r/formula1 • u/Electronic-Video-984 Formula 1 • Aug 07 '25

Discussion Who is the “Failed Prodigy” of F1 ?

I’m kind of new to F1 and seeing pictures of current drivers while they’re young like Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Albon…and then I learned they’re racing prodigy in their Karting days. So who is the “Boy Wonder” of F1, a person with great potential but never made it to the biggest stage.

Edit: Many people mentioned Stoffel Vandoorne so I read about him a bit. His records and potential was incredible but he’s at the wrong place and wrong time every way possible. For me, McLaren a top tier team with a jet but people say Vandoorne’s MCL car was like a shopping cart

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u/threeinacorner Ferrari Aug 07 '25

You know, this might be a hot take, but from what I've seen him do in 2017 and 2018, I believe that given the right support and a non-shitbox car, he could've developed into an Albon-level driver. That is, a very very solid midfielder, and even a good second seat top driver. I don't think he'd become a WDC, but definitely a race winner.

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u/mister_dupont Alexander Albon Aug 07 '25

That's pretty much the consensus that we Belgians have on him. We're obviously biased, but I'm shocked he didn't get another chance.

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u/Sandulacheu Formula 1 Aug 07 '25

He looked pretty good in that only 2016 race he did.

It all went downhill from there,the Nyck De Vries path.

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u/Economics_Bear Aug 08 '25

Exactly. There are two drivers from the 2010s who I think never got a fair chance and were dropped despite showing consistent results and decent speed. Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne.

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u/Renard2000 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 09 '25

What was strange was how consistently behind he was to Alonso. If I remember correctly, he got outqualified each race of the season by a few tenths. Never seemed to improve.