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I've always wondered could vettel or Alonso beat drivers like hill in his Williams or schumi in his benetton or alesi, Berger and ferrari or Prost and senna. Wonder who wouldve won if vettel was in hills Williams against schumi or Alonso in schumies benetton against hill.

Fucking good question, well done for asking it. My assessment is that you have to go on wet weather skill as that is the closest approximation to those cars and those conditions.

Who is good in low grip? We saw that in the wet this year, and in Texas this year. In the 90s you had to make steering corrections almost constantly. These days you have to take your line and not make many movements.

It's no coincidence Schumacher suddenly qualified 6th in Texas. The Merc is not worth shit. Unfortunately the Coanda scorched the rear tyres in the race rendering him uncompetitive, but the reason he was fast is because he knows how to drive in those conditions.

Brazil 1994 and Imola 2005 took place in similar conditions (rain and then slippery track), and it's not the same as wet conditions exactly, but Schumacher was supremely fast in those conditions. To be honest, I would say Vettel and Hamilton would be the best.

Hamilton reminds me of Schumacher, Vettel doesn't really but they are all good in the wet. I suppose you have to throw Button in as well. Alonso, hmmm I don't know.

Awesome reply, I do also see schumi in hamo, just by plain and simply and suddenly adapt in the changing conditions and like you said button ,as this guy is a wiz in predicting the weather and nursing his tyres in saying that I still think vettel can't handle the pressure in the wet as well in the dry Canada 2011 button just coasted past after a rookie mistake. Vettel looks so dominate because 90% of his wins are from front row, when he is at the back and has to fight through he often makes mistakes.

Button made mistakes in the very race you are referring to - Canada 2011 - an incident with Hamilton then Alonso, and both were taken out of the race. One can go rounds with fault, but these things happen at times in the wet as a faster car is making its way forward. So I don't think that is a good basis for judging. Especially considering both Button and Vettel have had great runs in the wet.

Nonetheless, it is impossible to say how they would do in the past. They would be different because they would have to adapt their styles to those times, so it is quite a stab in the dark to make a guess about it, imo.

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since schumi was winning 20 years ago, i would say him lol. but in seriousness. i have no idea. i think that maybe the most experienced drivers who have raced long enough that you could say that they raced in different eras in the technical rules. Id say that 2000-04 is an era, then 2005-08 is an era cuz thats when all the crazy winglets started to pop up and the cars were glued to the track, then id say that 2009-12 is an era. id say that the drivers who have raced in all three of those eras and have coped with the changes would be able to cope the best 20 years ago. so thatd be Button, Alonso, Raikonnen, and Webber

Main reason Iam asking is that you look at schumi, no one can't deny they expected success from him 2nd time round, so why didn't he, I think his true driving ability and pace was still there was it because today's cars are so different, he relies so much on phisically testing the car not these simulators. It's like you playing your dad on a playstation 99% of time you'll kick his ass as he didn't grow up around these type of things, see what Iam getting at here, as I believe if schumi and vettel went hit it out in 1995-97 I think schumi would win hands down, do to his expeirence with them cars. Just a theory tho, technically you could not compare eras are totally different

Am I the only one who doesn't see Schuey in Lewis. Sure they both have outright speed. But Lewis doesn't have anything like the concentration, consistency and versatility Schuey had in his pomp. For me Nando is the closest to Schuey. When he has the car he can get pole positions like anyone and when needed can pump in consistent race laps, lap after lap. Think a good example was when FA rejoined Renault. Most races he had to go all out Qualy laps all race pretty much and that is what MS could do in his day.
On topic I think any elite sportsman can be successful had they been a generation or whatever before. Like in F1, the drivers have come through all the junior formulas where they are all about controlling the car and more like the basic controls of an F1 car twenty years ago just without as much raw power.

Good question but it's impossible to answer. I think if you give the current drivers time to drive with cars from the nineties they can eventually become competitive too. There will be many mistakes at the start but they will learn from those. I remember Massa struggling when traction control was banned. But he eventually found a way around it.

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F1 fan since 1989

Yeah I remember massa becoming some sort of a donuts specialist he could hardly ever keep it pointing in the right direction, I just wish they would go back to the cars of around 95-97 where the overtaking was better than now due to alot more mechanical grip, you seen how wide they look now omg, that alone I think would eliminate kers and drs and with today's safety I don't see why we can't have the old wider chassis back with improved safety.