified his Minardi into Top3!

[Eki]

Razenberger, who if I remember correctly died in his first race in Imola 1994.

[SuperAguri]

Third meeting, didn't qualify for the first and came 11th at Aida, before he died.

The award has go to Marco Apicella, 1 GP, 100 yards!

[D-Type]

I don't think there is really such a thing as 'Not getting the breaks they deserved'. What does happen is that Formula 1 is an unforgiving world. Most driversonly get one opportunity and some fail to take advantage of it. Team mangers are not stupid, they are very perspective. They can see when someone isn't up to it. What is mysterious is how some drivers shine in junior formulae but seam to run out of impetus when they reach the top formula. I can never say why - but then I'm not a team manager.

[Eki]

What is mysterious is how some drivers shine in junior formulae but seam to run out of impetus when they reach the top formula.

I think one good example of that was Mika Salo. He was very close to Mika Häkkinen in British F3 in 1989. Häkkinen was more introverted and focused and therefore he succeeded, Salo was more extroverted and outgoing and didn't succeed as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mika_Sa...arly_F1_career

[schmenke]

I think one good example of that was Mika Salo. He was very close to Mika Häkkinen in British F3 in 1989. Häkkinen was more introverted and focused and therefore he succeeded, Salo was more extroverted and outgoing and didn't succeed as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mika_Sa...arly_F1_career

True, despite having a go in a Ferrari.

[jens]

I think that Salo was close to Häkkinen also as an F1 driver. He just never got a decent chance. In Ferrari as a newcomer he managed to outdrive Irvine on two occasions out of six! And in Tyrrell he had also several brilliant races and was fighting for podium place already at his 3rd race in F1. And drove consistently well in Sauber and Toyota.

[akv89]

Two drivers who showed great promise, but whose success never materialized because of their mortality were Elio de Angelis and Stefan Bellof.
Elio de Angelis nearly won his first race at the age of 20 in 1980 at the brazilian gp. He was never in truly competitive machinery with the possible (but unlikely) exception of the 1985 Lotus-Renault which he shared with Ayrton Senna. He and Senna were toe to toe that year with Senna finishing with 38 championship points and de Angelis with 33.
Belloff was another amazing driver. He currently holds the lap record for nurburgring which he set over 20 years ago. He was the idol of Michael Schumacher. Many might remember Monaco 1984 as the grand prix in which Ayrton Senna nearly won with a Toleman after starting from 13th on the grid. Belloff started 20th on the grid in a Tyrell!!! and by the end of the race, he was catching up to Senna and Prost. Without a doubt he would have given Senna, Prost, and Mansell a run for their money in the WDC race in the late 80's and early 90's if he was alive and in competitive machinery.

[Cozzie]

Mauricio Gugelmin
His achievements in his first year in the March were outstanding. Then things went wrong with March being taken over and the 1992 Jordan wasn't brilliant.