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When we talk about F1 championship battles, more often than not we tend to know who the protagonists are going to be. On every grid, certain drivers are earmarked as the ones who would come to the forefront should they get the opportunity in the right car.
These drivers are the elite F1 talents who tend to differentiate themselves from the rest of the grid. However, there have been a few cases when out of the blue, an unlikely contender emerges as a challenger for the title. These unfancied challengers fight hammer and tong with the other championship contenders only to fall short in the later stages of the season.
In the modern era of F1, three drivers were the unheralded contenders for the world title. No one expected them to challenge for the title but for a while, they proved to be contenders.
Who are these drivers? Let's take a look.
#1 Heinz Herald Frentzen (1999 F1 season)
With three races left in the season, Heinz Herald Frentzen was only 10 points behind Mika Hakkinen and Eddie Irvine in the championship. What made this even more impressive was the fact that Frentzen did this in a Jordan, a car that was under-resourced and was by no means a match to the might of McLaren and Ferrari.
The 1999 F1 season was strange in so many ways but no less in the manner in which unheralded championship contenders emerged out of nowhere. Frentzen made the most of having a season where he kept his mistakes to a minimum and focussed on taking advantage of his primary title contenders in Hakkinen and Irvine.
Three races from the end was the high point of the German's title challenge as beyond that he was unable to eat into the lead at the front and ended up finishing a distant third in the championship.
#2 Eddie Irvine (1999 F1 season)
Not many remember or can understand the gravity of what Eddie Irvine had pulled almost off in 1999. The Irishman was brought to Ferrari with only one goal in mind - to be Michael Schumacher's deputy and supporting cast. The 1999 season was the first time since the duo got together in 1996 that Ferrari had a car capable of fighting for the title.
However, for Schumacher, things turned for the worse as the German injured himself after a crash. While the crash pushed Schumacher out of the total fight, it put Irvine in a situation where he was the lead driver at Ferrari and the team's only hope against McLaren and Mika Hakkinen.
Well, Irvine played the role of the lead driver to perfection as he challenged and beat Hakkinen on multiple occasions. Making the most of the Finnish driver's unforced errors, Irvine brought himself right into contention, and only In the last race did he end up losing the title.
#3 Felipe Massa (2008 F1 season)
Felipe Massa was what many would call the understudy of Michael Schumacher at Ferrari. He debuted for the Italian team when Schumacher was still there and learned a lot from him.
When Schumacher retired and was replaced by Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, Massa proved to be an able second driver as he helped the Finnish driver secure the title in 2007.
The 2008 F1 season saw the tables flip completely as it wasn't Raikkonen who led the team. On the contrary, it was Massa who challenged Lewis Hamilton for the crown and would almost accomplish it, only to lose in the last lap of the race and the season.
