The Legendary Villeneuve - Arnoux battle at Dijon 1979

We'd like to think that modern F1 has lost something of it's appeal & entertainment in the past 20 years. Sadly, it is very much the case that F1 has always been a bit pish to watch. Ok, so in the 60's & early 70's cars drifted thru corners, rather than being glued to the track as they have been since about 1980, but at the end of the day, what we're talking about is a 2 hour bore-a-thon involving about 24 single seater guided missiles, travelling at stupid speeds and waiting for the man in front to either break down or crash. Christ, folk whinge about speedway being predictable....

F1 today of course has a variety of artificial devices in place to ensure that the spectator has to at least think about the timing of his/her loo/tea/hot-dog breaks. Mandatory tyres that have to be used, even if they go off after six laps, KERS to provide a bit more power through conserved energy, little flaps on the wings that can be opened at certain designated points to reduce drag.....

By these artificial means, they will produce racing of sorts, which is better than nothing. Will it be be as exciting as the last two laps of the French GP of 1979 at Dijon ?(above) Probably not, though if the aim is to prevent you, the license fee paying viewer from nodding out into your scrambled egg & toast of a Sunday lunchtime, then they have undoubtedly succeeded.

F1, shite as it is, is no longer quite the cure for insomnia that it used to be,

In fact, I'd go further. I'd say modern F1 is more interesting and exciting that what was dished up 30 years ago. What nobody ever seems to bring up about the 1979 French GP was the fact that for 78 laps it was a dull, run-of-the-mill F1 race. Full of intrigue for the geeks, no doubt, but for anyone else, the first you'd have known anything was amiss was when Murray Walkers voice went up several decibels and woke you from your post Sunday lunch slumber.

Only difference between then & now is that today the drivers would have been arrested for endangering their lives and those of the spectating public, rather than being hailed as motor racing super-heroes.

Quite right as well. Bloody hooligans!