The Absolute INSANITY of Formula 1 in the 70s 

RIP 🙏🏼❤ Martin Brain (1970) Piers Courage (1970) Jochen Rindt (1970) Jo Siffert (1971) Roger Williamson (1973) François Cevert (1973) Peter Revson (1974) Helmut Koinigg (1974) Mark Donohue (1975) Tom Pryce (1977) Jansen van Vuuren (1977) Brian McGuire (1977) Ronnie Peterson (1978)

Only real ones know that the thumbnail is from a group b pic Edit: thanks for 54 likes!! Edit2: 66? Thank you guys this is the most I’ve gotten ever Edit3: 253 likes and top comment thanks guys!

Tom Pryces' death was probably the most senseless F1 has ever witnessed

Well done synopsis. Btw, you want to watch the haunting documentary of the 1973 season "One by One" (1974) aka "The Quick and the Dead" (re-released 1978), its truly a gut wrenching experience and difficult to watch with out tearing up.

For every lethal accident there are plenty of near-misses. The usage of carbon fiber in the 1980s made the cars safer, but the reason nothing too serious happened in the late-1980s and early-1990s was chance. Imola 1994 was a real wake-up call. Still, even in the more modern times some accidents could easily have ended far worse. Just think of Liuzzi almost decapitating Schumacher in Abu Dhabi 2010 or the start of the 2012 Belgium Grand Prix. We now find it crazy the cars had no cockpit protection back then, but it would take Bianchi's life before the halo was introduced. Without halo we would very likely have lost a few more drivers.

More than 3 have died since the 1970s if you include Maria De Vilotta and Jules Bianchi. They both died later as a result of injuries sustained in an F1 car.

Thank you to Sir Jackie Stewart for his endless dedication to F1 safety.

Back when death by crash had a yearly expectancy at least 1 driver per year.

Standing next to a Ligier f1 from early 70's once and hearing the fuel tank is situated like a "U" around the driver, with 2mm plate seperating the two. Then turning around and seeing a large photo of Jackie Stewart on the wall literally flying at the Nürburgring 4 wheels coming off the track, really let me realize these drivers were absolute heroes!

"The cars are too big, the cars are too heavy, the rules destroy the sport" No, it ensures the driver has a chance of survival in case of mayhem.

Formula One has simply gone insane. Not regarding safety - they have made tremendous strides forward in that, thank goodness. But, the endless, mad rush toward speed at all costs...coupled with reliance on technology to fix everything...is just crazy. Formula One was about the greatest driver(s) in the world. Now, it is about technology uber alles...as if tech is something to be worshipped. Bloody twaddle. This is why my favorite era in F1 was the early 60's, during the 1.5 litre Formula. Then, it was really about DRIVING- being smooth and precise - because one didn't have much brute force upon which to rely. Granted, the cars were NOT safe. But, at least it was about FINESSE. Now, it's only about brute force, combined with space program-like reliance on "blessed" technology.

Goddam it must have been in a blast being a fan of f1 in the 70s

I was at Watkins Glen in 1974 and Koinigg went off the track at the carousel directly into the armco. just off to my right All they did was come and cover up the car with a blue tarp, the race didn't even pause and kept going until the finish.

An F1 car jumping at a rally stage in Fafe, Portugal, during the 80's, is not the best way present the video. Too bad we are way seeing too much of these clickbait thumbs.

the thumbnail is just a pic from a group b rally with an f1 car photoshopped on it

Ayrton Senna 1st of May, 1994. Imola.

You gave him some credit, but I don't think you gave Jackie Stewart the credit he deserves.

As Senna's death was the wake up call for F1, it took another 7 years before NASCAR finally got religion after it lost its most famous driver, Dale Earnhardt. Part of NASCAR's problem was that there was a culture that dated back to the 50's about how drivers were these grizzled old moonshiners who couldn't be bothered with safety gear. Earnhardt himself eschewed the full face helmets that were becoming commonplace. Ironically, his helmet would contribute to his death at Daytona.

I actually got into F1 in the 60s, but the 70s had great moments. The worst part was the shortening of tracks.

my prediction for the future of F1 : we'll remake old F1 like (weight, length, etc.) and the pilots will control them in a simulator who control the car at a distance. So no need for safety, and we will resolve overtake problem and step up in ingieniery.

The FIA and eccelson didn't care Jackie Stewart had to campaign for years for basic improvement like doctor and medical facilities

8:14 - i've not seen the movie rush so i don't know if that is in it - but that is vitorio brambilla seemingly just inches from spinning into james hunt at the 1976 japanese gp - a collision would've handed the title to niki lauda.

that thumbnail was from group b

Nice vid Mate! These past guys are heroes surrounded by idiots, uncompetents and gridy slow learner... You should do one on the motorbike too " Continental Circus". Safety first for sure and if some find watching races boring, they can go on any track (tracks not road) and try there chance against the chrono...

The 1977 South African GP though, the video is so devastating

Rindt very probably would have survived, even walked away, if he hadn't for some reason refused to do up his crotch straps. This failure meant that when his car hit the barrier he 'submarined' - slid down - resulting in one of his feet being torn off and the other horribly damaged due to the hole caused by the front being torn off when the low nosed car went under the barrier. Most crucially, his throat was fatally cut by the belt buckle as he slid down. You can actually see he's submarining in the only (known) film of the crash, shown here (there are clearer copies around). The film starts during the crash, not at the beginning of it, though there's a still photo of the exact moment he struck the barrier.

The fans were really at risk back in the old days, for sure. It was crazy.

3:16 Umm, your table missed the fourth one. I probably don't have to tell you who's missing.

Forgot about Peterson’s crash, that resulted in the medical car always being ready in case of a crash.

You spent far too little time discussing the contributions of Jackie Stewart for fighting for the lives of the drivers of Formula One. He organized driver boycotts at some circuits to force removal of demonstrative safety issues. He did that in Can Am having a large tree removed from the run off area of a turn by getting the drivers to boycott the Sunday race. The tree was removed and was the site of a major two car accident that would have more than likely killed the two drivers if the race had been held with that tree in place. He was also instrumental in the development and forced adoption of safety helmets and fire suits. The race organization, owners and builders had zero interest in the safety of the drivers. They nearly considered them disposable. Stewart fought hard to change that. We all have a favorite driver. John Young 'Jackie' Steward is mine.

many drivers of the 70s were amateurs, many started racing at 18, there wasn't the same technical preparation as those of today. a driver today arrives in F1 with at least 15 years of experience.

why did you take slap’s insanity of group b rally video and make it about F1 in the 70s, same with the thumbnail. You just replaced the 037 with a f1 car

A lot of things are correct for a short video, but the deeper you go, the more often you are wrong and you quote random facts to the previously stated thesis. Johen Rindt's example, this car was designed with aero in mind, and for the monza they removed the spoilers to have less aerodynamic drag, the car was mega unstable because it was not how it was conceptualized, e.g. his teammate did not want to drive this configuration - you are right that safety was not something they were worried about, but why did the accident happen? Here the sequence of events and logic already contradict BTW lighter cars today may be safer than what we have, before 2010 they weighed less than 600 kg. The impact force and subsequent effects are due to kinetic energy and momentum, mass here does not help, just the opposite

to be honest we didnt really think about it. Racing was known to be Dangerous... it came w the territory. i have a family friend in her 80s now.... her first husband was a race car driver... no one famous.. he died doing his sport back in those days.

RIP thankfully none in a decade

love the thumbnail. brilliant

Anyone know whats going at 2:32 I know that this isn't the 77 tragedy, but still this is very scary

Brilliant. Well written; well edited; thoroughly enjoyed. Fantastic 14 minutes about 1970s F1 world. A sincere thank you to the creator sirs & madams involved.

Oh Ferrari has said dumber things. He once said he would never make a rear mid engine car cuz "The horses pull the carriage, not push them". We see how that turned out. He seemed like he was always afraid of technology and innovation.

What I find unacceptable is the blurring the focus of the crashes because of all the potential snowflakes who might become triggered or "shocked" by the real like of F1 in the 70's. talk about lack of safety, just don't show the results. Wimpy and sad.

The greatest age in Formula 1. Hands down

it says HD, but many of the segments are not even PAL quality.

7:08 Your statement about why the cars must be so much bigger and heavier was spot on. The problem is that the increase in size has made circuits like Monaco obsolete. Case in point: The 2024 Monaco GP saw the first six finishing positions exactly the same as their qualifying positions. Monaco is simply too narrow for any decent racing. They should take it off the schedule.

Not Roger Williams but Roger Williamson.

all the videos are blurred out......................................................................................

In the 50's only 300HP, but the weight of the car: 500kg

It's definitely changed. I'll say that much. I don't watch it anymore. I don't see it as a top formula. Not because of safety, it just doesn't have the same appeal. Seems so strile imo.

If Lance Stroll had driven in the 1970s, he wouldn’t have driven long.

Ferrari's statement was not ridicolous at all. At the times when there were no regulations who cared about aerodynamic? A powerful engines could have compansated any extra drag very well.

The Price / track worker crash was ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC.

Pryce, are you actually serious? Wtf?!!?

Were there any F1 drivers who came from illegal street racing, moonshine running, or the hot rod scene as a whole?

single greatest thumbnail ever...almost made me spit out my drink lmao

Is that Gordon Murray at the drawing board 4.41

The only time it was a mans game. The cars they drive now are huge and built like tanks.

Jackie Stewart!!

Horrifying

Substituting a Rally car with an F1 car in your thumbnail is just sloppy. Be serious or be gone.

Why the fk should you blur out videos of accidents that happened in the past and which you can view on other sites? That useless sensor ship accomplishes nothing

Back when you had to be a man to race in formula 1

This video is a very opinionated piece of work and not historically accurate either.... 3 out of 10.

I know that you plucked the factoid about George Follmer being the oldest F1 rookie, but it's NOT like the man had been driving touring cars. He had competed in SCCA racing for the better part of a decade before his F1 debut, had driven the USAC Championship car series from 1967-71 (including 3 Indy 500s) winning once, and had spent 1972 driving Can-Am for Roger Penske winning that series (winning 5 of the 8 races he entered). For those not familiar with Can-Am - it was a closed-wheel/open cockpit series with fewer restrictions than F1 at that point in time; the Porsche 917/10 driven by Follmer had 850 hp in race trim (more in qualifying trim) so for him to come to F1 in 1973 wasn't like someone who barely drove got to jump in the car; it was a "lateral move" to go to a car with less horsepower but open wheel bodywork.

Fake thumbnail

If they were to race those 1970s cars in bad rain then that's it 💀

The insanity was even worse in the 50s and 60s before aluminium or fibreglass body panels/shells they sometimes used to use magnesium body panels! Also those older cars with those skinny hard treaded tyres still reached top speeds on the straights were much the same as the 70s cars, but by the 70s the big sticky tyres, wings and very low centre of gravity meant that in the 70s the lap records kept dropping as they could travel faster around the curves than in the 50s and 60s. The disc brakes used in the 70s are so much better than the drum brakes, and the lower weight of the cars meant that stopping distances were so much shorter, especially in the wet, so they were able to hold those top speeds for longer. Much of the safety of modern F1 is down to the tireless work of Jackie Stewart who the deaths of 57 drivers in the period he was racing, and he was insulted and attacked at the time for that work.

Today, it's been 30 years since Ayrton Senna da Silva perished at Imola. I still miss him and will never forget watching the live broadcast when he hit the wall. It's one of those images that you never get out of your head.

I just want to say thank you to Lance Stroll for continuously putting the FIA safety standards to test in every race

If you really want to highlight the dangers of the former F1 years, don’t Blur them. We viewers are no minors.

"nice" clickbait thumbnail , F1 car doing an iconic rally jump.

The World has changed a lot. Back then the memory of young men dying flying bombers and fighter planes over enemy territory and other WW2 scenarios were still fresh in peoples' minds. The attitude of acceptance of danger and death took some time to dissipate.

I remember Niki Lauda's crash that was the first F1 race for me as a kid about 5 or 6. Been a F1 fan from that day.

Sorry to those who have already seen the video, but I had to reupload it due to issues with the previous one.

Why that thumbnail man

Tha thumbnail is idiotic.

Why do you keep asking stupid questions like why was this allowed to happen and why was that allowed to happen and why did these cars have safety features racing was a sport that everyone knew was dangerous and that if you got in one of those cars you could die at any minute people did it because they loved racing and that's the only reason they needed we didn't have government controls controlling every facet of our lives back then like we do now being told what we can and can't do being told what kind of car we can drive and whether we can have a gasoline-powered car or electric get off the stupidity of making laws against everything that men like to do is mountain climbing safe Is deep sea diving safe None of those things are safe and there's no government laws against them so stop trying to impose your baloney democratic beliefs into the video and just tell the story

Remember that there was a time when there was NO wall between the track and the pits. A time when there was no actual pit lane, but just a widening of the track.

Your video is interesting, however your narration candor talks from 20/20 hindsight. During those years they did not have so easy hindsight to see where safety would go. Your attitude speaks as if all involved were heartless jerks. Nobody forced the drivers to race. They all knew the risks. They were men and with a warrior mindset. Men today are much weaker of mindset. Yes, every death and severe injury affected the people in racing including F1. Some were more adamant to improve safety of tracks, cars and drivers gear, Sir Jackie Stewart for sure. Again your video hi-lights the changes of F1 through the years, yes IMO getting too cautious. But so be it. My beef with your narration is again your sounding condescending to the men of motorsports back in the day. They did not enjoy seeing drivers killed or injured, but they did what they did knowing what they knew to balance the sport, it's safety and the show. You have decades of hindsight to be a bit too judgmental and not understanding the era's of racing here. And yes I saw Senna die live on tv that April day in 94. I understand the concerns. Greg Moore die at Fontana in 99, I saw Dale Earnhardt die at Daytona 500 in 2001, Dan Weldon die racing Indy cars, Jules Bianchi die in 2017 and sadly a few others. Nobody shrugged off any of these and others deaths. The era's here of life was different.🤔

3:14 this is what happens when you don't check what A.I. generated for you. Maria de Villota died from cardiac arrest in her hotel room, yet the list misses probably the most famous death in F1 history, Ayrton Senna.

"Now a days drivers start using Karts when they are 3-4 years old." Uhh, they have been using Karts to learn their skills for more than 60 years! This practice is nothing new.

The 70s = Better F1, Better pilot, Better music, Better culture, Better people. What a time it was to be alive!

And yet George Folmer is considered one of the Fastest Can Am drivers period. That was at a time when Can Am was definitely faster than F1.

I'm so effing sick of the seemingly endless forms of censorship in media. Boobs, Buttcracks & Bad words are enuf - but blurring out crash scenes in documentaries about racing to keep from upsetting adult viewers is the nth degree of absurdity.

"...the tracks (in the fifties) were mostly abandoned airfields...." Only a few seconds in and you've already demonstrated your complete ignorance of anything regarding the sport's history beyond whatever you've skimmed on Wikipedia in the last week. While England, due to the ban on road racing within its borders, had to resort to abandoned aerodromes for its racing fix, racing on the continent was largely done on public roads or the scant few permanent tracks that existed with similar characteristics: the old 14km Spa-Francorchamps, Reims, Rouen, Bremgarten, Pescara, the fucking NORDSCHLEIFE! All of these venues with the exception of the last example had fallen by the wayside by the time the seventies came around due to the extreme dangers they posed, because - as you've failed to communicate in this video - the safety debate goes back a lot further than the 1970s. Look up the 1903 Paris-Madrid race or the 1955 Le Mans disaster to give just two examples. It is laughable to say that racing was somehow safer in the fifties, the decade in which the deadliest accident in the history of the sport took place, where most racing still took place on tree-lined public roads, crash helmets only became mandatory from the 1953 season, drivers still raced in shirts and trousers, the list goes on. Already by the seventies massive strides had taken place, largely due to the campaigning by Jackie Stewart, Jo Bonnier and the rest of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (which, by the way, you have massively undersold). Armco barriers and catch fencing (both imperfect solutions, especially the latter, but they were better than what was there before) were unthinkable before the end of the 1960s and full-face helmets had already started to come into fashion in 1968, again to give just two examples. Yes, there was still a very long way to go in the 1970s, but that decade was by no means F1 at its most dangerous. And by the way, that's just in the first few seconds. To go through the rest ("Roger Williams", George Follmer driving for a team that didn't exist yet and just the general "what were they thinking?!" tone) would take me all day. Look, I know you've got good viewership figures, but you could at least show a modicum of respect for your audience.

If we still had the 70's safety standards and safety consciousness today, most of the drivers on the current grid would either be dead or have permanent injuries preventing them from driving. If we had the safety technology of the 70's but the safety consciousness and exoectations of today, the cars would ve limited to 50hp and several tracks from the current calendar would be downright banned

Have you ever thougt of breathing now and then while you talk?

Great video but the Jochen Rindt tragedy wasn't just "the car breaking into pieces" a lot of drivers back then was afraid of being trapped in their cars in case a fire breaks out so Rindt only wore 5 out of the 6 harnesses on his belts (the strap from the torso down) to get out of the car easily but when he had his fatal crash at Monza in 1970 during the crash he slid forward and down in his seat and because he didn't wear the bottom strap on his harness his neck got slit by the harness buckle and he became the only driver in all of motorsports to this day to win a championship posthumously so fear of being burned alive did that, plus he didn't like driving Colin Chapman's newer Lotus too.

Wtf is that thumbnail???

shocking editing......so abrupt ......

Bangladeshi roads in 2024 are still less safe than those F1 in the 70s. They way those bus drivers overtake, the lack of seatbelt, airbags etc in cars plus putting bullbars for disabling crumple zones all add up to a very unsafe traveling experience. Writing with an injured thumb. There are other more serious injuries but the finger is touching the keypad so yeah. I hope to see a safer system worldwide.

Sensationalist dumbed down crap. Stopped watching after I heard “Roger Williams”. It is disgusting to question the ability of the drivers of those days just because they weren’t born riding a Go-Kart. I guess this is the type of “content” we have to thank Netflix for… And let me tell you that F1 in the 1950’s wasn’t anywhere safe as implied, drivers weren’t even wearing helmets and they were driving in much longer circuits built hastily on public roads with no run off areas. They were going slower but the race distance was of 500 kilometers when now is of 300. Races lasted more than 3 hours in average.

I read a lot of praise for this video in the comments, but it is one of the worst produced documentaries I have ever watched. Poor quality, random timelines jumping back and forth, inaccurate facts, the glaring missing of Ayrton Senna's death, etc. Too many errors to enumerate. DailyFuelUp will not be added to my subscriptions.

Great topic, great information... horrible format: 2-3 phrases, CHAPTER, splitting bits and pieces. I imagine is made for the current ADHD generation but I am sure even they might be put off by this 1001 Chapters to a 14 min video.

This is a terrible, ill-informed documentary. You absolutely can't look at safety by concerntrating on the 70's alone. You are influenced by the emotive nature of events, and your documentary skims the surface, and gratuitously shows unpleasant footage. There is an opportunity to make a thoughtful video, which examines how safety has affected, and (by it's misrepresentation) ultimately destroyed the "sport"?

this is just all extremely superficial information. "I don't want to bore the audience with details" - yeah, I figured. And instead of celebrating these brave heroes, literal madmen risking their lives and others' for their passion, the whole video is "muh safety" wankery, like on r/formula1

You’re picking nothing but well-trodden, low-hanging fruit here. We’re you even alive for any of these events?

What other sport would accept such a callous regard for the safety of the participants. Can you imagine a football match where two of the players are killed because Other players were allowed to wear really sharp spikes on the bottom of their boots? I'd rather be bored than see someone dead long, live safety over gruesome spectacle.

No one was even injured due the notorious Jody Schecter crash 1:35. McLarens were über-safe even those days.

Follmer drove a Shadow. Arrows did not exist in 1973. They broke away from Shadow end of 1977.

Why spoil a good video with the fake thumbnail. Makes you look like a clickbaiter

That’s when it was real racing. Today is too safe, it’s boring. Bring back manual gear changes with a clutch pedal. No traction control either. F-1 sux since Lauda, and Stewart have retired