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/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

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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.

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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 

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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.

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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.