Consider cars, opposition, etc.....
I'm not sure I know enough about F1 to really comment, but I agree there should be an 'equal' option. All the best, Andrew.
Fangio. You made a mistake, you died. Period, lights out. No modern drivers have had to deal with that, and as result drive carelessly.
I think it was harder to dominate in Fangio's era as I don't think the cars were nearly as reliable that someone could string together wins and successful consecutive seasons as compared to now.
Have the FIA always blatantly interfered and changed race results through out the history of F1? Or is this a new thing?
Anyone who's looked inside a Maserati 250F knows just what kind of balls it took to drive one. For Fangio to do that so consistently with no driver aids, no seat belts, no protective flame suit, no fuel cell, no crash protection, ... it's hard to argue that anyone today could have taken locked that out of their mind and just driven as hard as they can -- right on the edge on every corner. Secondly, a lot of other drivers actually drove the same cars bought from the factories. The 250F was a favorite of privateers. So, you're competiting against fellow drivers in the exact same car. That makes it much tougher than today where car technology can make a huge difference in the ability to win. No question... Fangio's era was tougher.
Schumacher era. ** In the Fangio era, providing you where a very good driver, you could take extra risk (yours and others lifes...) to get further ahead. If you crashed, there was a good chance of killing yourself and others, or very significant injury. In the Schumacher era, you could take the extra risk and you'd end up either in the gravel or on one of the run off area's and be slower. If you actually crashed it wouldn't be lights out. A 100mph crash would normally not even hurt and you'd hop out and pop the steering wheel in. Have the same 100mph (or 60, for that matter) in the fangio era and you'd be lucky to break your legs. Frankly, if you drove anything else than a Ferrari in 2002 and 2004 you might as well have stayed at home and cried a little bit. **so err...both really!
I would say it was more difficult in the early days of F1. The reason being that safety was non-existent and most didn't have long careers. Try too hard in a modern car and a big off is a learning experience, back then it was your last race more often than not.
Not really true: The "Schumacher era" includes the year 1994 (and some before) and we lost 2 F1 drivers in one weekend. PS: I hate the term "Schumacher era". What's that supposed to mean? All the years he drove or the ones he got the championship? It includes totally auto everything cars, slicks, cars with no electronic aids you name it. I look at F1 in decades. The fifties vs the nineties for instance. Independant of drivers.
Golden Era IMHO was 1980-1990, a pool of World Champions and Greats; Villenuve, Prost, Senna, Mansell, Piquet in different machinery. Much more fun to watch as they had no Traction Control, or Auto Gearboxes, just slicks and balls.
+1 For me it is either the eighties for the reasons mentioned above or the seventies for the variety of cars where the "garagistes" still could make a real difference.
Say all you want about fat drivers and skinny tires and when men were men. I wouldn't dare say the Fangio era drivers were less but modern drivers have so much more equal machinery. Definately harder to dominate today. Schumi could have done it then too.
None of these, in my opinion. I thing the 1961-1965 F1 era was one of the most difficult, because the regulations were for cars that were relatively under-powered (1.5 L, about 200/21 hp) with narrow threaded tyres, NO aerodynamic aids yet, where precision was absolutely essential to be at the front. Drivers couldn't waste any power by being 'ragged', the accelerations were poor, and maintaining high corner speed was all important. It seems unreal now that world championships were competed on cars that were only slightly superior to today's Formula Ford!! In fact, the attraction of sports cars was higher than F1 then!
Thats pretty preposterous. So all the years he was struggling with the Ferrari are now suddenly defined as the "Schumacher era"? I wonder how Hill, Villeneuve, Hakkinen and Alonso would feel about that.
to me I'd take the argument a slightly different way. Id say the modern era is more difficult because I personally think it is more competitive. Now you have massive teams, engineers, talent scouts etc... all working to get that last 10th out of the car. Before, i think there was a much larger gap in knowledge, technology, engineering, between the teams. Then I think another thing to consider is the new "talent scouts." Look at Kimi... who would have let him drive back in the day? no one! He would have been too young and the "old school" mentality would have kicked in and said you gotta respect your elders kid... etc... Same thing with hammi... Then we have drivers who are practically bread and trained from birth to race. Not so in say the 50s... if you were a good driver... didn't have a family and had something to prove... you were in a car that was fast and could finish the race... you would likely win. I think the skill level is much higher, all throughout the team not just the driver.
Frankly speaking, it's an unfair comparison. Too many factors to look at and consider. Basically, in the Fangio era, you just show up and drive. No idea if your gonna be alive at the end of the race. The cars were basic, the circuit were basic, no safety standards, definitely lots of b*lls were required However, in the Schumacher era, things have changed. Sure, safety wise has improved, cars that are easier to drive, etc. But, fitness comes in, lots of testing, lots of discipline, lots of team work, etc. I think the Schumacher era was just too much of things to consider, and too complicated, compared to the simple days of Fangio. Having said that, modern F1 is boring as hell for me. Old is Gold!
Fangio era. MS had not only the best car, but an exclusive tire deal and a teammate that wasn't allowed to race him (Ferrari years). How much easier can it get than that? Throw in his talent and you have a dominant combination. Fangio won his five title with 4 different teams.
MS developed the car into the best car. In the Fangio era you could take your team mates car in the middle of the race if you had a problem. And Fangio made use of that.
