To even get into F1 at its lowest levels you have to have started racing at a very young age, typically in carts, and them come up through the ranks doing well enough to get noticed by a team and will have gone through at least a couple of different race series generally. This is all public record and easily found with less than 10 mins of research. F1 contracts tend to be some of the most restrictive with Drivers lives being scheduled to within minutes typically in order to meet their promotional commitments to the team - one of the reasons Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes was because he got more freedom at Merc.
Don't forget daddy's cash:
Stroll:
Report: Lance Stroll's father spent $80 million to get son Williams F1 seat
And how about Leclerc being raised in a wealthy family in Monaco getting into F1 easily? Verstappen because of his dad Joe? Gasly from help of his wealthy parents. Not saying that is bad, since parents love their kids. But the skill ain't there when I watch it. With all due respect to Bottas, how in the hell did he magically become a God of racing when he switched to Mercedes? It's the car now, and they are easier to drive. Times are quicker due to the improvements in aerodynamics and safety (well, a lot of V10s still hold records) and because the car is easier to drive.
How many hours do you think Senna had in that car compared to the tiny amount of time Lewis would have got not enough to be able to drive it like Senna did that is for sure, never mind the potential insurance implications of doing so... Top gear did a series of F1 drivers in a very crappy car doing a lap of their circuit, they smashed "normal" drivers times with ease.
Well, since I hear in the UK he is a racing God, how come the racing God wasn't able to adapt to Senna's F1 car so quickly? Surely, his ticket of getting in with help from his IT manager dad's money was a safe bet. Senna and Mansell would annihilate Lewis and his fellows on a race track with ease.
Simon, not trying to come off as offensive, but I actually looked this up before starting the debate here since I really believe in my argument. The best lap in the Liana with regular celebrities was made by Ellen Macarthur at 1:46.7. For the F1 leaderboard, this goes as follows:
1:42.2 – Daniel Ricciardo
1:42.9 – Lewis Hamilton
1:43.1 – Mark Webber
1:44.0 – Sebastian Vettel
1:44.3 – Rubens Barrichello
1:44.4 – Ben Collins (The Stig II; removed from the board)
1:44.6 – Nigel Mansell
1:44.7 – Lewis Hamilton
1:44.7 – Jenson Button
1:44.9 – Jenson Button
1.46.0 – Perry McCarthy (The Stig I; removed from the board)
1:46.1 – Kimi Räikkönen
1:46.3 – Damon Hill
1:47.1 – Mark Webber
(Wow, Masnell beat Hamilton, I predicted this) Not bad of Ellen, and she is a celebrity. Imagine throwing in a person who is actually a good driver, and not a celebrity, against them. We are comparing celebrities and racing drivers. Get in a person from gtr.co.uk on here and I would bet they would get somewhere between the 1:42 - 1:47 mark. Ellen is on par with Raikkonen, Hill, and Webber. Now tell me again how they "smash" regular drivers. They don't.
Now, to add more information to support my point take this video for example:
(A regular driver from Top Gear's celebrity segment getting familiar with an F1 car easily) Now tell me how it requires so much skills. It doesn't anymore. Just because Hammond drove Renault's F1 car and failed, doesn't mean regular people can't. I am certain so many folks on this forum would be able to drive the F1 cars very well.
Clearly you think current F1 drivers are pussies and I don't any kind of evidence or reasoning will convince you otherwise. I'll just reiterate my earlier point, they can only drive the cars they are given. If all that was available now was cars of the past then that is what they would be driving and still doing it better than the rest of us are capable of.
I said they're babies nowadays. Yes, folks like Clark and Senna would annihilate them. I guarantee a group from this forum would be able to top them. I would bet money on it. I would pay to watch it too. Just because mom and dad paid to get someone into carts doesn't make them magically better (ie. Stroll). You're born with it, like Senna and Clark, and even Schumacher.
There is also a physicality that comes into practice. F1 drivers will see an average HR or around the 160, with peaks over 200 and can regularly sit between the 170 and 190. Compare this to a NASCAR driver who sits somewhere around the 125-135 mark.
How about how Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart switched cars?:
Tony didn't seem to have troubles. Same with Andretti. Kimi Raikonnen had trouble with his Nascar stock car.
How about Jeff Gordon driving an F1 car?:
Not bad huh? Why? Because they're easy to drive.
The drivers merely train and prepare to drive the machines that are presented to them and within a few percentage it's a level playing field. None of us have any idea whether the drivers from decades ago would have the abilities to withstand the G forces and demands from the engineers for data etc more than likely they'd get blown away however I bet you my house the current drivers are physically in better shape to withstand heat, vibrations and general unpleasant driving conditions for longer than those from Jim Clark era
Sports in 2020 is full of data and pedants, so the drivers who best adopt to this environment are at the top.
Jim Clark era had fellows who skipped around the world in different areas to race in different motorsports. Have you seen the video of Clark in South Africa? Tell me more about how he could not withstand heat. Vibrations? You mean how underdeveloped the F1 cars were back in the day, yet they were able to sweep everyone off? No current F1 racer could handle those cars. If you lost speed, you would need to gain it back with work and not the super grip they have nowadays. There was also no safety, so they had to go through more mental obstacles. The new drivers are in better shape, but to call the old ones not as good drivers is an insult. I would love to see the analogy fitted with the NASCAR racers going into the old 50s stock cars. None of them would be able to compete at the level the older generation did, like the King Richard Petty. Man is in his 80s and tore the track of Goodwill a few years ago. You're born with the skill, and sadly I don't see any skill with the new F1 racers besides a small amount.
I see everyone disagreeing, yet not proving their points. I provided some links for you all to enjoy that proves my point. And I am surprised nobody mentioned anything about Tanner Foust or Travis Pastrana. There are so many real racers that have been overlooked in the past few decades who could annihilate them, but they never got in because of financial issues or because of no popularity.