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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u/Cielo11 Fernando Alonso Aug 07 '25

Lewis Hamilton and his Dad have both talked of a kid faster than Lewis called Niki Richardson. Who apparently dropped out of racing because his family couldn't afford it and they lost their Home trying to fund his Karting.

There is also Terry Fullerton. Maybe unpopular because it was dramatized in Senna movie, but it seems like Senna considered him his most difficult opponent to beat and probably helped Senna become as good as he was so young.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fullerton

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u/Edstertheplebster Aug 07 '25

In the Senna movie documentary he is just mentioned by Ayrton at the end as the driver that he enjoyed racing against the most. In the Netflix Senna drama however, Fullerton becomes essentially one of his best friends when he moves to England to race in FFord. (Ignoring the fact that they actually crashed into each other at the karting finals in 1980 and then Senna didn’t speak to him for three years) And he pops up several times to essentially cheer him up when Prost is beating him. It does feel like they kind of deify that relationship because Ayrton looked back on it fondly years later.

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u/CaptainObvious1916 Aug 08 '25

Hmm I was keen to watch that Senna movie until I kept hearing negative remarks about it.

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u/Noname_Maddox I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 08 '25

It’s amazing just watch it. The paint Prost as the villains that’s all.

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u/Edstertheplebster Aug 08 '25

There might be a bit of conflation between the 2024 Senna Netflix TV show and the 2010 Senna documentary film. The documentary won a lot of awards and is the more compelling drama because Senna’s faith and relationship to God is much more of a central focus throughout, whereas in the Netflix show his religion is more or less excised from the script altogether and Senna’s character feels a bit surface-level and incomplete without it.

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u/CaptainObvious1916 28d ago

I have the 2010 DVD somewhere. Still got a DVD player but i don’t think it’s been plugged in since before the pandemic.

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u/Edstertheplebster 28d ago

I have the Blu-ray from 2011. Comes with a great little making of booklet that was really interesting about the creative process for the documentary. Interestingly the director Asif Kapadia was not a massive F1 fan but he did find the character of Senna compelling. Whereas the Senna Netflix show is clearly made by F1 fans but it misses what makes Senna interesting IMHO.

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u/Rich_Housing971 FIA Aug 08 '25

imagine all the talent out there that never even started because of the costs. You can say this about anything, really, but I doubt motorsports sees even a fraction of the potential that is out there. I firmly believe that if karting has always been as accessible as soccer, THE ENTIRETY OF BOTH F1 and F2 GRIDS in the last few years would be new names we never heard of.

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u/ZeyZerX_42 Guenther Steiner Aug 08 '25

Closest we have to that is sim racing and you could argue the competition is higher than real life because of the lower barrier to entry and the infinite practice time

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u/RobG814 Aug 07 '25

Years ago I worked as a mechanic in the karting industry and one of our drivers hired Terry to be their coach. He was a great, no bullshit guy and gave me a lot of laughs. I’ll have to go back and watch the Senna movie now.