Do drivers get the F1 career they deserve?

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Diniz doesn't belong in that list, and I'm not sure Hesnault does...

The point is though that there are drivers that deserved 4 years in midfield teams a LOT more than Diniz. E.g. Lees, Thackwell, Corrado Fabi et al. But they did not get it for one reason or another. Had Lees been in the Arrows in 1997 I bet he would have been at the sharp end at Hungary that year as well.

[BootsOntheSide]

Pedro Chaves is one driver I know very little of, other than his unbroken run of DNPQs in the hopeless 1991 Coloni, but I'm not aware of any impressive drives he made in junior championships. The other 3 guys you mention are all worthy of consideration though.

Would Geoff Lees have outqualified Damon at Spa?

[mtrucco]

Q: Do they get the career they deserve?
A: Absolutely not!
Example: In my country (Argentina) We've had some attempts to reach F1 heights lately. One of them was a wonderful pilot: Norberto Fontana. He won the German F3 Championship (R.Schumacher raced in that same championship and wasn't able to catch his path). After that he went to Japan, to a team that was just able to keep the car on track. When he reached F1 he just drove three times, without even testing. He couldn't drive a F1 never again (while R.Schumacher has been there for...)

Our next attempt (Gaston Mazzacane) was not even an average pilot, but he'd got a far better manager than Fontana's and he raced a whole season (Minardi)... with awful results.

[ensign14]

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

Would Geoff Lees have outqualified Damon at Spa?

In the same circumstances, I think he would. The guy was a real talent and hard worker.

[marcus]

Im not sure about pedro Chaves before he got to F1 but after F1 he did very well in the Indy Lights Championship in the states (he may have even finished 2nd in the series IIRC)

he has since taken up Rallying in his native Portugal and seems to be a dab hand at it

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by ensign14

In the same circumstances, I think he would. The guy was a real talent and hard worker.

Geoff would have been 46 in the 1997 season - I am assuming you don't mean your example of him at Arrows that year to be taken literally.

[ensign14]

Yeah, had Lees had the Williams drive in (say) 1985 I bet he would have been looking for pole.

[Kicking-back]

His early career certainly suggests he could have handled Mansell, yes.

[Ryo28]

Originally Posted by marcus

pedro Chaves has since taken up Rallying in his native Portugal and seems to be a dab hand at it

Bit like Stephane Sarrazin, who could also go on the list. His one drive for Minardi in Brazil !999 was very impressive, but despite testing for Prost and Toyota he never got an opportunity to race in F1 again. Still, he seems to have found his niche in the WRC!

[BootsOntheSide]

Yea, of course I was only referring to Geoff Lees' perceived talent in an abstract way - I guess the question was rhetorical for those who rate him a long way above Diniz.

[marcus]

Frank largorce , he seemed pretty quick as well , Had 2 GP's for Ligier , didnt set the world on fire but didnt exactly fail either and dissapeared out of F1 never to return

[Skam85]

Esteban Tuero astonished me. He had some talent, that much was obvious. But why he left I still don't know why. He could still be in F1 today, he's still only 27.

[Ryo28]

Was watching the 1989 F1 season review video yesterday, and it reminded me how good Alex Caffi looked in the Dallara. Then he moved to Footwork with their awful Porsche engine and that ruined his career to such an extent that he signed for Andrea Moda in 1992, only to be dropped after 2 races after making critical comments about the team (which were deserved I imagine!)

[N I Tram]

F1 Rejects has an interesting take on Tuero - they point out that he was racing karts from a young age, seemingly under considerable parental pressure, which may've had the effect of making him look better than other 19 year old rookies, and just resulted in him being burnt-out and bored fairly quickly, just as many young gymnasts, tennis players et al are.

There seemed to be lots of Italian guys on the grid in the late 80s who showed more potential than they achieved - Caffi, Martini, Tarquini and others. Maybe they all took sponsorship off each other, or compromised themselves by being in poor Italian teams at times (such as Coloni, Osella and Andrea Moda)?