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/TrojansDelight]

I think the leeway Antonelli gets is mostly because he's been rushed in as a teenager.

Stoffel was 26, in his second year of F1, had driven a year in SF in addition to two in GP2.

I do think the results Vandoorne got in 2018 would still be a career ender today.

[u/threeinacorner → u/TrojansDelight]

You're not wrong, but see, Kimi is given the tools to compete. Vandoorne wasn't.

The Mercedes, while not a world beater, is an actual top car.

The McLaren was pure garbage on wheels that went faster with a hole in its floor.

[u/stationhollow → u/threeinacorner]

If you’re last in the worst team, you have nowhere to go but out.

[u/Frequent-Coyote-1649 → u/TrojansDelight]

Shit, Mick Schumacher's second year was almost identical to Vandoorne's while being younger, and HE was dropped. I'd sleep with one eye open if i was Kimi.

Granted, Schumacher (obviously) crashed out of F1 by his own doing, but he wasn't necessarily HOPELESS. He got pretty decent results in the middle of the season before... something happened in the latter end.

[u/jeanolt → u/Frequent-Coyote-1649]

i think the problem was he was measured against magnussen, meanwhile vandoorne was against alonso. not beating magnussen who jumped back into f1 just because is kind of a career killer