Intro and methodology
These days in Formula 1, it’s generally harder to see driving style characteristics than you once could – certainly in the 1970s or the 1980s, and perhaps into the 1990s and 2000s. With every era of the championship that’s got more aerodynamics-dependent, it’s become a little bit trickier to see big differences.
In the 1970s, you could see huge variations in the way the drivers would unleash the cars. Jackie Stewart’s smooth inputs versus, say, the spectacular Ronnie Peterson. You could see a difference in pretty much every corner. Fast forward to the 1980s, and quite big variations in the way drivers used the turbo engines were detectable. Think Ayrton Senna with the anti-lag and the way he developed his throttle technique. There’s even a contrast into the 1990s, when aero was really starting to be a big performance differentiator. But the cars were still much smaller, agile and edgy, and you could see the difference between Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen. Then there were the different driving styles within the same team – Jean Alesi, for example, compared to Gerhard Berger at Ferrari.
Over time, two things happened. The first concerns the Pirelli tyres coming in for 2011. Fundamentally, the drivers all had to somewhat converge in their driving style as a result. With the Bridgestones and Michelins, or the Goodyears of previous eras, they were able to brake and lean on the tyres on corner entry. Particularly in the Bridgestone and Michelin tyre war days of the early 2000s, there was a lot of grip and support from the front axle. As soon as the Pirelli era arrived, that went away.
The other change is how the aero has developed. The modern cars are incredibly aero-sensitive – especially since F1 went to the much bigger cars from 2017 onwards. With these, drivers must be very careful not to slide them around too much. And the weight has gone up too, so as soon as a slight slide starts, or there’s even a little bit of movement, the pendulum effect of this extra weight must be countered. Any sliding also leads to overheating these very temperature-sensitive tyres.
This all means that the drivers are somewhat limited in their creativity, because ultimately race driving is an art form.
So much of driving in F1 nowadays is about getting the feel of the tyre and just trying to work it into a sweet spot and not overdo things. The drivers all must be so careful, even in qualifying, because
