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There's plenty more lost talents from previous eras , given the appalling rate of injury and deaths. Moss for one would obviously have won many more GPs , and from my own era (I saw my first GP in 1971) I wonder how well Vic Elford would have done if he'd stuck in F1 - his record in 1968 was astonishing - wins Monte Carlo rally; a week later wins Daytona ; wins Targa Florio and finishes fourth in first GP , and in shed of a car too.
Ickx was the great enigma - as good as anybody from 68 -72 and then a slow decline, with the odd flash of brilliance (Brands RoC - I was there in the rain and he was mighty ) .
Ignazio Giunti - killed in a sports car race before his talent could blossom.
Helmut Koinigg - huge promise and died in ghastly circumstances
Peter Revson was a favourite - a safe pair of hands, and very quick on his day. And impossibly cool
I loved to watch both Peterson and Villeneuve - Peterson at old Woodcote was something special in the Lotus 72 - and both were very , very fast , but were impulsive , drove round car problems (rather than sorting them ) and lived for and in the moment. The fact that neither was likely to win a championship didn't diminish their box office appeal but folk like Fittipaldi and Prost were in a different league , applying brain as well as brawn to their driving.
Of all that generation , Lauda was the one I most admire. Ferrari was a basket case before he arrived but he galvanised the team . He was incredibly fast in his early days , then slowed down a little but became even smarter. I have never heard anybody downchange with such speed or metronomic precision , and I was privileged to be at Zandvoort in 1985 , for his last GP victory . Asked in 1977 if he considered Reutemann a team mate or rival Lauda briskly said 'Neither'. The bravest and smartest man I have ever seen in a racing car
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