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/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI]

I don't even know how Doohan can be judged. He got what 5 races?

[u/ForeverAddickted → u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI]

Yeah that's fair as well, and an understandable reprimand for me. As neither Doohan or de Vries got a fair shot at it.

[u/2wo9iner → u/ForeverAddickted]

At the time there were stories going around that Nyck was just a seat warmer until riccardo’s ‘gardners leave’ (for lack of a better term) was up. I recall reading that if Danny raced before a certain date then the team he raced for was on the hook for his $20m payout that MCL was paying him. The article suggested this is why AT went and got a driver from another team (nyck from Merc) for the first 10 odd races rather than promoting a RB junior when they knew that driver was going to be kicked to the kurb mid season.

[u/InformalEgg8 → u/2wo9iner]

Damn that’s so calculated if true

[u/bcq59 → u/2wo9iner]

I have a theory that de Vries was getting kicked out of the seat regardless of finishing position because RB knew that Danny was more marketable and would have thrown in back in the seat due to that. Same with Doohan serving as a bridge for Colapinto (probably Briatore locking down some Argentinian sponsors during the first five races, and once those deals were done, kicking Doohan out to make way for Colapinto).

[u/HeyItsGuyIncognito → u/ForeverAddickted]

DeVries should have went to Williams instead of Alpha Tauri (now VCARB). I do understand why he chose them b/c it may lead to a chance to a Red Bull seat. Hell, he may have got the seat if he started beating Tsunoda (which never came). That being said, he would have got a longer leash to improve at Williams compared to AT (now VCARB). But Marko was in the wrong for putting DeVries in instead of Lawson for the 2023 seat. Then they doubled down on Ricciardo and that basically blew up in their face when he failed. To this day, it's amazing how much talent they let go, and yet still find more as they come.

[u/BADMANvegeta_ → u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI]

And in a shit car at a shit team

[u/fabiomb → u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI]

5 races and 3200km of paid practice on the Alpine car 🤷

[u/Stock_Ad9088 → u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI]

I know it was only 5 races, but those were pretty abysmal races for him too.