Tommy Byrne is considered to be one of the greatest racing talents never to live up to his potential.
Coming from a very humble background in Ireland he made his way into motor racing through sheer determination, scraping together the funds to go racing by any means possible. When he was given the opportunity he was absolutely sensational, and rocked the British junior categories with championship victories in Formula Ford and Formula 3. His early career ran parallel with Ayrton Senna's and many claim he was one of the only drivers the Brazilian genuinely feared. He made one of the biggest mistakes of his career by driving for the underfunded and excruciatingly slow Theodore outfit in 1982. He became disenchanted with F1, and despite racing for Eddie Jordan's F3 team in Europe the following year, he eventually gave up on his dream and went to race in the USA. He took a number of wins in American series but never achieved his potential in top-flight motorsport. He subsequently wrote a brutally honest autobiography Crashed and Byrned.
1964
Milan-born Andrea Chiesa had one season in F1 with the Fondmetal team in 1992 but only qualified for three grands prix out of ten entered, and in those he failed to finish once. He was replaced after the German Grand Prix.
