5 F1 drivers who did not live up to their potential

#4 Jean Alesi

In the Jordan days: Jean Alesi drove for Eddie Jordans team in 2001

Giovanni Jean Alesi drove for some of Formula Ones most iconic teams: Jordan, Bennetton, Sauber, Jordan and Ferrari.

He had what several drivers over the years notably, in this list, Kimi Raikkonen lacked; a strong passion for driving. In 1991, Alesi was on track to drive for Williams, but offered a contract by Ferrari, a team of which he had been a boyhood fan, the French-Italian driver opted for them instead.

Alesi, driving alongside his compatriot and F1 legend Alain Prost, started off the year with middling to decent results, but in the process showed an aggression that many racing enthusiasts compared to the late Gilles Villeneuve. Unfortunately for both Frenchmen, however, the Ferrari that year had repeated reliability issues, with retirements galore for Alesi.

A frustrated Prost that year declared that the car was like a truck; he took a break from Formula 1, with Alesi taking over the #1 driver mantle at Ferrari in 1992.

Although Alesis overall results were middling, with the driver a regular 4th or 5th in the championship standings by the end of each year, the wins he took were often spectacular, many of them coming in conditions other, more experienced drivers may not have been able to deal with even half as effectively; most notably of these were that years Canadian and French Grands Prix, the latter of which was raced in extremely wet conditions.

Alesi had his best results with Benetton, with a total of 13 podium finishes in the two years he was with the team. He only finished a highest of 4th in the drivers championships, however, unable to fully bring his potential to fruition, in large part due to unreliable vehicles.

After leaving Formula One, he tried his luck at DTM, Le Mans and the Indy 500 before calling it quits from motorsport in 2012.