Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon has been likened to
Michael Schumacher in his driving abilities, but is unlikely ever to get the opportunity to emulate the German's record successes in
Formula 1.
That is the view of Dixon's countryman and former grand prix star Chris Amon, dubbed the unluckiest man in
F1 – 1978 world champion
Mario Andretti once joked that ‘if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying!' – after miserable fortunes conspired to see him fail to win a race in the top flight even though he set no fewer than five pole positions and led on innumerable occasions during his 14-year stint in the uppermost echelon that lasted from 1963 to 1976.
Despite Dixon's triumph from pole position at the legendary ‘Brickyard', however – a result that propelled the Kiwi to the top of the IndyCar Series drivers' standings with 14 of the 20 rounds left to run – Amon fears the chance to go to F1 may have passed his compatriot by, even at the tender age of just 27.
“Unfortunately, I think it has,” he said when asked by the
New Zealand Press whether Dixon's window of opportunity had now closed. “Formula 1 tends to be pretty inward-looking these days and, because there have been one or two failures with recruiting guys from the IndyCar Series in recent times, I think teams are a bit reluctant to look at guys from over there.
“He (Dixon) did some testing with
Williams at a time when they had [Juan-Pablo] Montoya and
Ralf Schumacher and weren't really looking to replace either. Teams seem to like to pick their drivers up early and bring them through the system, in the way
McLaren have done with
Lewis Hamilton.
“I very much hope that's not the case, because he's certainly got the skill to succeed and run at the front in Formula 1. Sadly, I think Scott's not going to get that opportunity. I hope I'm proved wrong.”
![Scott Dixon celebrates Indy 500 victory [pic credit: IRL/Garrett]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/445088.jpg)
