The Best Drivers not in F1?

[Led ZeppF1]

If you think that F1 has the best drivers in the world, you might be wrong.

At least, according to Alonso, making it to the top level had more to do with luck than skill.

He said, "I don't think we are the best drivers of the new generation. The best drivers of the new generation are not in Formula One because they did not have the luck."

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-31905,00.html

Is it true? Discuss!

[Mr V]

Making these sort of statements takes away any success that Fernando has acheived and possibly will acheive in the future imo.

[Don K]

Originally posted by Mr V
Making these sort of statements takes away any success that Fernando has acheived and possibly will acheive in the future imo.

I don't think so.

At this moment, Alonso is still very young and unexperienced.


If he can say the same thing after winning two WDC's, it might indeed take away his success.

But I think he may find out that it takes more to be a top driver in F1, than whatever it was he spotted in his sompetitors in the past.

[GP Racer]

It took some guts to say what Alonso said, and I give him credit. It would have been far easier to say that of course F1 drivers are the greatest, because who would have challenged him on it?

You have to figure with the many of thousands of kids, from all around the world, driving karts, and moving into the many feeder series out there, that surely, there are some really gifted and talented drivers that have been overlooked. With only 20 seats available in F1, and more and more of them going to drivers with cash, the next Schumacher, might easily be passed over.

[darcym]

I think it says a lot about F1 and the current political rubbish that goes on in F1 at the moment that people like JV (an undoubted tallent) Courtney, VanderMerve (just for example) are being overlooked in F1, and the number of quality test drives sat in the wings not getting a drive like Davidson, Brisco not really getting a look in yet punks like Massa, Klien, Bruni, Baumgardner get in with NO proven track record no real experience...but a wad of cash.

Thats a fair part of the grid, how many other talented drivers are missing out because rich kids are being thrown into F1 when its out of their league or too soon.

[Adam43]

All he is saying is that not only do you need to be good to get to F1, but you also need to have a little luck.

And as the number of threads talking about the new drivers and the lost drivers to F1 show: I think he may have a point.

[Snrub]

A lot of top notch drivers clearly do not get the chances they deserve. I think there are plenty of drivers with the ability to be in F1 who are not in F1.

[Kirk]

Originally posted by Snrub
A lot of top notch drivers clearly do not get the chances they deserve. I think there are plenty of drivers with the ability to be in F1 who are not in F1.

You took the words right out of my mouth Snrub. I think Alonso is referring to pure talent and he is right, but it takes more than that to make it to F1. It is one thing to drive go-karts and other slower cars on the edge; it is quite another to drive an F1 car on the edge. Talent is not enough, you also must be brave, totally committed and a little crazy (no a lot crazy). And there is no question that luck plays a part. I'm sure most F1 drivers past and present (and future for that matter) will have stories of being in the right place at the right time; fate, if you will, which catapulted their career.

[golem]

Alonso is dead set right and the factor is always: Money. But that's motorsports weakness. Because it's a sport very much involved with lots of man hours of work just making the necessary equipment, let alone such knowledge as tuning, a driver isn't just dependant on skill to get anywhere.

Nature of the beast, and it happens more as you go up in levels of technicality, complexity, competitiveness. Then there's the factor some great drivers head to other series because it's what they always wanted to do and it's much more accessible, and they get to keep much less hectic off track lives.

As an example, J Ickx. Talent by the bucket, bad team career choices, then goes and races sportscars. Could have been a multi WDC, skill wasn't a problem.

[kuchi]

Well, me and my cousin, as simple as that.

[oziengineer]

Alonso has a point. It's really a shame too, that the best probably aren't in F1, but thats how the world works. I doubt if he would front up the money to pay for them to have a seat.

[dasc04]

i totally agree. there are drivers in F1 this year who shouldn't be there. Baumgartner, Klien, Bruni for sure shouldn't be there. It could be argued that Massa, Sato and Heidfeld shouldnt be there. The second three have all had their chance (especially Heidfeld) and done absolutely nothing. If they were truly worthy of Formula 1 they would have never had a year out. If Formula1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport where the greatest drivers race then you would have thought there would be 22 amazing drivers each and every season. Formula 1 must be in real trouble when anyone with money behind them could get a drive (Yoong and Firman).

[bluebeard]

agreed to all that dasc maybe part of the blame for lesser drivers with fat wallets & less ability making it in should lie with the FIA for issuing superlicences to these drivers?

[Gt_R]

Well, if my mom sent me to karting instead of kindergarden when i'm 3, perhaps there'd be a new superstar by now?

Lucky McRae, Lucky Schumacher, Lucky Alonso...

[kristof14]

Also, what about the drivers who choose not to race single seaters? Is Berndt Schneider or Laurent Aiello any less talented than the top F1 drivers? In my opinion the best drivers are Rally drivers, they drive cars on the edge more than anyone and i believe probably have greater car control than anyone on the F1 grid.

[dasc04]

Originally posted by bluebeard
agreed to all that dasc maybe part of the blame for lesser drivers with fat wallets & less ability making it in should lie with the FIA for issuing superlicences to these drivers?

Exactly. Over the past 4/5 years there has been no concentation or thought gone into the future drivers in formula 1 by the F1 Teams. Why are there no f3000 junior teams or f3 junior teams (Stewart F3/jAGUAR F3 and the Mclaren Junior F3000 Team) where did they go, mclaren could obviously afford one of each!
Also, there must be thousands of kids out there in budget formulas that could be better than the likes of Baumgartner, Klien and the grid fillers, but because they're dads havent got the big wallets they are never gonna get the chance to show there talent in lower formulas let alone f1.

I don't think its the FIA'S fault. These drivers we are talking about must be good drivers to handle a the f1 cars. But when your talking about 22 seats a year that need filling there must be better than them. 22 drivers all at M Schumachers ability? That would be good! And why not?

[dasc04]

Originally posted by kristof14
Also, what about the drivers who choose not to race single seaters? Is Berndt Schneider or Laurent Aiello any less talented than the top F1 drivers? In my opinion the best drivers are Rally drivers, they drive cars on the edge more than anyone and i believe probably have greater car control than anyone on the F1 grid.

Rally drivers are in a league of their own in car control. But in my opinion you cannot compare the two sports. Would Lance Armstrong be good in MotoGP because he can ride a 2 wheeled bike very well or would Beckham be any good at American Football because he can connect his foot to a ball very well!?!?

[minirda]

great talents like jacques villeneuve, heinzharald frentzen and jos verstappen don't drive this year. Unbelievable!! Their f1 careers brutally ended. Klien, Massa and Pantano didn't prove to deserve a seat for now. The same counts for the both Minardi drivers, but who wants to drive at Minardi?

[TeddyG]

True Villeneuve is top of my list. I'd like to see Dixon and Jeff Gordon get a shot as well.
Has this topic ever been made into a poll? Might be something interesting to look at?

[Mr V]

Originally posted by minirda
great talents like jacques villeneuve, heinzharald frentzen and jos verstappen don't drive this year. Unbelievable!! Their f1 careers brutally ended.

Well, HH-F went through choice, Jos imo, has never really acheived enough to warrent staying in F1 and as it stands at the moment, no team manager seems to want Jacques.

So why not bring in the young guns?

[wblh]

Originally posted by TeddyG
True Villeneuve is top of my list. I'd like to see Dixon and Jeff Gordon get a shot as well.
Has this topic ever been made into a poll? Might be something interesting to look at?

Yeah great idea let`s take a poll and whoever comes out on top should get get an automatic start in the next grand prix

[Gaz]

In my opinion only Baumgartner doesn't deserve to be in F1 right now! He is a disgrace and should never have been granted a superlicense. There should be a results criteria that also should be met for being granted one of these licenses as then Baumgartner would have got nowhere near it!

Klien deserves his chance as he was very competitive in a very strong field last season. It was his rookie year and he was only eclipsed by a much more experienced driver in Ryan Briscoe. Whatever you say about his money situation he clearly is also very talented.

Sato too deserves a second chance, the way he drove in his championship winning year of Brit F3 was first class and if only he could turn that kind of driving to F1 he could be a real star.

Pantano, Bruni and Massa have done OK in lower formulae and perhaps deserve a stab at F1 but it should certainly not be at the expense of other, more capable young drivers that are around. I'm think drivers such as Byorn Wirdheim, Robbie Kerr, Ryan Briscoe who have all won major, competitive championships in recent years.

To the comment "who wants to drive for Minardi?" I think the answer to that is any young driver hoping to make a career in F1. How many of these drivers have progressed on following a season with the team and are now very highly rated? Minardi provide a great opportunity for young drivers to get into F1 and its just such a real shame that they were that desperate for money they were forced down the Baumgartner root this year!

Outside of the lower formulae, I believe several drivers over in the states are worthy of a try at F1. Dixon, Castroneves and Hornish could all be worth a gamble on.

[Mattracer]

If he looks down Alonso might see a huge hole in his foot!!

[Never look down if you are afraid of "heights"]

[mac]

You can never have the absolute 20 best drivers in F1 for the simple fact that no two people will ever agree on who the best 20 drivers are.

Consequently there must be another form of natural attrition, and unfortunately on many occasions, that is money.

But it is simply folly to suggest that the top 20 drivers in the world must be the 20 chosen ones in F1. No one will ever agree on the list - and anyway, whose going to give every driver in every series in the World a test, as that would surely be the only way of truly figuring it out.

Just look at the comments by the Schumacher brothers leading into the Australian Grand Prix - one of them thinks a certain Australian who frequently wears green overalls is a future superstar of the sport, while the other clearly thinks he is nothing special at all (at least that's the face he presents to the media).

[minirda]

I agree with U. But it's sad that money is more important than talent. If Jos was a German he would drive in a top team right now (more companies interest = more money, f1 is not a big issue in the Netherlands). Ans that's a fact; i'm dutch but not chauvinistic. And i miss Jacques and Heinz Harald also this year. It was a fault to compare them with the youg guns but the two have far more talent compered to Coulthard, Trulli and Panis...