Over the years, the automotive industry has seen major technological advancements. Systems such as traction control, torque vectoring and turbocharging were all once the stuff of dreams. This advancement in technology has broadly separated automotives into different eras. Obviously, by acting as a hardcore proving ground for car manufacturers over the years, Formula One has also seen its fair share of eras. The mid-eighties, for instance, were largely based on turbocharged engines that churned out unimaginable sums of power while the current decade has seen aerodynamics take center stage.
In the duration of all these eras, we have seen different breeds of cars seizing the spotlight and then moving away from it. Many have their opinions; some may be based on just the aesthetics while the others may have been influenced by the drivers. All opinions matter, yet, we must remember that those who have driven Formula One cars of multiple different generations know best.
Karun Chandhok ‘s Pick
One of the very few individuals to have driven some of the most iconic racecars in the history of Formula One is Karun Chandhok, an ex-Formula One driver, a Sky Sports Formula One pundit and a Williams Heritage driver among a few of his occupations. For the entirety of his life, Karun, who is my biggest broadcasting idol, has been in the thick of motorsport and his experience is unparalleled.
The 1992 FW14B was Karun Chandhok’s dream car growing up, but it isn’t his favourite from a driving perspective.
When I asked him whether the legendary 1992 Williams FW14B, in which Nigel Mansell won his only World Championship, was his favourite car to drive, Karun replied, “Emotionally, yes. But I would say actually that the 2004 Williams-BMW (FW26).”
Emotional Favourite vs The Genuine Pick
“I believe that 2004 was the peak of F1 performance. The cars were about a hundred and thirty-five kilos lighter than they are today with still more or less the same amount of power. So the power-to-weight is probably worth five seconds and you know, 19,000 RPM; they were unbelievably quick cars and sounded fantastic. Plus they had a tyre war so the grip these cars had was just immense.”
“I believe that 2004 was the peak of F1 performance.” – Karun Chandhok
“You look at the lap records and so many of them from 2004 only got broken last year or the year before while some of them haven’t yet been broken. For F1 to break the records, they had to increase the size of the tyres by such a huge amount as well as ramp up the downforce in 2017. That just shows that 2004 was the absolute peak of Formula One performance.”
Just how good were the 2004 cars?
Considering the fact that even today, eight circuits that haven’t changed their layout since the 2004 season have had their race lap records set in that very year, it is hard to dispute with Karun about the year in which Formula One performance was at its absolute peak.
It might not have been the most exciting of years for on-track action but the sheer performance of the cars was enough to make it a memorable season.
Do you share the same opinion as Karun Chandhok does?
Which era was the peak of F1 performance according to you?
Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments!
Follow Karun Chandhok on Social Media:
- Twitter – https://twitter.com/karunchandhok
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karunchandhok/
Image Credits: Karun Chandhok’s Twitter Page
You might also like
