Things we miss about 'old' Formula One

It's become a bit of a taboo to talk about things that we considered 'better' in the past. The label that younger fans tend to trot out these days is 'boomer', which I find a bit cringing, but never mind. It's a shame that whenever people talk about the past, they are shouted down and told that things are better now and that we should be happy about it.

Watching that Schumacher documentary the other day made me realise how much I miss things such as:

V10 engines (or 'older' engines in general, V8s, DFV, whatever. I am constantly told that the present is just as good. It just isn't, to me.) In real life, there is no comparison in terms of spectacle, yet loads of people try to say that it is so much better because we don't need ear plugs and so on. I have absolutely no idea how people who have been to a GP can prefer a V6T over a V10, for example.

Open cockpits. Seeing the driver's head move around, it was their identity. At a GP weekend, seeing their helmet from the stands...you were watching them in real life...unfortunately we can no longer experience it. (I don't mean this as a bash on the halo)

Less 'robotic' drivers. I don't think I need to explain this one, although the recent crop do give me hope for a few laughs in the years to come.

What do you miss? I wanted this thread to be a collection of memories that unfortunately we do not experience any more, rather than 'it woz tougher in them days' type of comments. I love F1, it's not the same as it used to be, but I still love it. Any thoughts?

Edited by IrvTheSwerve, 22 September 2021 - 06:19.

Having been overtaken, a driver being able to slot in behind the car that's just passed them and thereby being able to apply immediate pressure.  Maybe the new regulations will bring this back to an extent.

Along similar lines, a dice lasting several laps, either with passes or just where driver A can stay fairly close to driver B ahead.  DRS has reduced both these scenarios to near-extinction.

Having been overtaken, a driver being able to slot in behind the car that's just passed them and thereby being able to apply immediate pressure.  Maybe the new regulations will bring this back to an extent.

Along similar lines, a dice lasting several laps, either with passes or just where driver A can stay fairly close to driver B ahead.  DRS has reduced both these scenarios to near-extinction.

Indeed, I think DRS has ruined battles unfortunately, as much as it has been necessary in modern F1. I think (as seen in the Zandvoort thread) passes = entertainment. Maybe there is a change in what the new fans think is 'entertainment' (I'm not berating this, by the way). Cars following each other closely, lap after lap, is a battle. Maybe some do not feel that way anymore.

I remember going to a race with my father (who is not an F1 fan at all), where Hamilton and Vettel were 1 and 2 for the whole race, within 1 or 2 seconds for the entirety. It was so exciting as they passed every lap. One mistake for Hamilton and it was over. My father thought it was really boring as there were no passes for the lead, but I felt it was really engaging and exciting; the battle for the lead. I think that is lost now, to some degree.

Edited by IrvTheSwerve, 21 September 2021 - 16:44.

Engines blowing up .... you never knew how a race would end. 

What do you miss?

• Drivers not running each other off the track at corner exit
• Drivers giving each other space during a fight
• No radio tutoring for drivers
• Clean looking cars without a zillion wings, flaps, winglets.
• Less budget -> teams focussed on the drive of the day without 200 people at home in the factory telling the driver which button to press now, which strategy would be better now.

And can I just say, I'd rather not have any sarcastic comments of 'I miss drivers not dying', or the like...that is not what this thread is about. Thanks. 

Nigel Mansell !!!

The obvious one is revs and the sound that comes with it, I think that is a no brainer. 

The other is twitchiness, the bigger cars of today look really planted, I miss them looking a bit twitchy. 

Cars that look like the Jordan 198

Oh, confused it with the 191. 198 is cool, but 191 still one of the most beautiful ones!

I miss the time when we were all just racing fans and not a demographic.
Jp

Edited by milestone 11, 21 September 2021 - 17:28.

I recently saw a video of Montoya at SPA where he has a massive lock up in the first lap. He was able to keep going without any issue. Today he would have pitted for new tyres and his race would have been done...

I miss the one-lap qualies.

High revs, gravel traps, Murray Walker, grid girls and old Hockenheim. Not necessarily in that order.

The thing I miss the most about the "old" Formula One was the fact that I was younger and therefore able to engage more emotionally in the sport.

I miss the one-lap qualies.

Refueling

If there’s one thing that isn’t taboo on this forum, it’s yet another nostalgia thread about how things were better back in the day.

That’s probably what I miss the most about old F1. My own ignorance and seeing what was then modern F1 through child’s eyes, not having anything to compare it to with rose coloured glasses.

That and Murray Walker, who effortlessly communicated everything there was to love about the sport to us in our living rooms, without trying to stir things up.

The big money tobacco sponsorship. I don't want the sport to advertise tobacco, but I just miss the big money, big names, and bold liveries that we had in that era.

Edited by ARTGP, 21 September 2021 - 17:46.

For me it would be watching the drivers power sliding through the corners with opposite lock and playing the throttle.

Ronnie Peterson in a Lotus 72 through Woodcote is still one of my most thrilling experiences of F1.

The thing I miss the most about the "old" Formula One was the fact that I was younger and therefore able to engage more emotionally in the sport.

The one above is really a more serious point that I made it look like with that " " emoticon, but of course there are more things I miss.

- Exciting engine sounds

- Lighter cars with more, as someone called in this thread, "twitchiness"

- More pecking order variation from season to season

- Less reliability = more uncertainty

- Less tarmac run offs = more punishing mistakes

- Cars being able to follow more closely and counter-attack

- Young drivers being able to rack up some serious mileage in F1 cars during testing

- SCs throwing races upside down because of closed pit lanes

- Less social media involvement

- People don't being afraid to race in the rain

- Off track dramas like spy gate, crash gate etc. There was always something to talk about

In summary- everything being less structured and more "wild" with a larger variety of possible outcomes

Edited by Anderis, 21 September 2021 - 17:55.

Slightly gritty/grainy television. Engine/gearbox explosions (except for Kimi's Mclaren).

Edited by ARTGP, 21 September 2021 - 17:53.

Some almost solo smart ass constructing a car in his own garage. It all feels a bit corporate.

And can I just say, I'd rather not have any sarcastic comments of 'I miss drivers not dying', or the like...that is not what this thread is about. Thanks. 

Like it or not, the improvement of safety standards has had a direct impact on racing. For example, nowadays people say the drivers of the sixties or seventies were cleaner. Of course they were, their life was at the stake. But it also made that the wheel to wheel racing, with cars bumping wheels, was nonexistent until the very end of the 20th century. The fact that the Villeneuve - Arnoux duel at the 1979 French GP is so well known only shows that it was an unusual situation. However, we see now contact at virtually every race.

Hour long qualifying with 12 laps.

Usually very little at first while I ate my lunch, then building to a peak at the end of the hour. You don't need action every moment to build the suspense.

Great in wet sessions, especially when rain was coming or there was a drying track and getting the lap at the right time was about reading the weather as well as the track.

Everything.

Watching it in the early 2000s then I had never imagined that from then on F1 would go in an endless downward spiral.

I'm afraid I will go against the mainstream opinion of this thread, but I think the current F1 is in a reasonably good shape, specially after 2017. Yes, the winner has always been the same 2017 - 2020, but we have seen plenty of on-track action and first Ferrari and then Red Bull have been able to put a fight. Also, there are exciting new drivers like Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris or Russell. In general, I don't think the last five seasons have been bad at all.

What I miss from the past (let's say the seventies or eighties) is the variability of the sport: the differences among the teams along the season could be very different, there were a lot of driver changes at the back of the grid, new teams... Now, the corporate uniformity of the sport means we always have the same ten teams, with the same drivers for a whole season and in a fixed pecking order.

lighter cars

refuelling

3rd spare car

Sunday warmup

no parc ferme

loud high rev engines

sexy grid girls

and most important...

...myself being 25 year younger

A mix of engine formats, like 1983 for example, I4, V6,  & V8 turbos and V8 & V12 NA.

Tyre wars with tyres that don't shed debris and could last more than a single race.

Twitchy cars with rubbish downforce - seriously, just enforce single element wings with unbroken surfaces, not a Gillette Razor lookalike.

Spectacular engine blow-ups to give randomness to the results.

Different race winners, 11 drivers in '82.

Bizarre aero solutions - see most of the 1970s

Spectacularly beautiful cars - see most of the 1960s

Things I miss:  Passing.  Much better tracks.  Good looking cars which didn't suffer from excessive sensitivity to wake turbulence.  

Things I don't miss:  Poor TV race directors.  Bernie and Max.  Ferrari favoritism.  Whiney drivers unable to take the sticks from their rears.

Banzai qualifying laps....Super sticky qualy tyres bolted on.A special qualy engine with bolted shut wastegates  lifed for just that one lap After that it was toast- Driver hanging his balls out of the cock pit and going for it!..Magical

Unreliability

Testing

Drivers actually driving by the seat of their pants and the car not being controlled from the pits

Sunday warm up

26 cars on the grid

The thing I miss the most about the "old" Formula One was the fact that I was younger and therefore able to engage more emotionally in the sport.

Indeed.

All-out actual racing with unpredictable results

Large grids

Tracks with grass and gravel limits that mean something

DNFs due to mechanical failures

Not having "tire strategy" - no stops, race to the end.  You pit, you lose (usually).

Everybody not sh!tting their pants every time it rains

Edited by maximilian, 21 September 2021 - 18:35.

How about T cars? #runforit

lighter cars
refuelling
3rd spare car
Sunday warmup
no parc ferme
loud high rev engines
sexy grid girls

and most important...

...myself being 25 year younger

Edited by milestone 11, 21 September 2021 - 20:00.

How about T cars? #runforit

Why run for the hills? T cars made sense  given the reliability of cars back then and the fact separate car set up for wet weather might be called for...Or in case of a shunt during practice/qualy..or even during the race

Definitely don’t miss refuelling, it baffles me why so many people bring it up on these threads.

I miss the flexibility to non stop though - the rule mandating the use of more than one tyre compound should be tweaked to say you need to use more than one in the event of making a pit stop.

If you want to put on hards and try to run non stop, you should be allowed.

Why run for the hills? T cars made sense  given the reliability of cars back then and the fact separate car set up for wet weather might be called for...Or in case of a shunt during practice/qualy..or even during the race

Run for the T car 

Helicam!

Oh, confused it with the 191. 198 is cool, but 191 still one of the most beautiful ones!

Definitely don’t miss refuelling, it baffles me why so many people bring it up on these threads.

 

I miss the flexibility to non stop though - the rule mandating the use of more than one tyre compound should be tweaked to say you need to use more than one in the event of making a pit stop.

 

If you want to put on hards and try to run non stop, you should be allowed.

This!

This topic has been done many times before, so not sure I'd describe it as a 'taboo' subject.

The comment on drivers being less robotic and having more character always brings a smile, as whatever period the complainer is alluding to you can be assured that the drivers were criticised as being robotic and without character.  Schumacher, Hakkinen, Coulthard.... just corporate blandness to me.  Montoya was the first guy to break that monotony, and then Alonso.

So err, things I miss....  That V10 Beemer engined walrus Williams being hustled around a track by JPM. In general terms, lighter cars.  The favoured gripe regarding engines is more noticeable trackside than on TV. And on the subject of TV, can we not have some jumpy/ grainy/ noisy in car footage again that shows the actual violence of being onboard rather than the perfectly smooth ultra HD noise muted sound of the soulless onboards of the last 15+ years.  The technology may be impressive, but that is the only impressive thing about it.

- shorter seasons

- proper in-season testing

- cars (including smaller teams) plastered with sponsor logos

- 10-6-4... points system (just easier to keep track)

- degree of unreliability/uncertainty we used to have up to the early to mid 00's

- little to no car park like tracks

- DRS free racing 

- smaller, lighter cars

- more cars on the grid 

Definitely don’t miss refuelling, it baffles me why so many people bring it up on these threads.

 

I miss the flexibility to non stop though - the rule mandating the use of more than one tyre compound should be tweaked to say you need to use more than one in the event of making a pit stop.

 

If you want to put on hards and try to run non stop, you should be allowed.

I enjoyed refueling for the strategic element + quicker race times vs refueling ban, though I don't really miss it per se.

I do think part of the bad reputation comes from Ferrari not having a (as) great saturday car in 2002 and 2004 and Michael overtaking everyone by going longer during the first stint.