The Most Talented Pilot Never To Win The World Driving Title ('94-'04)

[Raglanparade]

Exactly, Irvine was probably the closest to beating Michael to a WDC :P

[krt917]

Irvine had his moments, but it would not have been right if he had been World Champion. Hakkinen, Frentzen, and Ralf all did better jobs in 1999, and I was very pleased that Mika won it. Irvine was good for the odd win, though better drivers have won less (Brundle, Amon), but I don't think he was really as good as the other guys who have won the championship.

[Speed]

Jean Alesi, period.

[Giando]

About Eddie Irvine: i remember he was forced to let Michael pass in Magny-Cours ‘99 and in the maneuver he lost a position (plus the Schumi’s one) so other 2 points.
And what about the missing rear tyre in the European Gp last Pit-stop at the Nurburgring? He could have been on the podium that sunday…

And those are errors made by the team, not by the man.

Eddie could have easily won the championship and with no help by Michael, if only the team would have been wiser.


And again about Jean Alesi: it’s one of the very few who could tell he had overtaken a certain Ayrton Senna, both with his Tyrrel (Phoenix 90) and with Ferrari (Barcelona 1991): and i'm talking of marvellous overtaking!

Only Sir Nigel Mansell and Monsieur Alain Prost could say the same.

[Kicking-back]

Sir Nigel Mansell?

They've knighted him without telling us?

[Giando]

Oh, sorry! I know what you mean: "Sir" it's an english importan title...

I meant "Mister" here... in line with the "Monsieur" used for Prost!

But, as i'm a huge fan of Star Wars and I always recall the droid C3-PO saying: "Sorry, Sir...", and as I'm italian, i believed i could use the "Sir" word in this case,
to honour Mansell's role in F1.

Sorry for real KB.

Ciao

[krt917]

Originally Posted by Giando

Eddie could have easily won the championship and with no help by Michael, if only the team would have been wiser.

This is true, but remember how many points Mika lost through no fault of his own: Silverstone and Hockenheim spring to mind in particular. Similarly, Frentzen had an outside chance - had the car not failed at the Nurburgring he might have won and been in title contention in a car which wasn't usually a match for the Ferrari and McLaren.

Irvine did a reasonable job in responding to the opportunity he had in '99, but he wasn't quite good enough.

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by Giando

Oh, sorry! I know what you mean: "Sir" it's an english importan title...

I meant "Mister" here... in line with the "Monsieur" used for Prost!

But, as i'm a huge fan of Star Wars and I always recall the droid C3-PO saying: "Sorry, Sir...", and as I'm italian, i believed i could use the "Sir" word in this case,
to honour Mansell's role in F1.

Sorry for real KB.

Ciao

No worries!

I suspect Nigel would love to be Sir Nigel.....

But that's another story

[Ola]

Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi plus Alexander Wurz and Giancarlo Fisichella. I would also like to add David Coulthard there who I think would have been WDC if the events at Jerez 97 and Melbourne 98 hadn't happened.

And of course Eddie Irvine: maybe not the huge talent as such, but he would have made the best reigning World Champion ever after 1999

[Dodgy Dave]

I remember Alesi was impressive in the Tyrell in 1990 with his brilliant car controll particulary at Phoenix and Monaco. However it takes more than car controll to be champion.

Going to Ferrari in 1991 was a bad decision as a car designed for Prost would be no good for a driver like Alesi.

[Kicking-back]

If Alesi had stuck to the original plan and joined Williams for 1991, he'd probably have won a couple of titles.

[luke]

If Alesi had stuck to the original plan and joined Williams for 1991, he'd probably have won a couple of titles

I would have to disagree, he would have won a few races, but I doubt he was that good, but he certainly had the passion.

[Kicking-back]

You've got to bear in mind the size of the car advantage Williams had in 1992 - and if Alesi had signed, the team wouldn't have had to then lure Mansell back - so, yes, Alesi would have been champion in 1992.

[luke]

I don't know about you, but I rate Jean as high as Gehard, and we saw his sucsess in the best cars.

[Kicking-back]

Gerhard Berger's only seasons in the best cars were 1990/91 and his teammate was Ayrton Senna.

If Jean Alesi was at Williams in 1992 (the most dominant performing car of the decade) with a teammate like Riccardo Patrese, then he would have been champion.

And I rate Berger higher than Alesi

[Rich R]

tough to call it between berger and alesi, even after they spent so long as team mates. i think alesi probably had as much natural ability as anyone, but if you wanted a driver to bring the car home i'd pick berger. now if it was just about entertaining the crowds alesi would be world champ several times over.

[BSchneiderFan]

Alesi and Patrese at Williams in 1992? I'd be hard pushed to call who would be champion, but then I've always had a great regard for Riccardo. If only, in a sense, he hadn't left Williams at the end of the year.

[deeks6]

The circumstantial evidence says Rubens Barrichello...

I think a couple of poles in a Jordan and a Stewart says that he could make slow cars go quick. Apart from MS, I'm pretty sure he has dispensed with all his teammates (apart from Irvine, also a very underrated driver) in easy fashion. If there was no Schumacher, Rubens would definately have one at least 2 WDC's.

[santori]

As I said, I'd put Frentzen first. Alesi second. Third? Fisichella, perhaps?

I rate Berger very highly but more on his pre-'94 results.

[ASCII Man]

Well, I'd put it a bit like this:

1. Frentzen
2. Fisichella
3. Berger
4. Alesi
5. Barrichello

[BSchneiderFan]

1. Brundle
2. Alesi
3. Patrese
4. Barrichello
5. Berger

[Ryo28]

Frentzen for me, its easy to forget how brilliantly he drove in 1999, although I agree that he could be erratic at times.

Also, what about Karl Wendlinger, who had some great races for March in 1992 (4th in Canada in a year old car!) and for Sauber in 1993 and early '94 before his awful accident at Monaco.

Mika Salo, Johnny Herbert, and Pierluigi Martini (although his best days were perhaps behind him by 1994) are my other candidates!

[BootsOntheSide]

I'd rate Alesi above Berger - in the 5 seasons they were team-mates, Jean finished higher in the championship 4 times, even though he was much less experienced at the time. Joining Ferrari instead of Williams probably did cost Jean the 1992 championship in my book - good though Patrese was (his 16 full seasons of 16 races, to make the record 256-race career of his, prove that he deserves real respect), I think Jean's pace would've immediately rattled him. Wendlinger and Herbert could've both done far more than they did, were it not for their respective big accidents.

[krt917]

Originally Posted by santori

I rate Berger very highly but more on his pre-'94 results.

I'd agree with that, though he did still show what he could really do on the odd day. His last win, at Hockenheim 1997, was one of the most impressive in recent times.

[Skam85]

Pierluigi Martini was underrated. Any driver who could put ANY Minardi on the front row deserves big kudos!

Wendlinger was a talent never realised, shame really. I think he could have gotten some good points for Benneton in 1994 if he hadn't had that terrible shunt.