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Opinion: how important is age in Formula One?

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Opinion: how important is age in Formula One? | Top Gear

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In fact, does it matter at all, asks Natalie Pinkham?

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Opinion: how important is age in Formula One?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
In fact, does it matter at all, asks Natalie Pinkham?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
In fact, does it matter at all, asks Natalie Pinkham?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Opinion: how important is age in Formula One?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Opinion: how important is age in Formula One?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
Opinion: how important is age in Formula One?

# data.attributes.metatag[].attributes.content
In fact, does it matter at all, asks Natalie Pinkham?

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F1 is a sport decided by miliseconds, this year more than ever (the Hungarian qualifying was the closest top 10 spread in F1 history at 0.543secs). Therefore, youth is surely the ultimate performance upgrade. Quick reflexes, elastic recovery and an immune system that can shrug off a triple header like it’s a casual Sunday afternoon drive.

Or in layperson terms: remember when we could do back-to-back nights out as the warmup for a big weekend? And yet some of the sport’s most intriguing stories develop when the hands of time say a driver should be slowing down – their right foot, however, says otherwise.

Take Fernando Alonso, who at 44 is driving fast enough to embarrass racers half his age. His racecraft has been razor sharp in recent seasons, pumping in a P5 at the last race before the summer break. Then there is 40-year-old Lewis Hamilton who is searching for answers, and with seven world titles under his belt, talent is clearly not the issue. Plus, he is in a car that was put on pole by his teammate in Hungary, so he can’t blame the machinery. Attention has then turned to his age, and whether it’s to blame for his single lap performance.

This isn’t new. Damon Hill didn’t even arrive in Formula One until 31 – practically pensionable by modern rookie standards – and he took the world title at the grand old age of 36. I spoke to Damon: “I think it’s more about desire than anything. Alonso’s sabbatical fuelled his desire to come back and be successful, and that’s playing out now.”

Michael Schumacher’s comeback in his 40s, however, was a sobering reminder of the other side of the story. The genius and guile were both still there, as was his unwavering work ethic, but the combination of younger, hungrier competition and a car that wasn’t tailored to him meant that he couldn’t keep delivering the masterful performances that we knew and loved him for.

There are advantages to being older – your racecraft is honed to perfection, mental resilience tends to be stronger and your technical feedback is generally more precise. And, of course, training, nutrition and wellbeing have also come a long way. Alonso doesn’t drink a drop of alcohol, has single digit body fat and told me he’s the fittest he’s ever been and best he’s ever felt. And yet no one can defy nature indefinitely. With age, and more significantly parenthood, tends to come risk aversion... although try telling new dad Max Verstappen that.

Then there is the gaming generation, a whole haul of younger drivers who have sharpened their skills for years on their Xboxes and simulators at home. A useful trend that the older drivers missed out on entirely. In the end, age in F1 isn’t a straight line decline. It’s a wave – and one that Fernando is surfing sublimely right now. When will it crest and ultimately break? We’ll see. The only numbers that really matter in F1 are on timesheets, not birth certificates.

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F1 is a sport decided by miliseconds, this year more than ever (the Hungarian qualifying was the closest top 10 spread in F1 history at 0.543secs). Therefore, youth is surely the ultimate performance upgrade. Quick reflexes, elastic recovery and an immune system that can shrug off a triple header like it’s a casual Sunday afternoon drive.

Or in layperson terms: remember when we could do back-to-back nights out as the warmup for a big weekend? And yet some of the sport’s most intriguing stories develop when the hands of time say a driver should be slowing down – their right foot, however, says otherwise.

Take Fernando Alonso, who at 44 is driving fast enough to embarrass racers half his age. His racecraft has been razor sharp in recent seasons, pumping in a P5 at the last race before the summer break. Then there is 40-year-old Lewis Hamilton who is searching for answers, and with seven world titles under his belt, talent is clearly not the issue. Plus, he is in a car that was put on pole by his teammate in Hungary, so he can’t blame the machinery. Attention has then turned to his age, and whether it’s to blame for his single lap performance.

This isn’t new. Damon Hill didn’t even arrive in Formula One until 31 – practically pensionable by modern rookie standards – and he took the world title at the grand old age of 36. I spoke to Damon: “I think it’s more about desire than anything. Alonso’s sabbatical fuelled his desire to come back and be successful, and that’s playing out now.”

Michael Schumacher’s comeback in his 40s, however, was a sobering reminder of the other side of the story. The genius and guile were both still there, as was his unwavering work ethic, but the combination of younger, hungrier competition and a car that wasn’t tailored to him meant that he couldn’t keep delivering the masterful performances that we knew and loved him for.

There are advantages to being older – your racecraft is honed to perfection, mental resilience tends to be stronger and your technical feedback is generally more precise. And, of course, training, nutrition and wellbeing have also come a long way. Alonso doesn’t drink a drop of alcohol, has single digit body fat and told me he’s the fittest he’s ever been and best he’s ever felt. And yet no one can defy nature indefinitely. With age, and more significantly parenthood, tends to come risk aversion... although try telling new dad Max Verstappen that.

Then there is the gaming generation, a whole haul of younger drivers who have sharpened their skills for years on their Xboxes and simulators at home. A useful trend that the older drivers missed out on entirely. In the end, age in F1 isn’t a straight line decline. It’s a wave – and one that Fernando is surfing sublimely right now. When will it crest and ultimately break? We’ll see. The only numbers that really matter in F1 are on timesheets, not birth certificates.

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In fact, does it matter at all, asks Natalie Pinkham?