current F1driver vs. yesterday F1 drivers

Nope. It's the car and designer these days. Having said that, i highly doubt yesterday's drivers could withstand the G forces of today's cars.

 

IMO the drivers level of fitness is alot higher than it was, the level of inherent talent probably similar.

 

F1 drivers need talent no matter what period. And they all have it in varying amounts.

Drivers of the fifties needed huge appendages to risk limb and life every time they entered.
Today's drivers are relatively safer but probably have a much deeper understanding of technology compared to the Fangios and Gonzalez.
So the mix of what a driver needs is changing a bit. That mix is different from talent, call it skills or experience.

They get that mix as they grow up through lesser formulae. By the time they hit 20 they are ready for battle. Which is why a e.g. 50 year old Fangio could win his F1 WDC back then would be hopeless in today's cars. However a 10 year old Fangio growing up today might have what it takes by the time he is in his twenties.

 

I think it would make sense that the overall level of sheer talent, not to mention physical ability, is higher today than it was yesterday. Just the sheer amount of money and much larger pool of potential drivers would lend itself to it being a more competitive and more talented group. Kind of like the NFL today has 32 teams, drawing from a huge number of college teams, with 120 in division 1 alone.

Not to say that the top world champions of the past were necessarily less talented or wouldn't stand a chance against the drivers of today, but the talent across the grid today is on the whole much higher than the talent across the grid years ago. Thus, the drivers at the top of the formula one grid today would likely be among the same or higher level of talent as the drivers of yesterday.

 

There are so many "if"s to this subject. Talent is talent, and many of the other variables are relative to the period in which drivers raced. Niki Lauda talked about the importance of fitness back in the 70's, but the regimens were relative to the demands of the sport. So if you took a 1977 Lauda and teleported him into a 2010 chassis, the car would kick his ass. But had the drivers from earlier eras come along later, they would have still risen to the top.

What I think the underlying difference with older drivers--and I've made this point umpteen times--is the mindset they possessed racing in an age where death hung very closely over their shoulders. These guys were men to the current generation of...well, grown teenagers (they're not boys). I actually believe more recent drivers who have received criticism for aggressive or dirty driving (Schumacher, Webber, Alonso) would have meshed better with past generations. Not that they used to drive dirty, but that they had a tougher approach to the sport. I mean, as a random selection, look at this lineup from the '77 USGP:

Mario Andretti
Niki Lauda
Jody Scheckter
Patrick Depailler
Emerson Fittipaldi
Jean Pierre Jarier
James Hunt
Gunnar Nilsson
Jacques Laffite
Brian Henton
Ronnie Peterson
Clay Regazzoni
Hans Joachim Stuck
Alan Jones
Jochen Mass
John Watson
Alex Ribeiro
Carlos Reutemann
Vittorio Brambilla

I don't see a lot of whiners and prima donnas

 

Good point.

The guys who raced in the fifties just lived through WWII and death was part of their lives. It wasn't such a big deal as it is today. We see that in the way war casualties are reported in the news and how the public reacts to it: While every life lost is tragic the numbers of e.g. the war in Iraq are "peanuts" compared to what went down in WWII (not trivializing here the lifes lost, just making a comparison).

However don't mix up dirty driving with a higher acceptance of risk: Some of the older F1 drivers commented on the stunt MS pulled on Rubens in Hungary and they said they would have never done that. Simply because they (in the position of MS) could have just as easily been killed.

So: While today's F1 cars are clearly safer they also seem to give the drivers a wider zone "to play with".

 

MS could have been easily killed if he would have locked wheels with RB it is MS that would have been more likely to have been thrown over or on top of the pit wall upside down.

A very good friend was killed in China on the Zhuhai circuit this year in a formula car crash that happened in a similar way.

 

I don't believe fitness is a factor. Yesterday's drivers were working off a different set of criteria for fitness at the time. They'd likely have similar fitness levels to the current crop if they were racing now..

Wow, quite a high percentage of GP race winners in that 77 US GP. Hmm, how many in 2010....? 10 ? I guess it isn't that far removed ....

 

Conversly, would any of today's drivers fancy doing 190MPH...in the wet...with 4" tires...and drum brakes...with 646BHP...wearing a linen helmet...no HANS device...no Nomex...no seat belt...on a track with trees lining the course...with no ambulance or medical helicopter standing by?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

fantastic photo

 

You have to be a lot smarter to drive today than you used to. All of the adjustments just from the cockpit. Could Fangio still drive fast, while making numerous adjustments? But could today's guys drive fast next to trees, poles, and buildings? And like some other guys said, it is one to thing to go fast and be pretty sure you'll be ok if you crash. It's another beast knowing if you crash, you die.

Also...The times now with all the drivers programs and all of the karting associations, etc. Basically what I'm saying is: Today, we find the best of the best. But back then, did they? Was the competition as tough back then as it is now? Not taking anything away from those guys because the attachments those guys had to have...

Alex

 

Probably. if that was the best 2010 could offer .

 

The cars, drivers and tracks of 1937 are far to my liking than those of 2010!

 

Agree 100 % !!

 

The question here is the size of their talent, not the size of their cojones

There's tons of thugs that hop on their hayabusas every weekend with no helmet and do 186 down the freeway on about three square inches of contact patch. Are they more talented than our formula one heroes?

 

You can make a similar case for the drivers of the 20's and 30's.

BTW Its interesting to hear the comments of the contemporary drivers when they get into vintage machines. The respect level is very high. Particularly when it comes to stamina. While the drivers today are more fit, in some respects at least, in the past the cars took a lot more strength to drive, were more punishing, and races lasted a lot longer.
In the end these comparisons are impossible but they do make for some good speculation.

 

+1 Yes agreed. The drivers of today have many more things to help them in attaining levels of fitness diet info, better training ect also simulators.

Not saying the likes of yesteryears drivers would not take advantage of these things, so it is hard to make a judgement, but common sense would tell you as times move on the levels of knowing what is best to achieve the best results will improve.

Well the likes of James Hunt may not have listened to, whats best for you advise, but thats why I liked him..

 

that about sums it up

 

Having studied this in great detail I have come to the conclusion that the basic raw qualities of top line racing drivers has not changed in 100 years. The difference is that it is applied differently as the cars and the nature of the sport has evolved. The driver has always been important and at the top level they are all very talented with very minor differences making up the spread in the field.

Allied to this is the importance to a driver to have a car that is competitive and this also has always been the case right from the days of having an Auto Union to driving a McLaren today. The fact is that the best drivers find themselves normally in the best cars because the top teams want the best and will pay for it as part of the costs of going racing to win.

'The more things change the more they stay the same ' Denis Jenkinson

 

If the modern cars raced on the old race tracks, passing would actually take place {and so would deaths}.

 

I added one

 

No mandated crashtesting/crashworthiness...no rollover protection...no fire extinguishing system...no fuel cells...

:-0

 

And if you were in a crash you hoped you would be thrown clear.

I guess that beats being burnt alive

 

I couldn't help but think of this thread when looking at some vintage chassis today.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login