Autosport's Top 50 drivers who have never raced in F1

This week's Autosport magazine has a very interesting article on drivers who never made it to the big time. It's been a big topic of conversation over the past couple of days on this forum as to who has had a fair crack at F1 and who hasn't. For those who haven't seen it, here's the list of drivers who had no crack at it all, for a variety of reasons I was hoping to add a bit of history to each driver but apparently it would be too long a post

50. Valentino Rossi (ITA)
49. Bird Clemente (BRA)
48. Carlos Sainz (ESP)
47. Nicolas Minassian (FRA)
46. James Courtney (AUS)
45. Andy Wallace (GBR)
44. Alain Ferte (FRA)
43. Gary Hocking (GBR)
42. Christophe Bouchut (FRA)
41. Jean-Pierre Jaussaud (FRA)
40. Craig Lowndes (AUS)
39. Bertrand Fabi (CAN)
38. Andre Lotterer (GER)
37. Rickard Rydell (SWE)
36. Alain Menu (SUI)
35. Kenny Brack (SWE)
34. Nicolas Lapierre (FRA)
33. John Nielsen (DEN)
32. Jean-Luc Salomon (FRA)
31. Paul Warwick (GBR)
30. Jorg Muller (GER)
29. Gonzalo Rodriguez (URU)
28. Stephen South (GBR)
27. Satoshi Motoyama (JPN)
26. Jason Watt (DEN)
25. Tony Stewart (USA)
24. Paul Tracy (CAN)
23. Klaus Ludwig (GER)
22. Frank Matich (AUS)
21. Will Power (AUS)
20. Gerry Birrell (GBR)
19. Scott Dixon (NZL)
18. Adam Carroll (GBR)
17. Emmanuel Collard (FRA)
16. Al Unser Jr (USA)
15. Greg Moore (CAN)
14. Jamie Green (GBR)
13. Don Parker (GBR)
12. Dan Wheldon (GBR)
11. Gil de Ferran (BRA)
10. Laurent Aiello (FRA)
9. Walter Rohrl (GER)
8. Gary Paffett (GBR)
7. Parnelli Jones (USA)
6. Dave Coyne (GBR)
5. Rick Mears (USA)
4. AJ Foyt (USA)
3. Dario Franchitti (GBR)
2. Sebastien Loeb (FRA)
1. Tom Kristensen (DEN)

What do we think? I personally don't think some of these guys should be on this, in the strictest sense of the term "drivers who sould've made it into F1". I'm referring to guys like Ludwig or Stewart, who never really showed that they were destined for the big time in the way that a driver like Franchitti or Paffett did.

 

ooooh, now this is a debate!!!

First of all, where is Andy Priaulx?

If Aiello, Menu, Rydell etc are in there, then Andy has to be.

 

Always think these kind of lists are pointless, especially when they don't include Ari Vatanen

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. Does Rossi even count as a 'driver'? Paffett ahead of Rohrl, who the hell came up with this ****?

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Do I also take it the list is not in any particular order? If so, there are some very strange placings going on.

 

Paffet should not be that high up. Part of this list is rather pointless as a number of these guys like Tony Stewart may never of even wanted to race in F1, a better list would have been drivers who should of raced in F1 based on perceived natural talent and what stopped them from getting there particularly in light of what is happening with Frijns at the moment.

 

That is very subjective though as you only get a chance to see the early days of their motorsport careers. Perceived talent is a lot different to actual talent.

At least a lot of those drivers have excellent records in other formula's which marked them out as being of a higher standard, so there is a question of them about how good would they have been in F1.

The likes of Warwick (RIP), Frijns, Carroll etc only have junior formula so its hard to know how good they were as their careers are/were limited so its difficult to compare them against others over a reasonable period of time.

 

Tony Stewart but no Dale Earnhardt Sr or Jeff Gordon?

Which clown put this list together then?

And where is Andy Rouse?

 

Would have loved for Rossi and Loeb to have tried F1! I can't remember exactly but I think Rossi's times weren't bad when he tested that Ferrari

 

I can only guess it was done in order, otherwise they wouldn't have numbered them in ascending order.

I would've had drivers like Neel Jani or Luca Filippi there ahead of guys like Stewart.

 

Loeb was set to join Toro Rosso if I recall but he decided to focus on rallying. What could have been...

On topic: never heard of most of these to be honest

 

It was a superlicense issue, in that he didn't have one. That meant he couldn't race. You are right in that he was set to race for Toro Rosso.

 

I was always curious as to how the greatest rally driver of the modern era (Loeb) couldn't get a superlicense, yet Yuji ide could.

 

Also, where the hell is Oliver Gavin? If Jorg Muller can make the list, why can't the guy who's spent a large part of his career beating Jorg Muller?

Never mind the 4 class wins at le mans too...

 

Lack of circuit running in the lower formulae. I never understood why Loeb was allowed to test a Toro Rosso but not drive it in anger.

 

I'd have expected a greater proportion of rally drivers.

It's like listing the top 50 drivers who have never raced in the WRC, putting Schumacher at #2, Alonso at #48, and ignoring everyone else in F1.

 

I would like to add Danica Patrick to the list. The only woman who would have deseverved a drive (and would have done well) in F1.

 

Also Colin McRae

 

Good shout.

 

If we're doing rally drivers, what about the flying fins, Tommi Makkinen and Juha Kankkunen?

 

I don't think so. She spent her whole IndyCar stint on the blob, and I can't see any reason why that woudn't change in F1. I rate de Silvestro far higher than her personally.