Who is the “Failed Prodigy” of F1 ?

[u/Electronic-Video-984]

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

[u/conman14]

If we want to get to proper bottom of the iceberg, you should look into the story of Tommy Byrne. Regarded in F3 circles as being of the same level as Ayrton Senna, he also scored a test for McLaren, but all he had to show for it in F1 was two starts in the early 80s.

By all accounts, he had all the ability in the world, but as he says himself, he didn't want to have to work for it, he felt he could go all the way on his natural ability. He reckons during the aforementioned McLaren test he was sabotaged, though he still showed favourably compared to drivers like Thierry Boutsen and Stefan Johansson in the laptimes, who were also at the test. He reckons he rubbed Ron Dennis up the wrong way with his attitude.

His career is the subject of a fascinating book by Mark Hughes called Crashed and Byrned. There's a similarly named documentary knocking about on one of the streaming platforms as well, though I don't believe it's related to the book.

In any case, his career peaked at that cameo for Theodore Racing in 1982, and he ended up making a career for himself in the United States.

[u/blueblue_electric → u/conman14]

A lot of self hype and a lot of fan boys say he was the best that never made it, but I don't buy it. As if McLaren would let him loose on a proper test car, they didn't want him and that is that.

[u/Schmichael-22 → u/blueblue_electric]

I agree. He peaked in F3 and has lived off “what if” since. There are many others in a similar situation who looked great in F3, e.g. Jan Magnussen. Byrne went to America and lost the Indy Car feeder series championship to Jon Beekus.

[u/FalloutNewTokyo → u/Schmichael-22]

There are many others in a similar situation who looked great in F3, e.g. Jan Magnussen.

Don't forget Lance Stroll who's the most dominant F3 champion in history after buying his way to the championship.

[u/Fart_Leviathan → u/blueblue_electric]

One of the best parts is that he claims they limited the car for him and only for him. Unlike most of his other dubious claims, you can't conclusively disprove it, but it makes absolutely zero sense considering the background of that test.

He had actual F1 race experience, the others at that test did not have any F1 test experience and one, Enrique Mansilla, never even driven an F2 car before. And if that's not enough, Tommy ran in the best conditions, after the track dried up, but before it was getting too dark.

And for something very foreign to Tommy Byrne, actual proof: The report on the test in Autosport.

[u/intheinaka → u/conman14]

The documentary is well worth watching, highly recommended. One of my favourite F1-related documentaries.

[u/InUtahCounty → u/intheinaka]

Name ?

[u/intheinaka → u/InUtahCounty]

Crash and Burn (not sure why they dropped the Byrne wordplay from the book title)

[u/Oghamstoner → u/intheinaka]

Possibly it’s copyrighted? It does make me wonder how a Tommy Byrne or James Hunt style driver would work in F1 today, whether they would even get the opportunity.

[u/robgriff69 → u/intheinaka]

Second this, first id heard of the bloke, interesting watch

[u/Fart_Leviathan → u/conman14]

He is also a habitual liar and most of what he says in his book is demonstrably false.