The difference is staggering!

Wawaweewa!

Huge difference

Technically the difference is 25.

Nice video

In the 1980's the drivers had to deal with turbo lag, lack of downforce and no powersteering, whereas these days the drivers get all kinds of electronic aids not to mention they complain when the power steering is not perfect including Trulli all last year, and Kimi Raikkonen who refused to practice on Thu at Monaco because the steering didn't feel right

That's one reason I have tons of respect for the old school drivers from those days, and even modern ones like Alonso who can get into a crap car, grab it by the ears and run competitive with it instead of spending time complaining and making excuses (to be fair Raikkonen has done well with the Lotus this year too, just not impressed by the prima donna act on Thu).

20 years earlier


No downforce

as one of the comments in the video shows, in 1986 Senna qualified with a 1'23"145, which is 10 seconds slower than Vettel in 2011, not 25.

I think he was referring to years apart, not the Qualifying times.

Actually, in 1986, Senna ran a 1:23.175...good enough for 3rd on the grid that year in a Renault-powered Lotus 98T. Prost, in a TAG Porsche-powered McLaren, ran a 1:22.627. It's speculated that the 2011 Renault V8 makes around 750HP or so for Vettel's 1:13.556 pole time.

In 1986, the turbo V6 Renault was listed at 850HP, but there were rumors that some powerplants put out nearly 1300HP in Qualifying trim. It was the last year of unregulated turbo engines

You can bank on the BMW's making 1200 hp in qualifying trim.
They were, by all accounts, terrifying and very difficult to drive

Don't forget manual gear changes too...

They've ruined all the tracks - Monaco is no exception.
New tracks are generally created in a "pre-ruined" state.

I do like Dubai - by modern circuit terms.