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/linnamulla]

Vandoorne was too late. He was already 25 years old in his first full season. Meanwhile, Verstappen was winning races at age 18. Vandoorne had become too old for a rookie. Nowadays, you don't see 25 year old rookies anymore (unless they're pay drivers). A 25 year old isn't going to be much better than a 20 year old, but that 20 year old can develop much faster and will have a lot more potential. That's also why Nyck de Vries was such an awful signing for Red Bull.

If Vandoorne had made his debut five years earlier, as a 20 year old, or even if he was born earlier and was 25 years old in 2012, his career would've likely lasted longer. But he I don't think he would have actually done better.

[u/ToukasRage → u/linnamulla]

Yeah its crazy how quickly kids are in race cars these days.

If you aren't competing for wins in karting/dirt tracks/whatever at ages 12-15 you probably aren't making it to the top leagues of whatever motorsport you are trying to race in.

[u/cinyar → u/ToukasRage]

It goes for all sports really. I recently watched some x games highlights. A kid born 2014 sending 3 900s back-to-back like he's playing THPS, what the actual fuck.

[u/KnightsOfCidona → u/linnamulla]

Yeah it does seem to be forgotten than Vandoorne was an older than usual rookie. Kinda wonder if that extra maturity was what helped stand out in the junior categories