You could say about many young drivers that they have potential either to be at the very top or just pretty good drivers, but what counts is whether you have the money to make it.
Interesting quotes on this subject (many people having the potential, not the money aspect) from an interview Hill gave in 1993, from Grandprix.com's rather invaluable archive:
"You know you can win races from the first time it happens. You win and then you go up to the next level of the sport thinking: "It is going to be more difficult and more competitive with faster cars". And if you win a race in F3, you say: "Right, now I know I can do that" and you look at F3000. F1 is no different in that respect than any other championship if you have the car to do the job. When the time is right and in the right circumstances I will win a race. I don't think getting hung up about it will help me.
"All sport is in the mind, isn't it?" he says. "A lot of people have the capability of achieving the top level in sports. It is the mental thing which makes them champions or lets them down. If I read that Frank is going to sign Jean Alesi next week and I start worrying about it I will not perform well.
"There is negative pressure and there's positive pressure. Wanting to win is a positive pressure, it gets the best out of you. You have to learn to dispel negative pressure, otherwise you get into a downward spiral. The mental side is the key to this sport. That is why people like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell do so well. They have so much self-confidence and so much self-belief that in a competitive situation they are always able to get the best out of themselves."
Edited by Risil, 06 January 2013 - 17:58.
