I can think of 4 off the top of my head - Gilles Villenueve, Ronnie Peterson, Francois Cervert, and Stirling Moss.

I'd have to vote for Ronnie. He was awesome to watch race. Too bad he and Gilles never won a Championship. Jacque can't even hold his dad's jock.

All good picks. I'm not old enough to have seen any of them race, though from what I've heard, I'd vote for Giles. I've seen some clips of him in the Ferrari, and they were awesome.

Moss is also the man.

Deacon, the 4 you thought of are the four I'd think of. Maybe I'd add Jean Alesi to the list, always in the wrong place at the wrong time, team-wise.

F1 is full of stories of lost chances. The two that immediately come to mind are Alesi and Sandro Nannini. Nannini was a regular podium finisher until he nearly lost his hand in a helicopter crash. Even though doctors successfully reattached his hand, he never returned to F1. He continued to race after his recovery, and had a long successful career in Touring Cars.

Johnny Herbert is another tragic story, He dominated the British Formula 3 series, and signed a contract with the Bennetton F1 team while he was still driving for Eddie Jordan in F3. In his last support series race before joining the F1 circus, he was involved in a horrible crash that mangled his lower legs. The damage was so severe that Johnny lost an inch in height.

Incredibly, he was on the grid at the opening round in Brazil the following year. He scored points, but paid the price. He was in so much pain that his driving suffered at subsequent rounds, and Bennetton cut him from the team.

What about more modern: David Coulthard. Just shy of 500 career points (only three men have won 500 career points or more) and never won the Championship.

My real vote goes to Gilles.
My heart goes to Carlos Reutemann, Mr "bad luck".