Are F1 drivers really better than ever? Our writers have their say

“I don’t recall that there was such a competitive pool of drivers in any other season.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is adamant the 2025 Formula 1 driver crop is the most competitive of all time; his drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are the main protagonists in this year’s title race, with the field comprising multiple world champions Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso, among 10 grand prix winners and 15 podium finishers.

Does Stella have a point, or is there a better case to make? Our writers have their say.

Drivers just get better and better – Ben Vinel

It is famously impossible to compare Formula 1 drivers from different eras, but it also is rather obvious that they just keep getting better.

That’s the case in most – if not all – disciplines, partly thanks to advances in sports science. In track and field, records keep getting broken. High-level association football matches from 30 years ago look ridiculous in comparison to today’s fixtures, in terms of both technique and athleticism.

Likewise, current F1 drivers simply are more skilled than their forebears. Modern cars are faster and more complicated to operate than ever; physical training is infinitely more demanding than it used to be, with Michael Schumacher setting new standards in his days – no more regular smokers like Keke Rosberg or James Hunt!

Over time, budget mattered less and less when forming an F1 driver line-up, with post-2015 superlicence points requirements eradicating the likelihood of drivers reaching the world championship merely thanks to their financial backing.

And there simply are more talented drivers in junior series, meaning nobody that reaches F1 looks out of place. Nowadays’ super-tight results are evidence of that.

Let’s just remember that in the 1990s – not so long ago, or that’s what it feels like for some of us – it was not uncommon for Riccardo Patrese to be outqualified by Williams team-mate Nigel Mansell by one if not two seconds, with the likes of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Eddie Irvine similarly struggling against Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher.

All three were multiple grand prix winners; Frentzen and Irvine even contended for the title in 1999.

Nowadays, the gap between team-mates in qualifying almost never exceeds six tenths (well, except at Red Bull). That’s how good everyone is.

Then again, that’s not to say a Franco Colapinto would have lapped Juan Manuel Fangio in his time. That’s impossible to claim. But I’ll still argue that a 1950s-spec Fangio would be out of his depth in 2025 Formula 1.

This generation has the potential but 2012 shades it for now – Haydn Cobb

No fewer than six world champions featured on the 2012 grid, plus 2016 victor Nico Rosberg

Photo by: Emily Davenport / Motorsport Images

Comparing eras in sport is an impossible task but it doesn’t stop us doing it and provides hours of debate. While Andrea Stella’s comments weren’t meant in the theme of comparing the current crop of F1 drivers to any others in particular, it has got us wondering about where the 2025 grid would shake out against years gone by.

It is definitely fair to say the current F1 grid is the most prepared for the challenges of grand prix racing through the junior single-seater ladder, and the majority have titles and wins to prove their worth when they arrive.

And this year’s grid has three F1 world champions too in Alonso, Hamilton and Verstappen – with plenty others containing the minerals to become future world champions: Norris, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli and probably one or two more.

That easily tallies up to Stella’s estimation: “The new generation of drivers, they’re just so good, and now you have seven, eight drivers which are at world championship level. Like I say, I’m not sure this has happened before.”

Well, 2012 had a record six F1 world champions: Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel joined Alonso and Hamilton on that star-studded grid. Add to that future world champion Nico Rosberg, plus multiple race winners in Mark Webber, Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez, Daniel Ricciardo, Heikki Kovalainen – even Pastor Maldonado – and you’ve got a grid packed with talent and success.

So 2012 may edge it, but the potential for 2025 is there: half the grid are grand prix winners already and a handful definitely look set to join that list at some point in the future as a minimum. Can future years break the 2012 record? The potential is there.

Nothing is quite Senna vs Prost – Ed Hardy

1986 world championship contenders Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Nelson PIquet

Photo by: Sutton Images

It can be debated what Andrea Stella exactly meant when he used the term “competitiveness”. Did he mean that current drivers are all better than their predecessors, or is the McLaren boss referring more to how close he thinks the 2025 grid is?

That’s an important technicality to consider, as a season could be one of the most competitive in history but still fall short on quality. One could argue that’s been this year’s title fight, because as level-pegging as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been, neither can be considered the best driver.

Such an honour falls to Max Verstappen, who arguably would have already won the championship had his Red Bull car been as good as McLaren’s since the opener. So F1 may be pretty blessed with its current crop, but there is still one driver who is levels above the rest.

One generation, however, that was just as high on quality as it was with competitiveness was the late 1980s. It already boasts the most legendary rivalry in Ayrton Senna versus Alain Prost, but they weren’t the only stars of the show.

There was also triple world champion Nelson Piquet, plus Nigel Mansell who in another life wouldn’t have waited until 1992 for his crowning moment. Then there’s Gerhard Berger, Thierry Boutsen, Michele Alboreto, Riccardo Patrese, Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi – who all won a grand prix.

So the quality was high throughout, but particularly at the front, which featured four drivers – Senna, Prost, Piquet and Mansell – that were already F1 greats while still in their prime. Can the same be said about now?

There’s perhaps three current drivers who are certain to go down as legends – Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso – but only one is in his prime. I’m struggling to think of a fourth who is certain to join that. Of course some have the potential to do so, but we cannot know for sure, unlike the late ‘80s – which one could also argue remains the most iconic and popular era in F1 history…

Thanks, Andrea, but 1965 gets my vote – Stuart Codling

Pictured winning at Charade, Jim Clark overwhelmingly dominated the 1965 F1 season

Photo by: David Phipps

It’s fatuous to compare eras but fun nonetheless, so let’s go there. We are indeed fortunate to have a grid in 2025 composed of several world champions, plus a handful who are easily good enough to merit a drivers’ title.

Even those who might not be world-champion-grade megas are quick and competent for the most part.

I like Haydn’s suggestion of 2012 but I’m going to dial back further in time to 1965. Then, as now, there was one driver who was clearly head and shoulders above the best (because, let’s face it: if Max Verstappen had consistently the fastest car in 2025, he would have waltzed away with the title).

In 1965 the peerless Jim Clark won the world championship with three rounds to go, despite absenting himself for the Monaco GP to contest the Indy 500 – which he won.

Ranged against him was a veritable pantheon of champions past and future, plus several whose talent merited better results in an era in which the pace and reliability of grand prix cars was usually much more greatly differentiated.

Graham Hill, Jack Brabham and John Surtees were those who had already claimed the drivers’ title – and Surtees, of course, was a serial champ on two wheels. Future three-time champion Jackie Stewart was rookie of the year, third in the standings; Denny Hulme made his grand prix debut in a part-time campaign. Jochen Rindt had his first full year of F1 racing, albeit in a Cooper drifting from competitiveness.

Elsewhere on the grid you would find past and future grand prix winners including the brave and multi-talented Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren, Pedro Rodriguez, Lorenzo Bandini, Jo Siffert, Innes Ireland and Richie Ginther.

Essaying a part-campaign was a man believed by many to be the finest driver never to win a grand prix: the perennially luckless Chris Amon, of whom it was said (by Mario Andretti) that if he were to take up the undertaking trade, people would stop dying.

Yes, 60 years ago the field was shot through with quality – it’s just that one driver stood out even among the very best.

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– The Autosport.com Team