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I think the three real greats who were killed racing were Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna and Alberto Ascari, although none were really 'lost talents' as they all had decent careers before their deaths. Jim Clark probably would have been champion in 1968 had he survived, and probably 1970 too if he'd still been with Lotus, even if Jochen Rindt had not also died. Rindt is perhaps a bit of a lost talent but apparently he would have retired once winning the championship anyway, and even if he had not I suspect Fittipaldi would have beaten him to the 1972 championship for Lotus.
Then Senna might have won 1994 for Williams but that was such a weird season that it is difficult to really know, and had he still been driving for Williams in 1996 and 1997 he probably would have won those. Ascari is more difficult to guess about how many more titles that he could have won, but the Lancia team took pole in two of their four races before disbanding after Ascari's death, and it makes sense that they would have got their reliability together in the next few seasons and Ascari could perhaps have won 1956 or 1958 for Lancia.
The two best drivers never to win a championship that died racing would probably be Ronnie Peterson and Gilles Villeneuve. Peterson I think was slightly better, and certainly good enough to win a title, but for one reason or another it never quite happened for him. He was probably the fastest in 1973 and bettered Fittipaldi but wasn't able to take the title, and then I find it surprising he wasn't able to beat Andretti in 1978 even if he was contracted as the number two, as over their whole careers I would rate Peterson slightly higher than Andretti in F1. I believe he would have gone to McLaren in 1979, and they weren't really title contenders until John Watson in 1982, so I'm not sure Peterson would have won a title anyway even if he deserved one.
Villeneuve on the other hand I think would most likely have won the 1982 and 1983 championships for Ferrari if he had not died. The Ferrari was the fastest car in 1982 and Didier Pironi was on course to win the title before his career-ending accident, and Villeneuve had outperformed him the year before. Then Arnoux and Tambay weren't on the same level as Piquet and Prost in 1983, and the Ferrari was probably the best car and could have won with Villeneuve driving. Pironi is also something of a lost talent as he too could have won those championships without Villeneuve, but that was mainly due to the superiority of the Ferrari.
Francois Cevert is another driver deserving of a mention in regard to lost talents, as after four years of steady improvement he seemed to be almost on the level of Jackie Stewart in 1973, and was going to be the team leader at Tyrrell from 1974 had he not died at Watkins Glen. It is difficult to know, but he possibly could have been slightly better than Scheckter, and as Scheckter was a title contender in 1974 maybe Cevert might have won it for Tyrrell. Then he wouldn't really have had a chance to be champion with Tyrrell in the coming years but might have moved to another team and won one, as Scheckter did. I'm not sure what year, but think Cevert would have been champion had he survived.
There also could have been an opportunity for some of those lost in the 1950s to win one in 1961, where the Ferrari team had the dominant car, and Phil Hill was perhaps among the weaker champions. Had they not died, Peter Collins, Luigi Musso and Jean Behra may have been potential champions in that car, although Behra can perhaps be ruled at as he was sacked by Ferrari shortly before his death in 1959. In a battle between Hill, von Trips, Collins and Musso at Ferrari in 1961, I actually think Luigi Musso might have prevailed if he had matured a bit more by that stage, and would certainly rate him as a potential lost champion. In the actual season, von Trips might have won without his fatal accident, but would be unlikely to take another in the following years. Stuart Lewis-Evans was another lost talent from the era.
Of the drivers in the 1970s, Carlos Pace is someone I think could have been champion for reasons stated previously, and my reasoning for saying he beat Reutemann was more down to his qualifying superiority and better average qualifying and race positions. Tom Pryce and Gunnar Nilsson were both excellent talents from the era and while I'm not sure either would have won a championship, both could have taken multiple race wins with a longer career. I don't really know about Tony Brise and Roger Williamson but have read a very good David Tremayne book recently so will look into 'The Lost Generation.' A little before them came the likes of Lorenzo Bandini, Jo Siffert and Pedro Rodriguez who were also perhaps not quite championship level but could have taken more race wins.
Mark Donohue and Stefan Bellof were both sportscar aces that were killed before they could have much success in F1, but whether or not they could have been champions is difficult to say considering their limited time in Formula 1. Elio de Angelis is also worthy of a mention, as during their substantial time as Lotus teammates he was better than Nigel Mansell, and so would surely have been good enough to win a championship in the right car in the late 1980s and early 1990s, considering Mansell did. More recently, Jules Bianchi would probably have replaced Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari around 2017 if he hadn't died and could have won multiple races, but I'm not convinced he would have been considered a replacement for Vettel in the way that Leclerc was.
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