Most underrated/underused driver

[angst]

Time for a completely fatuous question. What driver do you think has been the most underrated/underused driver in the time you have been watching F1?
Personally I think Marc Surer was a great talent wasted. He was fast, intelligent, gritty - basically he had the lot. Except the right connections at the right time. In his brief stay at Brabham he got closer and closer to Piquet, and outqualified him in Australia. He also outraced him at Brands aswell as Australia. I know that in itself is not much to go on, but his performances in the wet (always a good pointer) were phenomonal (Brazil '81 FL(Ensign!)).

[TimD]

Fatuous? No way! That's an excellent question. And Marc Surer is an absolutely perfect candidate in my book. The thought that such a talented guy would end his career in that Ford RS200 rally car accident, because no F1 team would give him another chance...

Surely a candidate for great talent thrown onto the scrap heap.

My nominations? Well, what about Allan McNish? Blindingly fast all the way up to F3000, he had that dreadful, confidence destroying accident at Donington, and then with his career momentum stopped, no one ever phoned, no one ever gave him the chance. His performances in endurance sports cars even to this day show the folly of the team managers. Is there still a hope that his Toyota involvement will bear fruit next year?

Oliver Gavin? Surely worth more than a job driving the Safety Car...?

Perry McCarthy? Tenacious in the Mansell mould, his mistake was signing for Andrea Moda in 1992. If I remember, his entire season's competition lasted six feet. Five forwards, one straight up, when the gearbox of the car siezed solid as he crossed the pitlane blend line for his one and only practice session.

Bernd Schneider? Fast as Schumacher in a Mercedes sports car, and a championship winner in the DTM. He deserved better than pootling about at the tail of the grid in a Zakspeed.

Any more for any more?

[Minardi fan]

Two names:

Jean Alesi

Ukyo Katayama

[marcus]

one driver that never really got a good go in F1 was Gabriele tarquini..you have to remember he went from karts straight to F3000 and then F1 ..(i think thats right) he was always quick but never given a good car..his years with tail end teams were wasted..but he is talent personified.

david brabham..another who never got a great chance in F1 ..straight from F3 to F1 was probably the wrong thing to do..but he has loads of talent that never got the chance to shine..definately the fastest of the 3 brabham boys.

Marc Surer definately in my books..and Allan McNish..I am dying to see him in F1 or indy cars..only just recntly found a pic of the crash that was mentioned above and boy it was a big one..just hope Toyota give him a good go.

Jean alesi and Katayama ..both have had their chances and it must be said have failed..and Im not sure why..we all know the Kat couldnt keep his car on the road very long and this seems to be his downfall..only if he could have 1994 again.

jean christophe bullion...could have been given more of a go.

there are heaps more and thats the sad part of the sport guys like ..Pier luigi martini, mark blundell, Roberto moreno, bertrand gachot, eric comas..so much talent but limited opportunities..and there will be more in the future.

[Marshal]

Steven South. Significantly quicker than Elio De Angelis when they tested for Lotus at the same time, but Elio had more cash. Went off to race Can-Am, had a very bad shunt and seriously injured his legs. Patrick Tambay (another under utilised talent?) took his drive, and was plucked from it to replace Gilles Villeneuve at Ferrari in '82.

I also thought Larini was better than his time in F1 showed.

[Dino IV]

And what about Tommy Byrne who tested out of F2 for McLaren in '80 or '81, put in some blindingly fast lap times and ****ed off any manager around by concluding the car was nothing more than a tractor on slicks or something along those lines. Got stuck in drugs, drinks and barfights and was never to be heard of again.

[AL Racing]

in the 90th, JJ Lehto, without question. I think this guy had more pontentional than his fellow countryman, Mika Hakkinen. Shame he had those nasty crashes in '94, that really ended his F1 career. I think he would have been a challenge to Schumacher for the '95 without the injuries.

Luca Badoer is a underused driver, one that should have had a much longer F1 career.

[Diabando]

JJ Lehto....no doubt in my mind, if that guy didnt have such a run of bad luck, he might have been great!

What about Panis?? I would love to see what he could do in a good car.

[marcus]

Tommy Byrne now lives in Spain and is a commentator for the South american F3 series on ESPN.

Panis definately ..just look how he was going before his shunt in 97...

Gianni Morbidelli is another that springs to mind and of course the unlucky martin Donnelly was quite a quick driver as well.

[Minardi fan]

Badoer definitely should be included - he should have scored 4 times for Minardi last year.

i) Australia - in points until car failed.
ii) Canada - given stop-go, would have finished 5th or 6th had he not be given it. It was also unjustifiably given.
iii) Austria - Damon chopped the front wing off of Badoer's car, when Badoer was ahead of and lapping quicker than Diniz. Diniz finished 6th.
iv) Europe - Sorry Tristan...

And yes Panis, Larini, and in fact Mika Salo. He showed us what he can really do at Ferrari last year.

With Katayama, you have to remember he had so much bad luck, and the terrible reliability of the Yamaha engine didn't do much to help...

[Minardi fan]

Of course, Morbidelli!

Marcus, congrats on reaching the 1.5k milestone! Hurrah!

THE KAT IS THE MAN!!!!!!!!