There have been a few drivers who have passed through Formula 1 as those who could have nearly won a championship, including Stirling Moss and Gilles Villeneuve.
One of those from modern F1 is Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who came close to taking the title in 1999 having won two races for Jordan and got to within 20 points of leader Mika Hakkinen.
Michael Schumacher sat out most of the season after breaking his leg at the British GP earlier in the season, with Eddie Irvine taking the role of Ferrari team leader.
It was ultimately Hakkinen who came out on top, but Frentzen came close, having added to his tally of F1 victories. The German made his debut with Sauber in F1 during the 1994 season and went on to race for Williams in 1997, replacing Damon Hill.
Within the first three races he made history with Williams, and would go on to play a key role in their title assult later in the season.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen wins first F1 race at Imola with Williams in 1997
Imola was always a sombre circuit for Williams because it was the scene of Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash in 1994, which led to numerous safety improvements in F1.
In 1997, the young Frentzen was keen to impress after a difficult first few races. Teammate Jacques Villeneuve had already won two of the three opening rounds, but this time it was his turn.
After Villeneuve qualified on pole, he initially led the race but was forced to retire due to a gear-selection issue with his car. This left Frentzen and Schumacher to duel for the lead, with the former managing to hold on and cross the line just 1.2 seconds ahead.
It marked the first time a championship race had a German one-two finish, and would kickstart an impressive stint in the 90s for Frentzen’s F1 career.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s former Jordan engineer compares him to Lewis Hamilton
Having been known as one of the drivers that could have won a title in the right circumstances, Frentzen was respected among the F1 paddock.
His former engineer at Jordan, Sam Michael, when he won both races in 1999 was once asked on the Beyond the Grid podcast who he felt were the best drivers he worked with in his career.
“Lewis Hamilton, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Everyone’s heard of Lewis, not as many people have heard of Frentzen. But if you’re talking about pure, natural driving talent, Lewis and Heinz are for sure,” said Michael.
Michael went on to explain that much like Hamilton at McLaren, Frentzen was able to do things “in tricky circumstances” and extract extra value and lap time out of slow cars.
