Best drivers of the past that were underated

[australia99]

http://www.williamsdb.com/cgi-bin/williamsdb/page.pl?page=info/faq&title=Frequently%20Asked%20Questions#q3

[Chris_Gills]

I went for David Coulthard.... although I always kept an eye out for Ralph Schumacher as well. Not sure why!?

[zurich_allan]

I voted Ralf, but only on the basis that I don't think the title of the thread / poll is actually appropriate - I don't believe many of the drivers in question were underrated - at the time and still now the majority of people knew / know how talented they were. You'll struggle to find anybody that disagrees that drivers such as Alesi, Frenzen or Panis were incredibly talented. A more apropriate title would be something like: 'Drivers of the past that due to circumstances, machinery or other reasons underperformed relative to their known talent'.

Relating to Ralf. He's one whom I believe does fall into the underrated category however. Six wins, nearly thirty podiums for a variety of teams, and in my opinion he seemed to just accept that he was always going to be in the shadow of his brother in his last couple of years hence lost motivation despite publicly sating otherwise. He's not the first driver to have a poor final year or two in the sport (see Damon Hill, Niki Lauda etc. in their last year), and certainly won't be the last, and yet he is often seen as a figure to mock and ridicule by many. If you actualy look at his statistics and race finish positions, under the rules today (when he raced points were only for top 6 and then top , he would actually have some pretty large points hauls and consisten points finishes that of course were not classed as such at the time - go on, have a look, I guarantee you'll be surprised at the sheer amount of 4th, 5th and 6th placed finishes - I can count over 40 of them alone!! He was never in a position to take a title, and in my opinion had a very respectable F1 career based on all of the above. Others may well disagree and that's their right - but personally I think he's had a massively overly harsh view taken on his career by far too many.

[scotty]

I don't think Ralf was the same after that massive crash at Indy... he was especially good for Williams in 1999 though, very very impressive that season.

Everyone slates him just for the hell of it cause he said ridiculous things like "I'm the 3rd best driver in F1" in 2007 when it was quite clearly miles from the truth... or at least that's my reasoning!

[andrew]

If he'd spent less time trying to be a playboy and trying to convince everyone of his racing abilities through words and more time concentrating on his racing and doing his talking on the track he may have had some more success in F1.

[zurich_allan]

6 wins, nearly 30 podiums, over 40 4th - 6th places, yet still considered a joke by many - in my opinion purely because of ridiculously high expectations due to his family name. Equating those numbers with the generally held perception just doesn't make sense. In my opinion he's pretty much the only one on this list that is a valid choice... Different having those stats if he were at McLaren or Ferrari - they might be average (see Felipe Massa), but these are compiled from drives at the likes of Jordan, Williams and Toyota which makes them quite impressive... Just an opinion of course.

[bud]

I think Ralfs problem was living in the shadow of his brother, his time at Williams was when they were at the end of their hay day. They were still winning and contending and were a big team, so I don't think it made any difference.

[JamesD89]

Was there ever any talk of Ralf joining Ferrari?

[LewEngBridewell]

Was there ever any talk of Ralf joining Ferrari?

Not that I can personally recall...........

[JamesD89]

Was there ever any talk of Ralf joining Ferrari?

Not that I can personally recall...........

Shame, would have been interesting whether MS would have been as ruthless with his brother in the 2nd car.