F1 stick shifters were always H pattern shifters, they never had the Champ Car style sequential stick shifters, they went straight to semi-auto paddle shift, first introduced in 1989 by Ferrari. The closest any team came to a semi auto system before the era of paddle shifters was Lotus that experimented with a button on top of the gear stick that replaced the clutch pedal and operated and electro-magnetic clutch, I think the system proved too complex and in the end offered little advantage for it's complexity, but a lovely bit of forward thinking to ensure the driver would only have to race with 2 pedals, enabling left foot braking which has been the standard in F1 for years now in F1.