Bill L Seifert

I would guess that a lot of people would agree with me that Philipe Massa is a very underrated driver at this time.

Maybe that is why I guress I am rooting for him.

Who do ya'll think is the most underrated F1 driver in history? I have my idea, and will share it when a few other people tell me their choice. Of course it is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Bill Seifert

1987 944S Race Car

Nordschleife

unluckiest Chris Amon
under rated Vic Elford

R+C

Bill L Seifert

Amen, on both, but that's not who I am thinking of.

Bill

Bill L Seifert

Well, I thought more people would chime in, but I guess not. Anywhere here's my idea.

Damon Hill. When he contested the WC against Michael in 94 and 95 it was thought that the Williams was superior to the Benniton. But Michael was the deciding factor. When he finally won the Championship in 96, people were still saying he wasn't very good, and it was the car that won. Remember, Alan Jones, a former WC himself, said Damon was not all that good, but he won a lot more Grands Prix than Jones did. Are we really sure he wasn't a great driver. . Remember the next year when Frank fired him, he went to Arrows, and really didn't do much. Until Hungary, when he led for over half the race, and then fell to 3rd at the finish. Arrows had never done much till then, and nothing after. How do we know that Hill is not all that good. Hungary 97 was sure a great performance. Also, he won about 14 Grands Prix (I say about, because I don't feel like looking it up.) I think he was the underrated GP driver of all time. But again, I could be wrong.

Here's another thought. Suppose McLaren has been the absolute best car for years, and the only reason they have done poorly is because Kimi is the most overrated driver, and Juan Pablo was even worse. How do we really know which is the best car? Kimi could be just fair, and when he arrived at Ferrari, the not very good Massa beats him. Of course I am joking about Kimi Massa and McLaren, but really how do we really know?

I'm still rooting for Massa. A hot headed Brazilian can not be all bad.

Bill

A.Wayne

Well at first i was not sure how to answer your question , but your answer has narrowed it down, so i assume you mean most underrated WC.....

Well I would have to dis-agree with your choice and say that his dad Graham Hill is the most underrrated WC, OK , a tie really , Graham Hill and Emmerson Fittipaldi are the 2 most underrated WC, Most Pundits over the last decade rate Damon over his dad , totally wrong in my books, 2 WC, 5 monaco victories , Indy 500 and 24 Lemans win Put graham way over damon in my books , Emmerson would have won @ least 3 if not 4 WC if he had not stepped off and thought he could have won a WC in a Brazilian designed F1 car , so yes my choice for most undderrated F1 driver is a tie , Emmerson Fittipaldi and Graham Hill , for Damon , I'am a fan, but based on recent F1 polls where he is rated higher than Graham, i have to dis-agree and feel he is a bit overrated as a WC....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Hill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Hill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson_Fittipaldi

Bill L Seifert

That certainly makes sense. I had not even thought of Emmerson. His move to Copersucar (Not sure I spelled that right.) was a huge error. Sorta like Jaques going to BAR after his WC. I followed F1 all through Graham Hills career, and I really never heard anyone rate him low. I've never seen the sites you mention, but I will look at them. I probably rate Clark and Stewart above him but he was dang good, and IMHO clearly better than Damon. I don't doubt it, but I find it hard that current "experts" rate Damon better.

I was never a big Damon fan, either, but I thought at the time he got a bad rap. Which is how I feel about Massa. He was widely viewed as a seat warmer, which I think was a mistake.

Bill

A.Wayne

Agree, i do like Damon, but his williams was ,well, so much better than anything else he could not miss, He was an Enigma, brillant one day , complete salad the next ..very likable and was missed by me when he left..
F1 magazine polls over the years had Damon rating higher than his father Graham, sad as Graham was good, Heck can you imagine these guys today with Clarke as a teammate as Graham did ...
Massa has emmense talent , came into the sport highly rated and after testing with Ferrari , he was chosen for his current spot 2 years before ., He was and has been Mr inconsistent, positively faster than Kimi, Just fragile ....and Simple ...

Bill L Seifert

No disagreement there.

Bill

Cookie Porsche

In F1 there are good drivers and there are GREAT drivers.

In my book a underrated driver would have to be a great driver.

Damon was not a great - but a very good driver, otherwise he wouldn't be a WC. Once you have been to a GP, sat next to the track and watched (smelled, heard and felt) a F1 car you'll realize that they are all good drivers.

I don't think Massa is underrated - he just needs to show us.

You don't become great overnight (eventhough Lewis is doing a good job albeit in a fairly great car).

T

PS - I consider myself greatly underrated (hehe)

Geo

I find it somewhat amusing when people rate Damon poorly because he was in the best car. In F3000 he was also quite good. He was not a superstar, but he was no slouch.

As for under-rated F1 drivers (not counting WCs), I think Michael Andretti got a reputation he didn't deserve. No less than Senna felt the same way. Mind you, I'm not a big Michael Andretti fan by any stretch, but I don't believe he deserved half the reputation he was given. He was and is a much better driver than the F1 press give him credit for. I honestly believe with reasonable testing time in the car he would have been right there.

Larry Herman

This is funny. First I was thinking about mentioning Emmo, but I remembered that he was well considered back in his day. Then I was thinking about Michael Andretti because he was a much better driver than he showed. I must be spending too much time here.

One driver that I think might have been under-rated was Nelson Piquet. There was never much fan-fare whenever he won and he did not seem to get the accolades of the other drivers of his day, IIRC. All he did was win.

Geo

Emmo was highly regarded in his day. His reputation suffered at the end with his switching to his own team - or was that his brother's team?

Nordschleife

Piquet was always very highly regarded by those who raced against him

R+C

Larry Herman

True, as most champions were. I interpreted this to mean as felt by the racing public. I could very well be mistaken though.

A.Wayne

If you look at recent polls , printed material etc, Emmo, Graham and Piquet are rated lower than you would think and behind very average drivers ,, Emmo was hugely underrated and had a somewhat kind of revival in cart , as a second career..
I sure if you ask today to name some of the great drivers of the Past , His name would hardly be mentioned ...