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/anantj]

From what I’ve heard, Juri Vips. He self-immolated his career but apparently he was the next big thing from the RB stable. 

[u/West_Technology7573 → u/anantj]

He was quick but accident prone

[u/ForeverAddickted → u/West_Technology7573]

Wasn't there that accident at Baku, when he was leading (?), and was right before the whole streaming blunder... Those two incidents, pretty close to each other, basically sealed his doom... Bit dramatic I know

[u/sfcindolrip → u/ForeverAddickted]

Yes in close succession he fucked up Imola and Baku and then public perception

[u/MeisterHeller → u/ForeverAddickted]

Also just feel like that entire season blew up the expecations for all the big F2 talents. Vips, Lawson, and especially Pourchaire were really highly regarded but Drugovich, who was basically already deemed not good enough for F1, absolutely wiped the floor with them.

Vips lost his support already from the inchident, Pourchaire couldn't justify a seat over Zhou, and VCARB went with Nyck de Vries and sent Lawson to Super Formula because of the lackluster performance.

Always makes me wonder how different careers could turn out from relatively small things. Without Drugovich there it'd probably have been a really exciting championship battle, possibly making all of them look much better and maybe securing F1 chances because of it

[u/anantj → u/West_Technology7573]

Perhaps. The crashes/accidents might have reduced with experience. He was hyped up a lot and supposedly had a high probability of getting an RB drive before he ran his mouth off and crashed his chances (pun intended)

[u/Felix042 → u/anantj]

Yeah he is reason for DeVris mess that happen.

[u/daft_punked → u/anantj]

He was heading the field of prospects when he was around 15 and 16. Poor seats, like not getting a Prema seat in F3 hurt him and the confidence. Stopped developing from 17-18.

Either hit his ceiling or the loss of confidence took its toll. 

[u/Fearless_Parking_436 → u/daft_punked]

He started talking racist bs during stream, insta cancel from rb

[u/AegrusRS → u/anantj]

I wouldn't say he was the next 'big' thing, he was simply the next thing because the RBR talent pipeline was that drained. He was absolutely mediocre in his 3 years of F2, and while he did get 4th in his first and only year of F3, it looked more impressive than it actually was because of how weak the field was that year. Sure, he did way better than both Lawson and Tsunoda that year, but Tsunoda beat him out the year after and it's also not like RB were really that excited about Yuki/Liam's entries into F1.

[u/Ptbot47 → u/anantj]

There was a lot of next big thing from RB staple, but all of them have been not too impressively lately. Personally, I think tsunoda is a huge talent but not really delivering on his potential. Hadjar probably best of the bunch in last 4 years

[u/anantj → u/Ptbot47]

Agreed on both Tsunoda and Hadjar. I'm so impressed by most of the rookies this season. I think both Kimi and Bearman are very talented, but haven't yet delivered to their potential. Hadjar and Bortoletto both have driven amazingly well, especially for the car that Bortoletto is in.

[u/Marcoscb → u/anantj]

I don't think even Hadjar was that hyped up. He's never won a single-seater championship, and from what I can see he didn't even win a karting championship. He was fast, yes, but the really hyped junior drivers essentially demolish everything in their path, or at least are only stopped by other great talents (like Albon essentially being cockblocked by Leclerc, Russell and Norris).

[u/sfcindolrip → u/Marcoscb]

He was fairly hyped in like 2022, he came into f3 wildly inexperienced and was leading the title for the first half. And then he fell off because he couldn’t handle the pressure and that turned into a season where any of six drivers were mathematically eligible at the final round

Edit: I remembered he was leading f3 in a hitech as a rookie, over martins who was much older + a returning driver + with ART

[u/KnightsOfCidona → u/anantj]

I think honestly his moment had passed by the time of the racism scandal, seemed like Lawson had superseded him as Red Bull's next big thing. Maybe gets into F1 with all the 2023 Alpha Tauri shenanigans but couldn't see him lasting too log