Top Ten overrated Formula One drivers
Eddie Cheever was in F1 for years and never won a race. He didn't do any better in CART. But he's not No. 1
Nov 25, 2009
(13)
Motorsport Writer
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 Top Ten list of drivers who fit nicely into this category.
Now, we’re not talking here about drivers who never really had a chance. Guys like Perry McCarthy, an Englishman who drove for something called Andrea Moda-Judd in 1992.
Poor Perry went to 11 races that season and didn’t qualify for any of them. In fact, there were so many F1 cars around then that a half-dozen of them, including the Andrea Moda-Judd, had to pre-qualify in order to try to qualify. Perry didn’t even pre-qualify half the time.
So we’re not talking about guys like him.
Or Michael Andretti, for that matter. Andretti signed with McLaren for 1993 to partner Ayrton Senna. He promptly stalled his car on the starting line for the first race in South Africa. The second race in Brazil saw him crash at the first turn.
His season really went downhill from there. He finally quit (or was fired) as of the Italian Grand Prix that September. The decision was made before the race, which is ironic because he then finished third for his only podium appearance.
So although some people might point to Andretti was being over-rated, he’s not included here because he didn’t complete a season.
No, we’re talking about guys who don’t win, or who might win occasionally but don’t fulfill their promise over a period of years.
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