Is there another Clark/Senna/Schumacher out there?

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by martyn bott

There are stories to be read in certain papers/books/magazines about the guy who was faster than Senna or Prost or whoever,but didn't have the money to carry on,didn't have the backing from rich parents or sponsors.

Do we ever see the fastest drivers in the world on track? No,we never do.

If F1 is all about the 'fastest' then it's time that money took a back seat to talent.

No more Schumacher's please!

How can one "measure" a driver to be faster than those guys ? I wonder.
I think the greatness or the potential are built as he gets experienced and making progresss through the various kinds of racing he gets in. This way, I believe, a driver can only show he'll be "champion material" when he gets to race cars that are closely similar to a F1 car - as we are speaking only about F1 drivers here.

[Chatters]

Jones Jr. is racing in Australian A1GP Team is he not?

[Knowlesy]

He did some races. Dreadful he was.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally Posted by Rennen

Sadly it's not just about talent, marketability is the name of the game in this very commercial sport. Management and knowing the right people.

I agree with this but then you say....

Originally Posted by Rennen

The days of farmers sons like Jim Clark being lent cars by weathy enthusiasts and then being spotted by a Colin Chapman are long gone sadly!

Which is if nothing else, "knowing the right people". So no change there then.

Originally Posted by Rennen

It will always be down to random or commercial selection, luck and being in the right place at the right time.

Same as your above point then.

The only advantage of a "structure" would be to level the playing field and all that does is reduce all critereon to the lowest common deniminator and we don't want that do we?

[BootsOntheSide]

Maybe there are a lot of drivers of the same class currently competing, rather than just one at a time. People in more different countries are competing in F1 - less than a decade ago only one Finnish driver had ever won a Grand Prix, and no Spanish driver had come close - let alone the Eastern Europeans and Asians who are in F1 or closing in on it. The F1 legends of the 50s and 60s mostly came from half a dozen well-connected countries, whereas things have changed today.

[Bononi]

What do you mean by "well-connected" ?

[Rex Judicata]

There are probably future greats - perhaps as yet unborn - who will fight for the WDC from India and China.

[Schummy]

A big difference, underlining all that has been said here, is nowadays there is more money involved. It is the master who moves the puppet: marketability, countries efforts, FIA politics, teams as terminal of big companies with interests ultimately out of F1...

Money is the enemy number 1. Wings is number 2 (I don't mean the pop group, but it would be)

[Schummy]

And wings are not bad at all neither. Birds flew wonderfully with them. The useful planes use them too, and so we can go to Bali in vacation.

Obviously we are speaking about motorsport, not money or wings in abstract terms

[freud]

Originally Posted by Rex Judicata

There are probably future greats - perhaps as yet unborn - who will fight for the WDC from India and China.

Hopefully from the US as well. You dont want india and china taking over the US, right?

They dont lack high speed circuits so its definitely not the environment..

[Rex Judicata]

Originally Posted by freud

Hopefully from the US as well. You dont want india and china taking over the US, right?

I don't think immigration is the issue. As a footnote, the country with the largest number of English speaking people is China. As Bernie moves to tap these markets, there will be more drivers coming from these countries. It's only a matter of time. If the 'car craze' continues to take off in China, we could easily see China become the center of technology and development. Let's see what the next 20 years bring.