Aside from some especially uncompetitive seasons, driver skill has evidently always been a factor. The gap between Max and Checo has shown the importance of dri

Aside from some especially uncompetitive seasons, driver skill has evidently always been a factor. The gap between Max and Checo has shown the importance of driver skill during the recent RedBull dominance, and during the Mercedes hybrid dominance, the gap between Hamilton and Bottas showed the same thing. Mercedes > RedBull > Mercedes was an incredibly common podium during that era. With Bottas and Checo are also both great drivers in their own right. The only confounder is really that the top teams have the ability to attract the top driving talent, so it can look like driving skill matters less than it actually does at times.