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Originally Posted by N I Tram
Right now ChampCars has 3 F3000 champions (Bourdais, Wilson and Enge) with Wirdheim knocking on the door. F1 has 2 - Montoya and Heidfeld, and JPM needed 2 years in ChampCars to become the finished article. A lot of drivers who don't outwardly succeed in F1 are actually hugely talented - they simply end up with poor machinery, uncomfortable team situations or a lack of testing, and don't shine as they should. Zanardi is the ultimate example - he shone in F3 and Sportscars as well as ChampCars, and had a succesion of bad luck in F1.
Zonta didn't get close to his level of performance once he came in. The team wanted to keep Panis 'onside' so as to give him the testing/PR role, which he's ideally suited for.
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Yes heidfeld is in f1 because he could be quick in a slow car. Sauber. Alonso was in a slow car(minardi!!) and shone. He is now recongnised as one of the best drivers on the grid.
Da Matta,Enge and Wilson all had chances to shine and failed. Wilson was nowere near as good as webber or Verstappen. Enge kept crashing his prost and also tested positive to Maruana! and was also beaten by Frentzen. Da Matta matched the oldest man in f1 in the same car. Panis is not a good example of a great driver.
As regards to Zonta not matching Panis. That is false as he was in 3rd in Spa when his engine failed in the last ten laps and outqualified him. All the above were not good enought o be in F1. The wern't the first and they won't be the last.