F1's most over-rated drivers

One of the great mysteries of life is the number of drivers who make it to Formula One and then manage to stick around long past their best-before date.

Year after year, drivers continue to be hired who showed great promise in the lesser ranks but then long ago bombed out in their initial F1 appearances.

This is a list of drivers who fit nicely into this category.

No. 1 Andrea de Cesaris started 214 F1 races and didn't win any. He was on the podium five times between 1980 when he broke in and 1994 when he finally called it a day.

He drove for 10 different teams — Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Brabham, Dallara, Jordan, Tyrrell, Ligier, Minardi, Rial and Sauber. When Eddie Jordan started his F1 team in 1991, he hired de Cesaris and, in a sort-of-backhanded compliment, said he did it because "I know Andrea won't be hard on the equipment."

No. 2. Jarno Trulli has been driving in Formula One since 1997. He's made 219 Grand Prix starts and sprayed the champagne exactly once. He's been on the podium 11 times.

He's been with some good teams – Jordan, Renault and Toyota. Although Toyota has dropped out of F1, there's a good chance Trulli will race for one of the newer teams in 2010. I have no idea why, but he probably will.

No. 3. Eddie Cheever is an American who raced for 11 years and didn't win once. He made it to the scene in 1978 and despite having drives with Renault, Tyrrell, Arrows and Alfa Romeo, he was only on the podium nine times in 143 races.

He would have been my No. 1 if his post-F1 record of futility was included: 82 CART races and no wins. However, that dubious record puts him ahead of the next fellow in line.

No. 4. Jean Pierre Jarier will forever stick out in my mind as the fellow who was so far in front at the 1978 Grand Pix of Canada that reporters were already writing the leads to their stories. Then he suddenly pulled his Lotus-Ford into the pits and shut off his motor. Oil leak, he explained.

Okay, except that a year previously, during the 1977 Grand Prix at Mosport, Mario Andretti was also way out in front in a Lotus-Ford and pulled in with an oil leak several laps from the finish. You could see the smoke from the engine for miles.

So Andretti, who was a soon-to-be world champion and a veteran winner of F1 races, drove that car till it blew up on the chance it would hold together so he could win.

Jarier drove in 143 F1 races for Lotus, Tyrrell, Ligier, Shadow and ATS and didn't win one of them. I think you can see the reason why.

No. 5. Chris Amon broke into F1 in 1963 and managed to hang on, and on, and on until 1976 – although some years the New Zealander only drove in one or two races.

He started 108 F1 races and was shut out of the wins column, but made the podium 11 times.

A guy who's grown to legendary status over the years, Amon had his best chance in 1967 and '68 when he drove for Ferrari.

Some say he was jinxed (he was leading the '68 Canadian Grand Prix by a country mile when he went out with transmission failure, for instance) but the great ones always seem to overcome just about any obstacle.

No. 6. Jochen Mass started 114 Grands Prix between 1973 and 1982 and had eight podiums but only one win – and it was bogus.

Because of safety concerns about the street circuit through a park in Barcelona, several drivers, including Emerson Fittipaldi, refused to race in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. And then there were numerous crashes early in the race eliminating many of the top runners.

On the 29th of 75 laps, Rolf Stommelen crashed through (or over) a barrier and four spectators were killed. Mass managed to continue running and was in first place when organizers waved the red flag and declared the race over.

No. 7. Giancarlo Fisichella broke into F1 in 1996 and is still competing, although he's not setting any worlds on fire.

Over the course of his career, he's entered 231 Grands Prix and has won three but, frankly, if you've been in that many races, the law of averages is going to put you in Victory Lane.

Fisichella has had good rides. Jordan, Benetton and Renault are nothing to sneeze at. And because of Felipe Massa's season-ending eye injury, Fisichella found himself in a Ferrari for the last races of the 2009 season after reserve driver Luca Badoer couldn't cut the mustard.

True to form, Fisichella couldn't cut it either and yet he's still under contract to be Ferrari's reserve driver next year.

No. 8. Nick Heidfeld has been in 109 Grands Prix and has won zero. He's been on the podium 12 times.

He's not particularly exciting to watch, he's only won one pole (so he's not what you could call blindingly quick) and yet he's being talked about as a possible Brawn GP driver in 2010, now that Mercedes-Benz owns the team.

Gee, I wonder what the connection is?

No. 9. Jenson Button might be world champion but prior to this season, he'd won exactly one of 170 races (the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix) and it was reminiscent of Jochen Mass's in that he was (literally) the last man standing.

He was with top teams – Williams, Benetton, Renault – and yet when the chips were down he couldn't come through. He won six races this season, primarily because of a car that had an "unfair" advantage at the beginning. When the other teams caught up, the jig was up for Button. But he was so far ahead at that point that nobody else could catch him.

No. 10. Jacques Villeneuve has to be on this list if Jenson Button is on it because the year they were teammates at BAR, Button scored more points than Villeneuve.

But JV (as he's called) deserves to be on this list anyway because he squandered his three wonderful years at the top of the heap (1995 CART champion, 1996 world champion runner-up, 1997 world champion) with years of lackadaisical driving and poor decision-making (going for the money at BAR when he was offered a competitive ride at Renault).