5. Pedro de la Rosa
Spain, Spain, Spain. This Iberian peninsular nation has jumped a class in drivers over the past decade. Fernando to Carlos is a transition few nations can better. (Maybe England/Germany) Before them, a young man with 4 words in his name became a household one. In 2001 he thrashed Eddie Irvine for his age. And in typical Red Bull fashion, Jaguar bought him out after he suffered a monsoon of retirements.
Teams clearly saw his potential however. McLaren snapped him up to become their test and reserve driver in '03. Shortly after, he got his wish, and Montoya's departure to NASCAR opened up the seat of his lifetime. Shortly after he secured his one and only podium alongside Jenson Button. De la Rosa managed 19 points (old system) and 11th in the championship in just 8 races. With the arrival of Lewis Hamilton though he was promptly booted from the sport.
While the later Sauber stint made for nothing of note in 2010, he also DNFed in almost half of his races that season. But hey, he's no MSC. He's just a driver with more potential than he got the chance to show.
4. Heikki Kovalinen
Fun fact: Kovalinen is the only Finnish driver to drive with McLaren and to not win a championship. Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen, and Kimi Raikkonen all admittedly had better careers than Kovalinen, but there's a reason they're considered within the pantheon of legends, and not on a random blog's list.
Kovalinen joined the sport with regular-old Renault in 2007. Alongside Fisichella (spoilers) he did not do particularly well. However, he picked it up enough. And in a time when McLaren were short on options after the surprise departure of Fernando Alonso, Kovalinen got the spot. I won't lie, when researching this I debated putting him on here at all. But when you consider that, even as a #2 driver, Kovalinen is a race-winner and scraped together enough points to match 6th on his second-ever season, you have to at least respect the work-rate. Similarly, his departure was equally swift.
For a man with multiple podiums and a race win, Kovalinen's F1 career was immensely short. By 2010 he was at the back of the grid, and by 2013 he was out of the sport altogether. A tough road for a once race-winner.
3. Nick Heidfeld
Speaking of that last sentence, in steps Nick Heidfeld. His stint at Lotus remains one of the unluckiest moments of the 21st century. I'd always remember that scene of his stepping out of his burning Lotus, only to be replaced the next weekend. Unluck aside, what did Heidfeld do to deserve a place on this list?
Well Heidfeld holds 2 world-records. One for most podiums without a win, and unsurprisingly, most 2nd places without a win. While, naturally winning is better, I'd much prefer to put him in the car over Pastor Maldonado. Heidfeld raced primarily for BMW Sauber in the mid-late 2000s.
If you ever played F1 2009 on the Wii RemotePlus™, then you'll know how fun it was to blast around Singapore in one of these midfield-tearing machines. Anyways, in terms of reality, Heidfeld raced to the front of a talented pack. He beat out Kubica, Raikkonen, and Massa as their teammates there. I'm going to leave you on that last statement.
2. Giancarlo Fisichella
Fisichella is one of my favorite underdog stories from the early 2000s. If you'll let me skip ahead for a bit, Fisichella still holds the record for most laps led in a Force India (a record he will forever hold). If the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix had gone a little differently, Fisichella could have taken the consensus worst car on the grid to an F1 victory. That has never happened before or since (excluding massive retirement crises). Imagine Russell taking second in a Williams. Mad.
Anyways, Fisichella's career was chock full of wayward achievements. Finishing 4th and 5th respectively in '05 and '06, the grid's best Italian made it to 2 world constructor's titles with Renault alongside Fernando Alonso. By now you're probably sensing a pattern. Many of these drivers had their own achievements, but were overshadowed by their world-class talent counterparts. Fisi remains one of the cult heroes of the 21st century F1 scene.
1. Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Frentzen is one of F1's biggest ever what-if stories. Promoted through the ranks by word of Bernie Eccelstone, he was always compared to one driver. Michael Schumacher. And yes, you read that correctly. The German Motorsports Committee ONS, secretly chose them to be the next two formula one drivers to represent Germany. Because of this, Frentzen got special treatment on his road to F1. Maybe this is what got his career derailed. But nonetheless, this fresh-faced German made it to the premier pinnacle of motorsport.
Williams was the summit of Frentzen's sparse career. He burst into winning ways with Sauber, but couldn't put together a reliable race to save his life. Once done with the midfield, he immediately jumped into the car that would win the driver's championship the next year. Williams was good back then see. Despite qualifying on par with his teammate, Frentzen continually drifted back in the races. Sorta like the anti-Lance Stroll. Despite this, and including Schumacher's disqualification, Frentzen beat the field to second in the driver's title... only with about half the points of this teammate. Next season was lost due to engine changes. He moves to Jordan.
Jordan were surprisingly good in the year he moved. Frentzen picked up 2 race wins and an unofficial 'driver of the year' award. Despite this, once again an engine change spelt the death of this promising season. After that, the teams willing to pick up his contract dwindled, and Frenzten saw the light trickle out of his career. Of all the drivers on this list, I'm most convinced Frenzten was the one who could have written his name into the book of champions.
As it were, his lifelong German compatriot won 7, and most F1 fans aren't even familiar with his name in 2020. As you watch Hulkenburg tear up the grid in 2020, spare a thought for Harald Frenzten. He could one day be in that same conversation.
Thank you Samuel very cool!
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