The Classic Team Lotus guys were not complimentary about Mansell. They didn't say that much about Clark, didn't have to, but they did say what a gentleman Ronnie Peterson was. Andretti didn't get rave reviews either.
I just missed the Clark era, starting to spectate at GP's in 1971. In period, Stewart was an irritating boy scout. In truth, F1 came second to endurance racing at that time, and my hero's of the time were the Porsche 917 masters - Rodriguez, Siffert, Elford, Redman and so on. Fittipaldi was the star of the early seventies, and still visits Hethel to see Hazel Chapman. A real gent apparently. Watching Peterson drifting a Lotus 72 round Woodcote lap after lap was a spectacle which may never be matched.
The current crop in my view are not in the same league, although its hardly fair to compare era's. History records the positions at the end of each race, and when you read the recent F1 results tome, you'll see that the champion each year may have won on points, but may not have been the most successful lap by lap.
Alonso stands out this year, but Raikkonen is clearly extremely talented, and in a better car would be even better. Button, Webber (and Coulthard) are good number two's. Button fluked his championship - right car right time, but the record books won't reflect that. It's no use having speed without reliability which has been Hamilton's curse this year. If that makes me sound passionate about F1 I'm not!!!! The last race I went to was 1986, and I don't watch the races all the way through on the tv now, but still have a passing interest.
