Inside A Formula One Racecar Steering Wheel
Photos by staff and courtesy of manufacturers
Without a doubt, Formula One is at the forefront of automotive tech engineering. The highly competitive and very expensive racing series needs no introduction here at The Octane Report. We all know that the cars are fast and big dollar.
Intricate aerodynamics, carbon composite rotors, and 18,000rpm 1000hp engines – all are present in F1. The intense technological development in the racecars lends just as much mystique to the series as the casino playboys, airline tycoon team owners, and super model girlfriends. Almost.
The carbon fiber steering wheel alone costs above $40,000 and provides the driver with control over all the intricate computerized systems in the F1 car. This isn’t quite the same as the vinyl steering wheel in your neighbor’s Oldsmobile, Formula One wheels are actually incredibly complex and equally expensive.
Although there is a constant stream of data from the racecar to the pits, which allows the team engineers to monitor the car’s health, only the driver can actually change settings once the car is on the track.
A few years ago, regulations permitted “two-way telemetry”, which allowed data to be sent from the pits to the car (for example, air/fuel mixture changes or traction control changes from dry to wet conditions). However, this has been removed for cost reasons. Now the driver himself has to make any required changes while driving.
The main body of the F1 steering wheel is made from carbon fiber. The hand grips can be trimmed in alcantara (a composite material composed of 68% polyester and 32% polyurethane) or rubber, depending on the preference of the driver. The positioning of the switches is also down to driver choice and each driver will have his own preferred layout.
On race weekends, each driver will have a minimum of three steering wheels available so there is always a spare on hand should there be any issues. That’s more than $120,000 in steering wheels alone.
Each steering wheel is designed and manufactured in-house by the team. The only part outsourced is the display, which is part of the standard electronics package that all teams are required to use. The display can be built into the steering wheel or mounted to the edge of the cockpit itself.
Formula One Steering Wheel Buttons
Shift Lights: The row of lights across the top of the steering wheel shows the RPMs and the optimum shift point.
Gear Number: Shows the driver which gear he is currently in.
Marshall Lights: This cluster of three lights on either side of the display comes on if there is a red flag (race or session stopped), blue flag (a faster driver is lapping you) or yellow flag (incident ahead). These lights are switched on or off by the FIA Race Control and were introduced to help the drivers, who sometimes find it difficult to see the flags waved by the marshals.
Displays: The two display windows on either side of the gear number shows the driver important data such as oil or water temperature. They can also show his lap time and during qualifying, he can see whether he is quicker or slower to a reference lap (normally his fastest lap).
+1/-1: These control the fail-safe software programmed into the car. If the engineers see a problem developing with a system through the telemetry, the driver can switch off or disable the relevant sensor if it is not critical or activate a back-up sensor. The driver uses these buttons to scroll to the relevant mode and then uses the ON/OFF button to enable the mode.
Drink: Activates the drink system to help the driver avoid becoming dehydrated, especially at the hotter circuits.
+10/Start Lights: This button has two functions. The +10 part is linked with the fail-safe modes of the +1/-1 button and allows the driver to ‘fast forward’ to the relevant number by 10 steps. The Start Light function is used during practice sessions when drivers carry out practice starts at the end of the pit lane. He presses this button and the shift lights at the top of the steering wheel simulate the way the lights work at the beginning of the race. The engineers can then analyze reaction times.
O/Take: Can be used when a driver is fighting for position during a race and allows the software to momentarily raise the rev limiter (although not beyond the mandated 18,000rpm limit).
Pit Confirm: The driver presses this button to acknowledge that he has heard the engineer’s call or pit board signal to pit on his current lap. This is useful at circuits where the radio coverage is not good.
Talk: Allows the driver to talk to his engineers over the radio.
BBAL: A shortcut button to show the current brake balance on the display.
REV: The driver can’t select reverse using the normal gear paddles so he has to press this button (at the same time as pulling in a clutch paddle) to put the car into reverse gear.
Rotary Switches: These switches can control a number of functions, which the driver and engineers will define. Each position of each switch subtly changes a particular characteristic of the car, for example a mixture mode, the hydraulic differential, or the torque map of the engine. These switches also come into play if a safety car comes out in the race or if it starts to rain, allowing the driver to tune the car to his liking.
FFA: This allows the driver to adjust the position of the front wing angle. Using this switch (which stands for Front Flap Adjust) moves the front wing, allowing him to adjust the aerodynamic balance.
Mark: If the driver feels something strange with the car at a certain point on track, he can press this button and the engineers can pinpoint the data to analyze the issue.
ON/OFF: Used with the +1/-1 buttons to switch on or off a fail-safe mode.
Neutral: Similarly to the reverse button, the software stops the driver accidentally selecting neutral from the gear paddles. He has to press this button to go to neutral.
Pit Limiter: Enables or disables the pit lane speed limiter. At most races, the speed limit is 60km/h for practice sessions and 100km/h during qualifying and the race. Pressing this button too late (or not pressing it all) can result in the driver receiving a fine in a practice session or a time penalty during the race.
BPF: Stands for Bite Point Find and is used by the engineers to analyze the characteristics of the clutch. This is then fed back to the driver to optimize his driving at the standing start. Now that traction control and launch control are no longer allowed in Formula One, the start of the race has to be completely controlled by the driver, so it’s crucial for him to know how the clutch is going to react.
Interesting. Didn’t know about half of those features on the cars. Always wonder what they’re fiddling with on tv.