Have these two missed the boat in F1?

There once was a time when Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg each potentially had the Formula 1 world at their feet.

Hulkenberg, now 27, won everything there is to win at the junior levels and remains the last driver to win the GP2 title in his rookie season back in 2009. Grosjean, 29, suffered a false start to his F1 career that same year (replacing Nelson Piquet Jr at Renault) and had a crash-strewn return in 2012, but by the end of '13 he looked to be the only driver capable of carrying the fight to the dominant Red Bulls.

Now, both find themselves still stuck in the holding pattern of F1's midfield. So what's gone wrong?

Well, Hulkenberg has run into a couple of unfortunate roadblocks since graduating to F1. He scored pole for the penultimate race of his rookie season in 2010, but then Williams opted to replace him with the well-funded Pastor Maldonado for the following year, freezing Hulkenberg out.

Hulkenberg is now paired with McLaren outcast Perez at Force India © LAT

He spent 2011 as a Force India reserve, got a race seat for '12, but when Lewis Hamilton's move to Mercedes left a seat open at McLaren for '13, it opted to take Sauber's Sergio Perez based on his podium-grabbing form. Another door closed.

Now, Hulkenberg is paired with Perez at Force India, and - because they are closely matched - suffers from the perception problem created by Perez only lasting one season at Woking. To an extent, association taints Hulkenberg.

It also does him no favours that Force India's current car is uncompetitive, making it extremely difficult to achieve the occasional eye-catching drives to big points that turn the heads of bosses at the bigger outfits. Some paddock insiders suggest this has demotivated Hulkenberg.

The German, who this season is dovetailing his F1 duties with a Le Mans campaign for Porsche, reckons he has been undone by bad timing in the driver market, but still holds on to hope that a bigger opportunity will eventually present itself.

"I think a lot about it is timing, and the driver market - how it was in the last few years," he says, when asked by AUTSPORT why he thinks he hasn't yet secured a top drive in F1. "There are a lot of good drivers around that have taken up good seats and then there's only a few numbers available.

"I'd very much like to think there's still an opportunity for me [to drive for a big team], but the future will tell.

"It's a bit of a disappointment that I'm not there where I want to be. I'd love to be in a car that's winning and capable of fighting for the title, of course there's a bit of disappointment there, but if you live in that thought it's not going to help.

"You have to keep working and look forward."

IS GROSJEAN TAINTED BY HISTORY?

Grosjean returned to F1 with Lotus in 2012, but he crashed - a lot - in that season and his reputation suffered.

By the end of the following year he was turning heads with some stunning performances, but by then the ship that could have taken him to Ferrari had sailed with his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen on board instead.

Grosjean's reputation took a hammering during the 2012 campaign © LAT

Had Grosjean's form in the early part of the season - where he battled braking instability caused by KERS settings he wasn't comfortable with - been better, things might have turned out differently.

But it's also true that it took Grosjean far too long to push the Lotus team to change the E22 to suit his driving style. Part of being an elite driver is playing to your strengths, and not always allowing experienced engineers to browbeat you into blindly following their calculated path.

Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery knows Grosjean's driving from a spell conducting tyre testing duties for the Italian manufacturer in 2010, and Hembery reckons he is certainly too good to be consigned to the metaphorical midfield scrapheap.

"We saw him when he was out of Formula 1 and doing our tyre testing programme and he was clearly exceptional," Hembery tells AUTOSPORT. "He went back into GP2 and really annihilated the field in that year, and then had a so-so year back in F1, and people were questioning him.

"But then he really knuckled down for his second season [2013] and got exceptional results. He's a very quick driver. He had a tough year last year with Lotus not being where they wanted to be. This year it's better for him, but tough to really show his true talent.

"You'll be surprised at how many people still look closely at Romain. I wouldn't be surprised at some stage if he isn't given an opportunity."

For his part, the Franco-Swiss driver agrees he and Hulkenberg are in similar situations, but he reckons they just have to remain patient and wait for their big chance.

"It's about opportunities," he says. "If you look at [Sebastian] Vettel and Lewis they come to good teams that are winning. [Felipe] Massa is also in a fast car, and the time will come.

"I was team-mates with Kimi before he got the chance to go to Ferrari and he was better than me in the first half of the year, when the contracts were decided, and he decided to leave.

"I was here [at Lotus] thinking we could have a good car in 2014, which was not the case.

"There aren't many cars that can win a championship and you have to be in one of those to win. Fernando was in the right place at the right time when he won. When Lewis left McLaren everyone questioned it and now he got the chance and he won another world championship.

"Someone told me that Hulkenberg and I were at the same stage, coming up at the same time. We have to wait for it and do our best. We are proud of what we can do. If I get a winning car, I hope I can win races."

WILL THEY EVER GET THEIR BIG SHOT?

On such small details as KERS set-up and contractual timing can drivers' careers blossom or wither. But it's also fair to say the current V6 turbo formula doesn't play to the strengths of Hulkenberg or Grosjean, which makes it more difficult for them to stand out.

Grosjean is very sensitive to braking instability so electronic brake-by-wire systems do him no favours, while Hulkenberg's style does not compute well with Pirelli's delicate rear tyres.

Hulkenberg will make his Le Mans debut with Porsche this year © LAT

But both still have time on their side, and some top teams may decide their extra experience still has great value when the time comes.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier, who knows Grosjean well from his time at Lotus, says both Grosjean and Hulkenberg are drivers that top teams such as McLaren continue to monitor.

"We keep an eye on them, of course," Boullier tells AUTOSPORT. "Especially Romain. I know him; I know his raw speed is very impressive.

"He was team-mate of Fernando [Alonso in late-2009] and he was a couple of tenths off only and it was his first year jumping straight in F1 with no testing. I think he's got a huge respect from Fernando.

"The bandwidth of the 'radio' in Formula 1 is very narrow. There are new kids on the block coming now and the problem is you have very, very few places and still more drivers than available seats.

"Last decade you had 10 top teams, because all the teams were [aligned with] car manufacturers. Now there are maybe four top teams, so there are fewer opportunities.

"In the case of Romain he is still paying the price, I guess, for his disastrous year [2012] when he was crashing all the time. Hulkenberg... I don't know. Both may have missed the opportunities, or may never have the opportunities as well."

And that would be a shame, for both clearly possess exceptional skill. It would be nice to see that potential fully realised.

In Thursday's AUTOSPORT magazine, BEN ANDERSON takes an in-depth look at seven under-25s who are all trying to become F1's next new world champion. Drawing on trackside observations, conversations with engineers and senior team management and an in-depth knowledge of each driver's career, AUTOSPORT investigates each one's strengths and weaknesses and explains what they need to do - on top of getting in the right car - to emerge as a champion.