Sorry if this is me:
I do not intend to take anything away from today's drivers, but as you say, they were gentlemen who excelled at a very basic, or even raw, art form. In spite of the fact we are talking about F1 drivers, the previous drivers, besides not having the technology that is available today, had to contend with something that today's drivers have almost no worry of - death. Today's drivers practice on simulators for a long time before they put a wheel on the track and even then, it is almost inconceivable that one will die no matter what miss hap should befall them. It is certainly a good thing that it is a rare circumstance that a driver will die in a race car. And that fact may actually allow today's drivers to be "more skillful" since they have much more control over their car due to technological improvements and also because driving over the limit will only be momentarily embarrassing (and expensive) whereas before a driver could be seriously injured or killed.
Of course, the concept of "gentleman" seems to be a thing of the past. Again, this is not a knock on today's drivers, but that is something that geezers like me morn.
As good as today's drivers are, I think the performance of the drivers up to the Hill/Clark era and even up to the Senna era deserve a lot more credit.
[/rant]
