WATCH: F1 Drivers Explain How Modern F1 Steering Wheels Work

Formula 1 is the most technologically advanced motorsport in the world. Every part of the car is engineered to help the driver extract the maximum performance from the car. The car is equipped to tackle every situation on every single racetrack. However, the driver needs to constantly adjust a ton of settings to make sure all the different components of the car are in the best possible setting to get the most performance. And all that is done through the steering wheel.

Unlike the old days when the F1 steering was just a round piece attached to the car to help it rotate, the modern F1 steering is capable of controlling all the aspects of the car that need to be controlled by the driver or the engineers.

Here is everything you need to know about the modern-day F1 steering

The modern F1 steering is nothing less than a technological masterpiece. It allows the drivers to change all the necessary settings on the fly. From choosing the strategy for the engine or the battery to indicating the tire phase to the engineers, the steering wheel is a control unit that gives the drivers full control over their car.

The Dashboard

The Dashboard displays all the relevant information a driver needs during the race weekend. On top of the dashboard, there are the engine rpm lights that show the drivers how much the engine is revving at all times. The FIA Safety lights are placed on the side of the dashboard allowing the drivers to know if yellow flags or red flags are being thrown in by race control.

Neutral Button

This button is used to put the car in neutral regardless of the gear the car might be in. It comes in really handy in tricky situations like when you have to reverse or just spin out from a run-off area. Instead of downshifting a bunch of gears and pulling the clutch, the driver can just press this button to put the gearbox into neutral and take it from there.

Pit confirm button

This button has a simple job. Whenever a team calls the driver into the pits, the driver needs to press this button to relay to the team that he has got the message.

The Radio Button

This button allows the drivers to switch their side of the radio communication on or off. They don’t need to hold the button the entire time they are talking to their race engineer or whoever is on the other side. The drivers press this button once, have a conversation for as long as they want or need to then press it again to switch the radio off.

The Gear Shift Levers

The upshift and downshift paddles are placed at the back side of the steering wheel to help drivers conveniently shift gears throughout the lap without ever having to take their hands off the steering wheel.

The DRS Button

The DRS button allows the drivers to activate or deactivate the actuator that controls the rear wing flap of the cars. If the DRS is enabled and a driver is within 1 second of the car in front, they can use this button to open the rear wing of the car to gain aerodynamic advantage in order to pass the car in front.

The Overtake Button

This button allows the drivers to use more power from the energy store whenever the driver needs it. It is mostly used during the race day on Sunday to make strategic maneuvers on the track. For example, a driver can use the overtake button to either use more power for an overtake or they can also use it to defend themselves from being overtaken. However, there is a limit to how much battery power a driver can use per lap.

The Charge Button

This button allows the drivers to recover their ‘Energy Store’ by putting the Power Unit into charging mode. Modern F1 cars use systems like Motor Generator Unit – Heat (MGU-H) and Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic (MGU-K). The charge button allows the drivers to use these components to recover the battery, for example, during a qualifying lap when the drivers have to deploy all the energy on a push lap and then recover it on the in-lap.

The Pit Lane Speed Limiter Button

There was a time when the drivers need not slow down inside the pit lane. However, due to safety concerns, FIA introduced a rule in 1994 that all cars must go below a designated speed limit in the pit lane. That speed limit currently sits at 80 kmph or 60 kmph depending on the circuit. The drivers use this button to engage the speed limit once they have hit the 80 or 60 kmph mark while approaching the pit lane entry line.

READ MORE: Why Do F1 Drivers Remove Their Steering Wheels After They Stop?

The buttons to change the car’s default settings

According to Carlos Sainz, these buttons on the Ferrari steering allow the drivers to change any default setting of the car that their race engineer might ask. One button changes the settings in the steps of 10 units per click and the other one does 1 unit per click. For example, if the engineer asks the driver to change the sensitivity of a sensor by 45 clicks. The driver will change 40 clicks by pressing the 10-step button four times and then he will change the next 5 clicks by pressing the 1-step button five times.

The Oil Transfer button

All Formula 1 cars carry some amount of extra engine oil and the oil transfer button allows the drivers to send that extra oil into the engine whenever the engine gets low on oil.

The Racing Mode Dial

This dial allows the drivers to choose the right Power Unit strategy depending on what they are trying to achieve throughout the race weekend. It has modes like Push mode, Race mode, Box mode, Slow mode, Formation lap mode, Warm-up mode, etc. If the driver is doing a push lap in qualifying they will select the push mode to use all the energy they are allowed per lap. The Race mode is used during the race on Sunday when the power unit doesn’t need to use the energy so aggressively as in a qualifying lap and so on.

The Engine Power Dial

This dial allows the drivers to choose how much power the engine is producing at any given time. For example, during the practice sessions, the drivers will put the engine dial into a more conservative setting to basically prolong the life of the engine. But when it’s qualifying time, the drivers will choose the most aggressive power setting to extract every bit of power from the engine.

The Tire Phase Dial

This dial allows the drivers to inform their engineers about the condition of their tires and the level of grip the driver feels he is getting from the tires during a lap. Instead of talking over the radio lap after lap about how the tires are performing, the drivers can just use this switch to always let the team know the tire degradation to help make strategy calls. Drivers need to be in the correct tire selection mode for the dials to function correctly. If the driver is not in the correct mode, then the sensors will not generate accurate data because the diameters of the tire change between the slicks, the intermediates, and the full wet weather tires.

The SOC mode rotary

This dial allows the drivers to change the battery strategy to choose how much power they want to deploy from the energy store. Depending on the situation of the race, the driver can choose to conserve the battery and use less power or to deplete the battery and use more power.

The ‘Differential Entry’ rotary

This dial allows the drivers to choose whether the differential is more open or more closed during the corner entry.

The ‘Differential Mid’ rotary

This dial allows the drivers to choose whether the differential is more open or more closed in the middle of the corner. These settings change the amount of understeer a driver wants to have in mid-corner which then dictates how much the differential will help in rotating the car.

The Torque rotary

This dial allows the drivers to change the engine map for the start of the race. It has a few pre-configured settings for the throttle response from the engine and it helps the drivers gain that crucial hundredths of a second at the start line.

The Brake Shape rotary

This dial allows the drivers to change the brake balance of the car from one corner to another. It prevents the drivers from locking the front tires of the car in the braking zone. The car automatically shifts the breaking power more to the rear end once the car has slowed down to prevent the tires from locking up. This dial just lets the drivers choose how much the balance will shift from front to rear depending on the corner.

The Engine Braking rotary

This dial allows the drivers to choose how much braking they want from the engine, which in turn, gives the car more or less rotation through a corner. The drivers need to change these settings from corner to corner just like the Brake Shape Dial to get more or less rotation.

Watch This Story | What is Formula 2? – How Is it Different from Formula 1?

If there’s anything we missed or if there’s anything you would like to add to this, let us know by dropping a comment below.