{"id":459559,"date":"2001-09-01T17:00:37","date_gmt":"2001-09-02T00:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=116705"},"modified":"2024-02-12T11:54:20","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T11:54:20","slug":"shiftless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/shiftless\/","title":{"rendered":"Shiftless"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you\u2019ve been following the ongoing changes in Formula One over the course of this season, then you\u2019ll no doubt be aware of the hotbed of controversy revolving around advanced electronics, such as traction control, semi-automatic gearboxes, and even launch control for standing starts. Enthusiasts and pundits alike, have expressed concern that racing a modern Formula One car has become more like a video game and less a test of a driver\u2019s skill to control the car.<\/p>\n

If we look back 40 years, to when Phil Hill won the Formula One Driver\u2019s Championship in his Ferrari \u201cSharknose,\u201d Hill\u2019s only \u201cdriver aid\u201d was a clean pair of spare goggles. For Hill and many of the subsequent champions who didn\u2019t benefit from these advances, racing a Formula One car required not only nerve and a certain \u201cseat of the pants\u201d sense of what the car was doing, but also the keen skills of threshold braking and accurate, lightning-fast gear changes. According to many experts, it is the loss of this last driver skill that has eliminated so much of the passing (and therefore excitement) in Formula One.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n