There were 24+ cars on the grid back then too so there was a lot of dross at the back. Last decent race I have watched in F1 was Canada 2011. It really has been that bad. If someone would list top ten races of all time I bet very few would have been from the last decade.
You are in pure denial if you think F1 is in a good place right now.
It's not in a great place, but it's in a better place than it has been many times in the past. Remember when McLaren won every race except 1? That was the 'hey day' of F1 according to some people. I wrote this on Pistonheads a few years ago, it still applies now (apologies about the links, they don't carry over):
Last year (I think) I wrote a long diatribe about how everyone has a major case of rose-tinted glasses about the so called hey day of F1 in the late 80's and early 90's and how it was some sort of amazing product that people lapped up. Believe me it wasn't.
Cars often finished double digit seconds behind each other. 1/3 of the field often retired with mechanical issues. It wasn't unheard of for only three or four cars to be on the lead lap.
Britain 1985. Mansell, Senna, Prost, Rosberg, Lauda. The times people rave about. Prost finished a lap ahead of second. A whole lap! If you don't think Alain was nursing his car like f
king buggery for 3/4 of the race then you don't know F1 at all.
Brazil 1989. TWELVE cars retired and 6 were on the lead lap.
Brazil 1992 TWO cars finished on the lead lap. TWO! The gap? 29.330 seconds. Enthralling I'm sure you'll agree. SIXTEEN cars retired. That's more than finished the race!
1995 British GP. Five cars finished on the lead lap. The last points paying position, 6th, was a lap down! Farcical!
Lets jump ahead,
2005 British GP. . Cars were getting more reliable it's true, but the gulf in money was also taking it's toll. Nine cars finished on the lead lap.
The 2019 GP 13 cars finished on the lead lap. There were three retirements. The Hass's crashed into each other (
) and Giovanazzi spun and retired. Reliability is streets ahead of where it used to be compared to even ten years ago. F1 wasn't 'better' then. Some just wear pink glasses and only remember the brief on-track fights that were sporadic in the extreme.
F1 wasn't 'better' by any stretch of the imagination back then. It was utter s
t compared to now. Races were more a test of reliability than driver performance. Cars were constantly babied, tyres too. All this talk of 'they raced flat out back then!' is utter horse s
t. And why does Murray get a free pass for making mistakes (and he made several per race) but when Crofty mixes up a car where the driver is hardly even visible behind the Halo everyone wants to rip him to shreds?
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To use your Hungarian GP story, Mansell started 12th in his Ferrari. 2.2 seconds behind Patrese on Pole. Last years GP first to tenth was just over 1.5 seconds. Mansell won with a breathtaking overtake of Senna when he was baulked by Stefan Johansson and Mansell was able to pass. He went onto win the race by 26 seconds. Boutsen was third, 38 seconds further back. Compare that to 2019 and TBH, I'll agree it doesn't make great reading. Four cars finished on the lead lap. But that only goes to show the dominance of Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, something the FIA and FOM are trying to resolve. Only 1 car retired, Grosjean with Water pressure issues. Thirteen cars retired in 1989, including pole sitter Patrese.
