Formula 1 has changed a lot in its 74-year history, whether it’s the safety standards or the design of the cars themselves becoming even more sophisticated.
Technology has allowed the cars to evolve dramatically with the advent of wings exploiting downforce, components that improve lightness, and regulations penned to specifically achieve a design concept.
F1 went back to ground effect cars in 2022 as part of a regulation change, an aero concept that has not been present since the 1980s.
The 2026 F1 season will be the first time the sport has tried active aerodynamics, with drivers being able to switch between aero modes.
It is a far cry from what F1 was back in the 1960s and 70s, when wings only just started to make their way onto the cars. One driver who was active during that period was Jacky Ickx, who remains one of the few to race for Ferrari at two separate points in his career.
Discussing the talent on the current F1 grid on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Ickx revealed which driver he thinks would excel the most if they were competing during his time.
Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesJacky Ickx thinks Max Verstappen would excel racing in the 1970s
Several drivers on the current grid have driven classic cars before for events like Goodwood and the Monaco Historic, including Charles Leclerc, Oliver Bearman, Alex Albon, and Lando Norris.
When asked which driver he thinks would excel during his period of racing, Ickx responded: “Of course, Max (Verstappen).
“Nobody can tell he has a better car than the others, but he’s still there. He’s growing, in a way. He has more recognition today than he had yesterday, because when you win nonstop, they say: ‘okay, he has the best car’,” said Ickx.
“Now, he doesn’t have the best car, but he’s still there. Of course, the McLaren has the car to beat (today), but I have a lot of admiration for the talent of this, because you have to be so good and so precise and so professional.
“In my time, you can’t qualify it as an amateur. We raced every weekend in different categories. In the early days, we had no sponsors, only technical sponsors.”
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Jackie Ickx says modern drivers now fight over milliseconds
Drivers in the early days of F1 were often fighting to keep their cars on track as much as they were trying to overtake rivals, but the margins are also a lot closer according to Ickx.
“We are in a total different world. Formula 1 has 75 years of age now, but clearly, in the 60s, the time of Jackie Stewart, Fangio, because you have to mention Fangio, all these people, it’s not the same world at all,” said Ickx.
“I have no nostalgia for yesterday, I have the nostalgia of the people I met who made the story possible for all of us. Bernie Ecclestone, for example, who changed the world of F1 into a profession, total professionalism. But modern drivers need so much talent. You have the best of the world, because you don’t fight for tenths of a second anymore, you fight for milliseconds.”
The recent qualifying session at the Hungarian GP saw Leclerc take pole by 0.026s and the top five positions all separated by 0.053s.