Well on that criteria then I'm going to chuck David Coulthard back in there then. He came in and was meant to be the next great British driver, the succsor to Mansell and Hill. Did not work out like that.
Formula One's most overrated driver
- Thread starter cider_and_toast
- Start date
Yeah, I would definitely say Coulthard was overrated, right up to the moment he drove his car into the pit lane wall
F1Brits_90
World Champion
with so many world champions being mentioned i got sidetracked & thought we could only do world champions
Sebastian Bourdais - comes to mind for me i had been watching him in F3000 where he won the title, then america for 5 years where he dominated champ car, you are talking Schumacher/Ferrari Vettel/Red Bull Hamilton/Mercedes type dominance. in 2003 rookie year he stuck it on pole in 3 of his 1st 5 races winning 2 of them & but for unreliability wouldve won it. then won it 2004 2005 2006 & 2007. 28 wins & 37 podiums of the 57 races. i thought it was a potential world champion in the making
then he scored points in 4 times in 27 races thrashed by vettel & dumped mid season for algurasuari
Sebastian Bourdais - comes to mind for me i had been watching him in F3000 where he won the title, then america for 5 years where he dominated champ car, you are talking Schumacher/Ferrari Vettel/Red Bull Hamilton/Mercedes type dominance. in 2003 rookie year he stuck it on pole in 3 of his 1st 5 races winning 2 of them & but for unreliability wouldve won it. then won it 2004 2005 2006 & 2007. 28 wins & 37 podiums of the 57 races. i thought it was a potential world champion in the making
then he scored points in 4 times in 27 races thrashed by vettel & dumped mid season for algurasuari
Il_leone
World Champion
Bourdais - well he was in Renault ( & Flavs ) stable for a while then quit because he was down Flav's pecking order
In 2008 he was unlucky at Spa , Monza and Fuji so I would not say he was overrated
It was more JVs attitude in my opinion that brings him down - he was protected by Craig Pollock at BAR and that is where all his problems began he would not listen or quite hard on the engineers. Zonta's F1 career never got going and partly that was down the environment JV and Pollock built at BAR. The last straw was when they nearly hit each other at Hockenheim but Zonta was treated as the fall guy. When Panis joined all the mechanics loved Oliver because he did not have an ego problem and was willing to work with them. When Richards replaced Pollock at the request of Honda and BAT that was the start of the end for JV .. he did not help himself by refusing a pay cut to help the team as well. His comebacks at Renault, Sauber and BMW did not do anything for him
In 2008 he was unlucky at Spa , Monza and Fuji so I would not say he was overrated
It was more JVs attitude in my opinion that brings him down - he was protected by Craig Pollock at BAR and that is where all his problems began he would not listen or quite hard on the engineers. Zonta's F1 career never got going and partly that was down the environment JV and Pollock built at BAR. The last straw was when they nearly hit each other at Hockenheim but Zonta was treated as the fall guy. When Panis joined all the mechanics loved Oliver because he did not have an ego problem and was willing to work with them. When Richards replaced Pollock at the request of Honda and BAT that was the start of the end for JV .. he did not help himself by refusing a pay cut to help the team as well. His comebacks at Renault, Sauber and BMW did not do anything for him
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Yes but, as I said, being an ass hole and being overrated are two different things.
I don't think JV was overrated but after 1997 he did himself no favours in the way the rest of his F1 career played out. In many respects, because of his attitude I actually think he's slightly underrated.
I don't think JV was overrated but after 1997 he did himself no favours in the way the rest of his F1 career played out. In many respects, because of his attitude I actually think he's slightly underrated.
I mentioned Emmo
Yeah Geth, you said all of the Fittipaldis were overrated except Emmo.
I've travelled back in time from 2023 so I can say Mick Schumacher.
Now your just taking the mickey.
Il_leone
World Champion
I think there are plenty of ass holes that have been touted as overrated on this thread. The fact that some of these ass holes failed to back up their reputation because they rated themselves as amongst the best and demanded money to reflect it but failed to back up sums up why they were considered as overrated. Now the ones I can think of here
Webber
Wehrlein
Vettel
JV
Ralf Schumacher
I was go as far and say what was the most memorable drive by JV in a non Williams car and am struggling to come up with one even his two BAR podiums were quickly forgotten. There was a time in 2000-2002 both Mclaren and Renault wanted him
I am trying to defend Emmo because he was naive to think at 26 years old he could achieve anything but he did win world titles with 2 different teams and was a smart driver when not having the ultimate pace but making sure he finishes . He also left Lotus because he knew with Peterson as his teammate he could not be champ because it was said he was good at setting up the car but it also meant he was setting up the car for Ronnie to improve and beat him
Webber
Wehrlein
Vettel
JV
Ralf Schumacher
I was go as far and say what was the most memorable drive by JV in a non Williams car and am struggling to come up with one even his two BAR podiums were quickly forgotten. There was a time in 2000-2002 both Mclaren and Renault wanted him
I am trying to defend Emmo because he was naive to think at 26 years old he could achieve anything but he did win world titles with 2 different teams and was a smart driver when not having the ultimate pace but making sure he finishes . He also left Lotus because he knew with Peterson as his teammate he could not be champ because it was said he was good at setting up the car but it also meant he was setting up the car for Ronnie to improve and beat him
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Yes, that is correct. I was correcting your assertion that he hadn't been mentioned.
Well thanks for that. Really moved the discussion along there.
I met Bruno Senna once. Nice man. Crap driver though. He did a stint in Formula E and didn't shine either. During his stint there he got to crash two cars per race.
F1Brits_90
World Champion
I don't believe anyone has yet mentioned Jean Alesi. He doesn't get on the asshole scale for me but for someone who after winning the F3000 title took over from Michele Alboreto at Tyrrell and then was snapped up by Ferrari his career proceeded to go down the bog through a combination of hubris and a simple lack of race craft.
Really liked him, love listening to home being interviewed, much overrated compared to his peer group.
Really liked him, love listening to home being interviewed, much overrated compared to his peer group.
Il_leone
World Champion
I see Mick Schumacher suffering the same problem that Bruno had to contend with by trying to push him into F1 asap namely Ferrari will want the glory in that until they realise he is not in the big boys league or even world class material
Il_leone
World Champion
FB Alesi is an enigma given the ridiculousness of signing 3 contracts and have to get the contracts board and Ferrari to bail him out. It does amaze his get only managed to win 1 race. He went to Ferrari at the wrong time and the swap to Benetton supposedly would make him multi race winner and potential world champion material. It was a mystery but he did come close to winning on many other occasions. I heard a story that when he retired with brake failure in Monza 95 when he could have won, after the race he gave his brother the fright of his life driving back in his Ferrari doing reportedly 163mph. The police stopped and saw who he was and did nothing.
I would not say his spell destroyed or ended his career like many others but if only he went to Williams instead. He said Benetton were not the team they claim to be as in a front running championship team with the facilities and set up to back it . They were chances to win races but he retired out of Monaco and blew it in Argentina by stalling in the pits just as the perfect strategy was applied. His career went downhill when Flav castigated him for crashing at Suzuka at the start costing Benetton 2nd place in the constructors this seems odd given he scored more than double the points Berger had. Things did not go well from then as the testing for 97 was circulating with rumours Brundle was going to replace him. Then off course on top of being outshone by a seriously quick Williams using the same engine the infamous running out of fuel failing to hear the radio prompted Flav's infamous words that he was going to shoot with fake bullets then real ones.
I would not say his spell destroyed or ended his career like many others but if only he went to Williams instead. He said Benetton were not the team they claim to be as in a front running championship team with the facilities and set up to back it . They were chances to win races but he retired out of Monaco and blew it in Argentina by stalling in the pits just as the perfect strategy was applied. His career went downhill when Flav castigated him for crashing at Suzuka at the start costing Benetton 2nd place in the constructors this seems odd given he scored more than double the points Berger had. Things did not go well from then as the testing for 97 was circulating with rumours Brundle was going to replace him. Then off course on top of being outshone by a seriously quick Williams using the same engine the infamous running out of fuel failing to hear the radio prompted Flav's infamous words that he was going to shoot with fake bullets then real ones.
Il_leone
World Champion
I am going to defend Button because he supposedly benefitted from a loophole in the rules for his world title . Usually the team that dominates or wins exploit and interpret the rules better than the opposition and in most cases the driver wins the title -why do you think Adrian Newey is the best designer and Ross Brawn probably the best technical director? It's no coincidence the teams they have worked for have ended up successful? The team with additional influence is Ferrari because they have a right to veto pretty much everything that would leave them 2nd best
I am sure Button is not the only driver mentioned here benefitting from a loophole in the regulations.
Also I have never seen so much anti Button posts between 2006-2010 when Hamilton emerged it was absolutely ridiculous probably most will end up trolled now . Button took a pay cut and earned less at McLaren than Hamilton because he was motivated by proving he was amongst the best and for a while he was. He is the last McLaren driver to finish top 3 in the championship and did it in a year beating 1 Red Bull , both Ferrari's and Hamilton and quite rightly was voted 2nd best driver that season. Back then he was at his peak so he deserves more respect certainly higher than Raikkonen
I am sure Button is not the only driver mentioned here benefitting from a loophole in the regulations.
Also I have never seen so much anti Button posts between 2006-2010 when Hamilton emerged it was absolutely ridiculous probably most will end up trolled now . Button took a pay cut and earned less at McLaren than Hamilton because he was motivated by proving he was amongst the best and for a while he was. He is the last McLaren driver to finish top 3 in the championship and did it in a year beating 1 Red Bull , both Ferrari's and Hamilton and quite rightly was voted 2nd best driver that season. Back then he was at his peak so he deserves more respect certainly higher than Raikkonen
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