From the drivers of the 20th century such as Gilles Villeneuve, Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher to the drivers nowadays, in the 21st century such as Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen there has been a drastic change in F1 driving styles. The evolution from aggressive to smooth styles is one of the more prominent things that comes to mind when one thinks about the evolution of F1 driving styles over the 70+ year history of the sport.
In the 1950s, we saw the first great F1 drivers emerge, Fangio being one of the best. With the sketchy cars, unpredictable reliability and unsafe monocoque designs, most laptime was shaved off according to how ballsy the driver was. The cars were easy to slide, especially with the thin tyres having a small contact patch with the track. Most drivers were aggressive and had to powerslide their way around corners in order to get the most out of the car.
In the 1960s, the emergence of F1 legends with the likes of Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham and Jim Clark, created a truly competitive era. There was a large proportion of drivers with an aggressive style, similarly to the 1950s we saw them sliding the cars around the corners, going sideways quite often. This was at the exception of Jackie Stewart, who was one of the first drivers in F1 history, to adopt a smooth driving style.
Transitioning to the 1970s, the ratio of smooth to aggressive drivers remained. Niki Lauda and Emerson Fittipaldi being the great names to possess a smooth touch to the car. James Hunt, on the other hand, was wildly aggressive, similar to Gilles Villeneuve’s tail-happy driving style. The cars were getting faster and faster, with the death toll of 13 in the 1970s remaining similar to 15 who died in the 1950s.
In the 1980s however, the death toll was only 4, after more consideration into safety features in the car were made. Adrian Newey, in his book ‘How to Build a Car’ recalls having to balance off performance and speed with the safety and structural integrity of the car. The cars got relatively safer, with drivers taking advantage of this to push them to their absolute limits. Prominent figures like Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost emerged, all with relatively smoother styles than the previous decade. It seemed like the ratio of smooth to aggressive was becoming more even.
In the 1990s, a rebirth of aggression was seen with Michael Schumacher, Jean Alesi and Jacques Villeneuve. The cars were becoming evermore reliant on aerodynamic grip and downforce, as technology advanced rapidly. Overall, despite the few key figures with aggressive styles, the majority of drivers were transitioning towards a smoother driving style, with the likes of Rubens Barrichello – who somehow managed to right-foot brake, despite not having a clutch pedal –, Mika Hakkinen and Robert Kubica.
Fast forward to the 21st century, in the early 2000s, the screaming V10s flooded the sounds of the racetrack. Cars were extremely quick at this stage and were doing lap times similar to the next decades’ F1 cars. The transition of aggressive to smooth driving styles were analogous to the dodo becoming extinct. Aggression was becoming less popular as a practical, all-rounder driving style. Smoothness was key to being consistently fast in the races, but not so important in qualifying.
In 2009, ERS was introduced into the sport but was only widely used by teams in the early to mid-2010s. The cars were now very reliant on downforce, and as the ERS systems were being developed, drivers had adapt to a new era of driving styles. Further, the tyres became softer and the characteristics of the compounds meant that smoothness was vital for both the qualifying and race session. Sliding around was not longer viable, with drivers being more gentle with loading the car up in the corners.
That takes us to today, in the 2020s, where the driving styles are biassed towards the smooth end of the F1 driving style compass. Similar to the late 2010s, smoothness was practically the only way to be fast in both qualifying and races. With heavy cars, reliant on electric boost from the KERS system, it is now a very data-driven sport. Drivers, if they have any chance of driving near the limit of the car, have to master their car setup and tweak their onboard brake bias, differential and ERS strat mode. Further, the calculative use of telemetry to find where drivers can shave off laptime is commonly seen in all teams’ garages. Before, it seemed like car setup was only 20% of the picture, but now, it seems like 40%.
Of course, this is not to discount the driver’s driving ability and how well they can adapt to the car. It goes without saying that the greatest drivers in the history of F1 are the ones who can drive fast with any car, any track, any opponents, any weather condition and most importantly, any driving style.