I think one has to look at actual performance in Formula 1 rather than rely mainly on potential , which quickly ends up as speculation . And many drivers have been great in F3 for example but not carried through in F1- Dave Walker, Jan Magnussen and many , many others .
So Pryce , Williamson, Brise - who knows ? Too brief a career to know - my guess only Brise had the killer instinct.
Amon- no - too temperamental and lacked the mental strength of a Lauda or Stewart
Peterson and Villeneuve - nope.Feted for their press on style but tactical and not strategic drivers .
Watson , Arnoux - brilliant on their day but never consistently top drawer. And I'd put Regazzoni, Coulthard and Montoya here too .
Gurney - no. Too many other things on his plate- very much the renaissance man
Lots of nearly men like Siffert, Rodriguez , Reutemann, Lafitte et al
So my candidates are - the most obvious is MOSS of course, but very closely followed by ICKX (who was super smart,staggeringly quick and unflappable . But somehow lost his mojo by 73/4 - occasional flashes of brilliance but he looked invincible in 70 )
My wild card , but based on very few F1 drives - the multi talented VIC ELFORD
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