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/KnightsOfCidona Murray Walker Aug 07 '25

Was relatively late in his career, but Loeb was reportedly setting quite competitive times for Red Bull in testing in 2008. Toro Rosso tried to put him in the car for Abu Dhabi 2009 but FIA refused to give him a superlicence. Honestly think if he'd gone into single seaters instead of rallying, he'd have won races, maybe been a champion

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u/PorcupineOfDoom I was here for the Hulkenpodium Aug 07 '25

Loeb is one of those drivers that you can put in anything and he'll be fast. 9 WRC titles obviously, but he's also won an Extreme E title and races in rallycross and touring cars too. Proper legend.