So near yet so far – F1’s closest Gareth Southgate equivalents after emotional England exit

Gareth Southgate has resigned as England men’s football manager after an agonising defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday, and he joins a plethora of sporting examples of getting so close to glory yet just missing out, Formula 1 included.

Some drivers have come closer than others to achieving their ultimate goals, but in talking about these drivers, we also want to acknowledge their achievements in the first place.

A look at F1’s near-achievers after Gareth Southgate resigns long-held England post

Now, a big self-referential disclaimer here before we get going. I am English, Southgate has achieved far more than any other England men’s manager in most of our lifetimes and the last eight years of what he has achieved in the job have been nothing short of extraordinary by comparison to what came before. Putting aside the pain of the weekend, two finals, three semi-finals, actually winning penalty shootouts? Ridiculous.

(Please feel free to get involved in the aftermath with our sister sites, Football365, TEAMtalk or Planet Football, they’d be happy to have you!) – but in the here and now, let’s look at some examples from the Formula 1 sphere of people who have achieved an awful lot, but not quite their ultimate aim.

Felipe Massa: 2008 last-corner agony

Perhaps the biggest near-miss of all.

The 2008 World Championship battle had been on a knife-edge all season long, later marred by the Singapore ‘Crashgate’ controversy, and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa needed to win his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, to keep hope of winning a first title, while Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren needed to finish fifth in changing conditions.

Massa played his part superbly, taking a dominant victory at Interlagos, but the changing conditions and a run wide in his McLaren saw Hamilton fall behind the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel and out of position in sixth.

But with Timo Glock’s Toyota on dry tyres and rain falling, Hamilton passed the German at the final braking point at Juncao to move back up into the P5 he needed to win his first World Championship in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Massa, for his part, held his head high on the podium, saluted his home fans through the emotion of that evening.

That would also turn out to be the last of his 11 Grand Prix victories, after a horrifying accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix almost ended his life, when a piece of debris flew up and hit him on the helmet – but Massa was able to make a remarkable return to the sport come 2010 and achieve 13 more podiums before leaving Formula 1 in 2017.

Nick Heidfeld: The most podiums without a race victory

While Massa would find the title eluded him in 2008, ‘Quick Nick’ Heidfeld holds the distinction of having earned 13 Formula 1 podiums – already an enviable achievement among the vast majority of drivers to have made it to the top level of the sport.

But after Lando Norris took victory in Miami in 2024, he returns back to the top of the chart of drivers to have had the most podiums in Formula 1 history, without having stood on the top step.

The 2008 season saw Heidfeld finish second four times as BMW Sauber produced a highly-competitive car at the front of the field, with team-mate Robert Kubica winning the Canadian Grand Prix, while the last of his 13 podiums came at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix for Lotus.

Chris Amon: One of the best to never win a race

Like Heidfeld, Chris Amon also features highly among the racers to have never won a race in Formula 1 – and is widely regarded as one of the best in the sport’s history to have never taken top spot, with 11 podium finishes to his name.

But such was his reputation for bad luck, however, former Ferrari technical director Mauro Forghieri said the New Zealander was “by far the best test driver I have ever worked with.

“He had all the qualities to be a World Champion but bad luck just wouldn’t let him be.”

Amon passed away in 2016 aged 73, and while he was aware of the tag that followed him throughout his career, he was happier to have had the life he led.

“A lot of people say I was very unlucky and I suppose in terms of results, I was,” the Associated Press quotes him as having said.

“But one thing I do always say to people is that I am very lucky to be here. I am eternally thankful to be here.”

More Formula 1 statistics from PlanetF1.com

👉 Where do Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton rank among the longest win droughts for World Champions?

👉 Top 10: The drivers with the highest win percentages in Formula 1 history

Stirling Moss: The greatest to never win a World Championship?

“Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?” was the supposed common parlance among police officers at the time Moss was racing in Formula 1 when pulling over speeding motorists, to such a degree that legend has it Moss was once asked that question himself after being halted by the side the road.

But such is the regard in which he is held in the Formula 1 pantheon, his 16 victories at a time Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Nino Farina and their contemporaries were racing puts him at the top of the conversation for the best driver to have never won the Drivers’ Championship.

His standings back that up, too – finishing runner-up four times in a row from 1955-58 inclusive, before finishing third in the standings for the three seasons after that.

Jean Alesi: The hugely popular driver among Tifosi that racked up an unwanted statistic

Given how popular Jean Alesi remains with Ferrari fans, the fact he ‘only’ won one race with the team is perhaps more a reflection of how uncompetitive they were at the time than of his driving.

In fact, it took 13 podiums before Alesi would break his win duck with the Scuderia, taking the chequered flag first at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, which would also be the one victory of his Formula 1 career.

A hugely talented driver driving a string of uncompetitive cars, by Ferrari’s high standards, anyway, combined with unreliability, saw him set a record of 67 consecutive starts for the Scuderia without victory – a statistic which would later be passed by Massa in 2013.

Nico Hulkenberg: The wait for a podium continues despite his highly-regarded talents

There is still time yet for Nico Hulkenberg to stand on the podium, with 215 starts to his name at the time of writing, a brilliant pole position at Interlagos in 2010 and 552 points to boot – coincidentally, the most points without a victory of any driver.

His return to Formula 1 on a full-time basis brought about the phrase ‘Hulkenback’ after his time on the sidelines from not getting a full-time drive, with substitute appearances for Aston Martin at the start of 2022 enough to convince Haas to take him on for 2023.

Three times a P4 finisher, a host of other times in the top five, perhaps Haas’ improvements or his move to Sauber, which will become Audi for 2026, can be what finally allows him to stand on the podium in Formula 1 – having already won the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in 2015.

Mark Webber: Potential title glory slipping away in the final few rounds

Looking back at the 2010 season, to have had so many drivers in contention for the World Championship so long, if you’re a newer fan of Formula 1, we’d thoroughly recommend finding some season highlights to watch from that year, because it really was competitive.

Heading towards the closing stages, Mark Webber was in the box seat. He held a 14-point lead after the Japanese Grand Prix and with three races to go, while it was still massively competitive, the lead was his for the moment.

But at a soaking wet Korean Grand Prix, there came the potential sucker punch.

Running second behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, he ran wide onto the grass and that sent him into a spin into the wall. Coming back across the track, he collected the Williams of Nico Rosberg and that saw them both out of the race.

With Fernando Alonso going on to win, the then-Ferrari driver took the World Championship lead from there, and while Webber had a mathematical chance heading into the final race, it was Vettel who became champion that season, and each of the three seasons afterwards.

“You’re measured on championships so do I see myself in the same calibre as some of the single World Champions in the sport? I do see that,” Webber, who won nine Grands Prix and later the World Endurance Championship title with Porsche, said while reflecting at the end of his Formula 1 career.

“I don’t have it but I’m still very proud of what I achieved. Am I as good as multiple World Champions? Probably not.”

An unusual honourable mention

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen

Now, to preface this, we know how highly-regarded Alonso and Raikkonen are in their own right. Both World Champions, Alonso already an all-time great, Raikkonen arguably the quickest driver on the grid in terms of raw speed when he arrived in Formula 1 and both drivers holding the highest number of Grand Prix starts in the history of the sport at time of writing.

In Raikkonen’s case, some awful luck in the 2003 season – crashing into the stalled Jaguar of Antonio Pizzonia in Spain, an engine failure at the Nurburgring and a collision with Rubens Barrichello halted a huge chance to become World Champion in only his third season in the sport, eventually missing out by just two points to Michael Schumacher.

He would earn title glory in 2007 with Ferrari, and for a driver of his immense talent, perhaps not a moment too soon.

As for Alonso, his 32 race victories and two World Championships already puts him among the pantheon of the greats, though but for a dose of luck elsewhere, there is every chance we could be talking about him as a five-time champion.

He missed out to Raikkonen by just one point in ’07, he was the leader among the four drivers capable of winning the 2010 championship heading into the final round in Abu Dhabi before he hit traffic in the form of Vitaly Petrov’s Renault, which he would not be able to clear as Sebastian Vettel took victory – and in 2012, Vettel recovered through the field after a first-lap tangle to take the place required to thwart the Spaniard once again.

Both have achieved remarkable things in this sport, but both have come oh-so close to getting a bit more.

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