I did a livestream on Twitch the other day where some of the hardcore M101 crowd chats with me about things and other sports often come up. My brother Ryan mentioned it too. Tennis was the name of the game here, and it reminded me of a killer stat that dropped as we talked about the recent dominance of Jannik Sinner1, and Carlos Alcaraz, who are 24 and 22 respectively.
Did you know that in Men’s tennis history, only two Grand Slam titles have been won by players that were born in the 90’s?
1980’s – 80 Grand Slams:
Novak Djokovic – 24
Rafael Nadal – 22
Roger Federer – 20
Sir Andy Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka – 3
Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt – 2
Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Roddick, Marin Cilic, Juan Carlos Ferrero – 1
1990’s – 2 Grand Slams:
Dominic Thiem and Danill Medvedev – 1
2000’s – 10 Grand Slams:
Carlos Alcaraz – 6
Jannik Sinner – 4
I was born in 1992 and it is startling that with the dominance of Tennis’ “Big Four”2 with Novak, Rafa, Roger and Murray, and the longevity of them (Novak is basically Grand Slams only at this point at Age 38 and is still World #4), the sport essentially skipped a whole decade of potential stars breaking through. Tennis fans themselves have called it “The Lost Generation”.
Then being F1 fans, we related it to our own sport. And then we clocked together – F1’s had a similar thing happen to it without even realising. Quickfire question, before Max Verstappen, born in 1997, do you know who our most recently born World Champion is?
It’s Sebastian Vettel. Born in 1987. Seb’s first title came in 2010 as the youngest ever World Champion at the time. We’d then have to wait 11 years for a later born new champion via Seb’s dominance, followed by seven straight titles between 85’ born Hamilton and Rosberg until we got to Max Verstappen in 2021.
Now, the timeline is about to be reset via McLaren. Barring a miracle, this years Championship will be won by either Lando Norris (1999), or F1 will have its first 2000’s born World Champion via Oscar Piastri (2001). But I do wonder – Who would be F1’s “Lost Generation”, the guys between Seb and Max who never won a Championship, but probably could have if the top of the sport was so stacked?
Daniel Ricciardo (1989) – 258 Starts, 8 Wins, 32 Podiums, 3rd in 2014 and 2016
For me, this might be the big one. Ricciardo bursting on the scene from Toro Rosso, walking into Red Bull in 2014 and beating the reigning four-time Champion in Vettel was a revelation. He was charismatic, smiley, didn’t take himself too seriously, but was exceptional behind the wheel. Some of his overtakes and overall racecraft were exceptional. In 2014 and 16, he was a genuine contender for the best driver in F1 that season, purely because Mercedes was completely untouchable – They only lost 8 races their first three seasons of the V6-hybrid era.
Ricciardo would go on to win 8 GP’s, and arguably, didn’t have the best car in any of them. Between 2014-20, Ricciardo was a Top 5 driver in F1, and even his pandemic season with Renault was brilliant. It saddens me that the McLaren switch completely detailed his career with how it just didn’t mesh with the Aussie’s driving style, leading to an early buyout, and then a failed reboot with AlphaTauri/Racing Bulls in 2023, with Daniel essentially burning out from the F1 world in record time. But for seven years, Ricciardo was up there with the best, and that’s a hell of a run.
Valtteri Bottas (1989) – 247+ Starts, 10 Wins, 20 Pole Positions, Four Top 3 Championship Finishes
Sometimes you can be in the wrong place at the right time. Valtteri Bottas broke in at Williams when they were fed up with Bruno Senna and immediately became a solid piece at that time, including qualifying 3rd in Canada. He became team leader at Williams as they nailed the 2014 regulation shift and became a Top 3 team overnight, peaking at 4th in the standings. The late Eddie Jordan said at the time that if he were building Jordan again then, he’d have gone with Val and Daniel.
When Mercedes needed a replacement for the shock retirement of Nico Rosberg, Bottas was exactly what they needed – A driver good enough to win on his own merit while being an unproblematic character and was willing to support Lewis Hamilton. In hindsight, it was quite sad given his time at Mercedes led to a lot of mental health damage for Val that he’s been open about, such as struggling with an eating disorder, as well as the mental stress of being #2 to LH to the point of giving up a win for him, but he still has a very solid resume – Double digit wins, 20 poles and two championship runners-up finishes is a great haul. In another team built around him, it might have been enough for a title. Probably the biggest victim of Lewis Hamilton’s peak.
Nico Hulkenberg (1987) – 247+ Starts, 1 Podium, 2015 Le Mans Winner
Technically, I can sneak Hulk in here because he was born a month after Seb was. Bang!
Hulk had a bumpy road as a driver. Glistening junior record winning European F3, A1 Grand Prix and GP2. Was dropped as a rookie for Pastor Maldonado but was a damn solid midfielder for Force India/Racing Point as well as Haas and Renault, with him finally scoring his first career podium finish earlier in 2025 with Kick Sauber. Won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Porsche as well back in 2015.
But Hulkenberg is one of the more recent fun “What If” stories that modern F1 could have had. For those who don’t know, if Lewis Hamilton had elected to stay with McLaren in 2012 when Mercedes were pushing hard to make him their star signing and Michael Schumacher replacement, Ross Braun admitted that next in line would have been Nico Hulkenberg, who was fresh off a return to the sport with Force India and later on that season would challenge for a win in Brazil before clattering into Lewis late on.
Now, I’m not convinced that if Hulk was in Lewis’ shoes at Mercedes that he would win a championship. Nico Rosberg was a far better driver in hindsight than we ever gave him credit for when he was actively competing. Barring 2015, Rosberg was close enough to Lewis for me to think that against almost anyone else, Rosberg wins that head-to-head. So we’d be looking at Rosberg as a multiple-time World Champion3, but Hulkenberg would certainly have had imo, a Bottas/Ricciardo-esque career. Hey, maybe Audi in the final chapter of his career can bridge that gap.
Sergio Perez (1990) – 281+ Starts, 6 Wins, 39 Podiums, Championship Runner-Up in 2023
A part of me feels bad for ol’ Checo. I think the end of his Red Bull run had the issue of being right in the midst of F1’s huge popularity boon and I think people either forgot or just never knew that Perez got to Red Bull in the first place for being the midfielder of F1 and just one of the best drivers of the 2010’s, period.
Perez’s 2012 season with Sauber was one for the ages for a midfielder. Came desperately close to a first career win in the Malaysian rain, and had two other podiums in Canada and Monza. He had a great knack for being in the right place at the right time, with eight podiums in cars that were never higher than fourth in the standings. His 2020, had him 4th overall, and win from essentially the back of the grid in Sakhir’s alternate layout race. He was so good, Red Bull broke policy of only hiring within their own ranks to bring him in over Alex Albon.
And say what you will about him, he’s the only driver Red Bull has had since Ricciardo left in 2018 that at times, has at least looked like a viable second driver alongside Max Verstappen. And given Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson all came and went, that’s worth something.
Checo’s gonna be in the 300 start club assuming Cadillac runs smooth and while his Red Bull career had more bad days than truly great, his midfield alchemy and loyal Mexican support is what I’ll always remember him for most.
Carlos Sainz Jr (1994) – 226+ Starts, 4 Wins, 28 Podiums, 5th in Championship Three Times
I think Carlos Sainz Jr is going to be discussed in very interesting ways by the time his career is all said and done. He had to work very hard to shake off just being “Max Verstappen’s other teammate” when they first got into F1 together and Max was pushed to the moon faster than Sheamius was in the WWE.
Carlos had to find his own path. He became a talismanic staple figure for Toro Rosso, cracking the Top 10 in points both there and with Renault before doing the same again at McLaren. All that workmanship was what eventually got him a shot at Ferrari. The problem there though, was running into the prime of Charles Leclerc, another generational talent4. And while Carlos absolutely had his moments in the sun, including a chaotic win at Silverstone, and a tactical masterclass in Singapore, he was never quite on Charles’ level during their time together. What Carlos has shown to me though, is that he’s a consistently very good driver with a high floor, and outstanding racing intelligence, often able to call his own number behind the wheel. And a first podium finish for Williams in the James Vowles era was a nice reminder of his class.
Your turn. Who are some of your talents you appreciated most during this great transition period between the excellence of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen? Reach out to me on social media and let me know. Until next time, thanks for reading!
- Huge F1 fan, it’s never mentioned. ↩︎
- And if anyone claims it was only a Big 3, bite me. Man won 3 Grand Slams and 2 Olympic Gold Medals in THAT era, while spending 41 weeks as World #1. It’s a Big 4, and if Stan Warwinka says so, that’s good enough for me. ↩︎
- One more thought – If Rosberg didn’t have to work as hard as he did in 2016 to win that title, would he have still retired at 31? Nico, write the friggin’ book already. ↩︎
- Who I couldn’t include in this piece because he was born 16 days after Max Verstappen was! ↩︎
