Missed Opportunities

[Nikki Katz]

Wasn't Tomas Scheckter himself in line for a Jaguar seat until he was fired for kerb crawling? I think it was only Klien that got the seat in the end, he probably had a reasonable chance.

[wedge]

Wasn't Tomas Scheckter himself in line for a Jaguar seat until he was fired for kerb crawling? I think it was only Klien that got the seat in the end, he probably had a reasonable chance.

He was Jaguar Junior F3 driver and then got kicked out of their driver development programme and with it F1 testing duties.

There have been countless amounts of talented drivers who never made if to F1. This thread was more aimed at drivers who were actually strongly in contention for a seat, maybe even had testing behind them for a team (e.g. Jorg Muller), but never actually got the race opportunity for whatever reason. Drivers (like Gary Brabham) who never managed to qualify because of their car's or their own lack of ability, at least had the opportunity to give it a shot to get onto the grid. Some people didn't even get to do that.

Paul Tracy tested for Benetton. Was told to shape up and sign up with Flav.

[52Paddy]

He was Jaguar Junior F3 driver and then got kicked out of their driver development programme and with it F1 testing duties.



Paul Tracy tested for Benetton. Was told to shape up and sign up with Flav.

Really? What year was that?

[Jag_Warrior]

Really? What year was that?

'94, I believe.

Schumacher was there. And it's said that Michael was really, really helpful.

'94, I believe.

Schumacher was there. And it's said that Michael was really, really helpful.

Michael was testing parts that would be used to win a world title.

Apologies if Michael & the Benetton team were concentrating on that at the time.

We really should have got our priorities right.

[woody2goody]

Eh?
Franchitti was offered nothing. He tested for Jaguar in the wet alongside Tomas Scheckter and he was SLOW.

There were "excuses" muttered but in reality Franchitti has never been f1 material and never considered by anyone. He remained in the United States - nowhere near as difficult a racing environment.

And discovered that he was no better in NASCAR - hence a "return to daddy" - IndyCars.

Gil de Ferran - He did everything at the time required as far as performance - problem was his class of drivers in f3000 were never highly rated and decided against a 3rd year and he never did the financial work many drivers have to do to reach f1. This means striving for sponsorship to get an f1 contract.

He preferred to race in the US being paid.

Hang on. Indycar isn't easy I'm sure about that. You try going wheel to wheel at 220 mph.

In NASCAR, yeah, he was never very good, HOWEVER: his team had no money, the car wasn't in the top 35, he got injured half way through the season, I don't think you can say he couldn't be in F1. he's still good enough it's just age is against him now.

[woody2goody]

Valentino Rossi. Tests showed he was fast, he could have been better than Kimi

[ShiftingGears]

Hang on. Indycar isn't easy I'm sure about that. You try going wheel to wheel at 220 mph.

It ain't easy, but the talent pool is a hell of a lot shallower.

[Jag_Warrior]

Michael was testing parts that would be used to win a world title.

Apologies if Michael & the Benetton team were concentrating on that at the time.

We really should have got our priorities right.

Two sides to every story, old stick.

[philipbain]

We could also have an equally long thread of pants drivers who did make it to F1 - Michael Andretti anyone

I think that's a little harsh, I think Michael had the talent to drive F1 he just didn't have the commitment, he was unwilling to base himself in Europe which is more or less essential when you are driving for a British team. Also he suffered from cost containment regulations in '93 which are now long forgotten which gave a strict limit on the number of laps a driver could complete in each session which didn't help a driver that was unfamiliar with the circuits (these were the days before the teams had simulators). Another factor was Mika Hakkinen, Mika performed so brilliantly as McLaren test driver in '93 that he was the natural choice for the team when they were testing rather than calling up Michael as he wasn't even on the same continent, which affected the test mileage that Michael got throughout the season. Michael's last race was also his F1 high point, a podium finish at Monza, and although he may not have been championship material in F1 I would give him the credit to say that he wasn't out of his depth either.