Quote:
Originally Posted by arcsine
I find it interesting that I can watch the Senna at Monaco video and at least play along in my head of what that must feel like, sound like, be like to do that. You have a wheel, throttle, brakes and a gearshift. I can allow myself the impertinence that if I got in the car I could get the car around a track. Maybe not very fast but then again maybe not slow either. The modern cars I cannot do the same. Sure you have the same wheel/throttle/brakes/shifter but you also have umpteen controls on the wheel that you have to adjust on the fly. Listen to your engineer. Use the tires in a controlled manner to get them hot but not too much. Same with the brakes. Don't follow too close because the aero disturbance will shred the fronts. Watch out for wind in the turns as that upsets the aero as well. Etc, Etc.
I guess that is a reason that F1 has lost its luster for me as I can no long play Walter Mitty. I cannot begin to imagine driving the car and paying attention to all the things that you must. The margins have become so small and the engineering so sharp some of the romance has gone. As a geek scientist, I appreciate the what has been achieved in the car and its' capabilities in the right hands but I have become disconnected and not sure if I would call it racing anymore.
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Part of what you are seeing is less driver error.
As the $$$ involves gets greater, the talent pool gets bigger.
There are still gentleman drivers today and back then; but at the front there are more hardcore pro's than in times past.
A grid of "Senna's" would make for a parade based on how fast each car was.
What makes F1 interesting is when the margin of a better car and inferior driver overlaps with the margin of an inferior car and a superior driver. These are the moments we tend to remember.