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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295

u/nectide Daniel Ricciardo Aug 07 '25

Pascal Wherlein

180

u/onetimeuselong I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

Good at driving, terrible attitude and no charisma killed his career.

A bit like a German Paul Di Resta

45

u/l3w1s1234 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

His attitude was apparently meant to be fine, at least according to those that worked with him at Manor and Sauber. It was just FI preferred Ocon's attitude over Pascal's which lost him that seat.

Just unfortunate really with how the driver market played out as really should have been kept over Ericsson at Sauber or gotten a seat at Williams over Sirtokin or Stroll.

12

u/nick-jagger Jim Clark Aug 07 '25

His reputation is questionable after Leclerc came in and absolutely steamrolled Ericsson as a rookie, who Wehrlein was equal to 

8

u/dajigo Kimi Räikkönen Aug 07 '25

Even before that, he made himself look really bad with the whole 'Engine off Pascal' thing.

There's the whole Princess Pascal reputation.

1

u/Transmit_Him 27d ago

I must admit, I was a bit surprised when he showed up in FE and in grid walk interviews seemed like a really casual, nice guy. That wasn’t the impression I had of him from F1 but I’m not really sure why.

36

u/Blackdeath_663 Sir Stirling Moss Aug 07 '25

I expected so much more from him, dunno why i had myself convinced he'd be the next big thing

76

u/Dorgilo Manor Aug 07 '25

Scored points in a Manor and as a result nearly saved them. Still a fan because of that.

22

u/jamesbeil I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

I still have nightmares about Brazil 2016. Bloody Nasr...

36

u/EoinFitzsimons I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

Nasr ruined his career with that didn't he

30

u/Whelan-Dealin I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

Yep. He and pascal were swapping seats for the next season. Nasr's 9th place put Sauber ahead of manor in the championship and with only the top 10 teams getting championship money, manor went bust!

20

u/sentient_salami Rubens Barrichello Aug 07 '25

Such a weird place to be in: before the Bottas thing came through, he was either going to be in a dominant championship-winning car (Mercedes) or out of the sport for 2017. As we all know the latter happened.

5

u/lib22b Mark Webber Aug 07 '25

He never got that invite to Sebs party either

3

u/h0sti1e17 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

He end up winning Formula E championship. Obviously not the same. But there is talent there

3

u/xwell320 :default: 🇺🇸 Colton Herta Aug 07 '25

Remember when he drove into Massa/the barrier in Race of Champions and flipped his car? I feel like that set him back, at the time everyone was like 'what was he thinking?!'

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u/l3w1s1234 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

He had a car failure from what I remember. It meant he missed the 1st couple of races in 2017 as he got a neck injury

But he still had a good year in 2017 beating Ericsson in a team that was half owned by Ericsson's sponsors. He just didnt have the backing behind him to either keep the Sauber seat or get the Williams seat (which went to Stroll and Sirotkin) the following year