If I may take the middle ground, I do agree, @atticus-2, that the basic objectives of the driver are the same – manage and seek out grip in order to fling the car around a lap as fast as humanly possible. Granted, the fundamentals of each car remain the same – peddles to accelerate and brake, a steering wheel to maneuver, gears to change.
However, @andae23 raises a valid point that the base characteristics of the F1 car have changed so much over the years that it is very difficult to compare them. For instance, the tail-happy 1950s F1 cars required heaps of opposite lock to even turn, had a manual gearbox with clutch pedal, and offered very little in the way of grip, mechanical or aero, thanks to skinny tyres and very basic bodywork.
Conversely, the F1 cars of, for example, the early 1990s, were far more stable, requiring comparatively less driver input due to power steering, had a semi-automatic gearbox with push-button clutch, and offered loads of mechanical grip from slick tyres and active suspension, and more importantly, aerodynamic stability. The acceleration and deceleration forces are wildly different, as is the driving style needed to get the most out of the car.
In essence, the modern F1 car requires a very different skill-set to extract the maximum out of it than the 1950s F1 car. Put, say, Fangio in a modern car, and he would inevitably struggle to acclimatize to paddle shifting, breakneck acceleration and cornering-g, and working all the knobs and dials on the steering wheel. Put, say, Vettel in a 1950s car, and he would struggle to get a hold of it, due to its slithering, edge-of-control nature being so different to what he usually drives. Hence, I still think it’s very difficult to compare drivers across different eras.
