How Does an F1 Steering Wheel Work?
Theres no sport quite like Formula One. While there are other wildly difficult motorsports out there  hello, WRC  theres a reason why F1 is called the pinnacle. No other racing series puts its drivers and cars through such intense forces, all while performing a thousand other tasks when driving 180 mph around Monacos narrow streets. Those constant demands, mind you, arent coming from the pit wall or even engineers back at the teams home bases listening to the driver through the comms. Theyre coming from the cars steering wheel, a small piece of very expensive carbon fiber. AP Images The Drive and its partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links. Read more. Slotted behind the cars halo and set deep within its tub, F1 drivers have more than two dozen buttons, knobs, rotary dials, menus, displays, and LEDs to interact with on the steering wheel. Again, this is all while trying to keep each other behind their respective rear wings and out of the championship points. You might be saying, Yeah, but Jonathon, the steering wheel on my 2021 Ford F-150 has a bunch of buttons and knobs, too. Whats the big deal? What youre failing to grasp is how complicated this F1 wheel is. To demystify the complicated controls for everyone  new fans as well as those whove watched F1 for years and still dont know what strat, entry, mark, overtake, and DRS are  the Guides & Gear editors of The Drive put together the ultimate explainer. And by ultimate, we do mean ultimate. Mercedes-AMG Petronas A look at Mercedes' F1 steering wheel. Grab a beverage and your most-focused attention span because were going deep on the functionality of everything on an F1 steering wheel. Lets drive. Strat Settings Every race is different. Every race has its own peculiarities. And every single race on the calendar is strategized by both the driver and engineer a thousand ways to Sunday before ever lining up on the grid. Dont worry, the engineers and driver have game plans for all of the above, and theyre mapped out on the steering wheels rotary-knob strategy settings. MGU-K Settings An F1 cars powertrain is one of the most complex systems in the world, thanks to the sports hybrid era. With that complexity comes the possibility of failure on many different levels. To ensure the driver has the ability to work around some failures and prevent others, the teams engineers have designed specific engine-calibration maps the driver can control through a rotary knob on the wheel. These can range from wet-weather conditions that limit power, qualifying power, race power, low-fuel power, failure power, etc. Menu This is how the driver orders lunch. Just kidding. The menu allows the driver control over nearly all of the cars systems. They can access everything and scroll through the countless pages of telemetry through the menu. And they can probably also order lunch. Accept The Accept button is essentially the steering wheels enter key. It lets the driver go forward with a change from the menu or for one of the other settings adjusted on the fly. Mark When theres an issue with the car midcorner, down the front straight, or anywhere else on the track, the drivers can mark that specific point in the cars telemetry recording. That allows them to discuss it with the engineers after the race to see why they encountered something that was out of the ordinary. Mercedes-AMG Petronas A closeup of the team's current wheel. Differential Balance The differential balance is controlled via a single scroll knob or a set of scroll knobs to control entry, mid, and exit settings. This allows the driver to change the setup in tiny increments. Drivers can change the balance to more left or right throughout the race to ensure they have the right balance for every corner. Brake Balance The brake balance is also controlled via a scroll knob that can change the setup in small increments. Drivers can change the balance to more front or rear throughout the race to ensure they have the right balance for every corner. Energy Recovery In some cases called Harvest, this allows the driver to start recovering some of the energy made during braking and store it in the cars hybrid system to be deployed later. Race Start The Race Start button sets the limiter to a specific speed to, hopefully, get a perfect off-the-line push into each tracks first turn. In supercar speak, its a lot like launch control but much less dependent on the cars electronics. Neutral As with normal cars, F1 racers have neutral, too. Pit-Lane Speed Given that pit crews consist of humans who are, lets just say, fragile in their construction, you dont really want race cars coming into the pits at 200 mph. Thats a recipe for disaster. Instead, F1's rules set maximum pit-lane speed at 50.5 mph. Theres a button that limits the cars speed as it enters pit lane so the driver doesnt have to worry about delicately balancing the right foot on the throttle pedal to maintain that specific speed. Pit Confirm After hearing in comms to box, box, box and likely seeing it along the pit wall, the drivers can confirm manually that they heard the communication and that they will be pitting on that specific lap. Radio How else are we going to hear Lewis Hamilton complaining about his tires going off, a giddy Lando Norris replying to a radio check, Movin up and down, side to side, like a roller coaster, or possibly the most well-known radio exchange, Kimi Rikknen telling his engineers, Leave me alone. I know what Im doing. Drink F1 drivers lose an average of five to seven pounds of water weight during a race. Using a system similar to a powered hydration pack, this button pumps fluids directly into the drivers mouth. Overtake The Overtake button, also known to some as push to pass, momentarily gives the driver a boost in engine and hybrid power to get around the car in front. I think I speak for all enthusiasts when I say that Id like that button on all my cars. DRS DRS stands for drag-reduction system, which is a fancy term for active aerodynamics. In the case of F1, its a semi-active rear diffuser. When the driver hits the DRS button on the steering wheel and is within one second of the car in front and in a tracks specific DRS zones, the middle portion of the rear wing opens, thereby reducing drag. When open, the DRS gives the driver about 6-10 mph more speed by the end of the zone, although that depends on the track. Tight and even claustrophobic circuits such as Monaco are only good for about 4-5 mph more oomph. Other Secret Buttons As with all racing, theres a lot of room for secrecy in terms of design and setup as well as specific driver demands. The above list of buttons and knobs and rotaries are only the mainstays, but there are others that are bespoke to the driver, team, or even race weekend. McLaren Racing A closeup of McLaren's steering wheel.