All about the Formula 1 steering wheel

The Formula 1 steering wheel is not like an ordinary car’s steering wheel. The steering wheel in F1 is the most important link between the driver and the car. In modern day F1 cars, all the controls, except for the throttle and brake pedals, are mounted on the steering wheel. Let us take a look at some of the important features of an F1 steering wheel.

In the earlier days of Formula 1 the steering wheel was similar to that used in ordinary road cars, and was usually made of wood. But with the advent of new systems and technologies through the 90′s, buttons started appearing on the steering wheel. The main innovation in steering wheel design came in the early 90′s when semi automatic gear shift system was introduced. Using this system, a driver could shift gears using the pedals mounted at the back of the steering wheel, which were placed close to the fingers of the driver.

As new systems developed, various other controls came up on the steering wheel. A modern F1 car now has various switches, one of which is the fuel mixture regulator, through which the driver can adjust whether the engine has to be fed with more or less fuel; the driver can also conserve fuel during the race by using the regulator to change the fuel mixture to lean mode. Another important feature of the steering wheel today is the LCD display screen which gives vital information to the drivers about their current position, lap times and the difference from the car immediately ahead. The bright LED indicators mounted on the wheel allow a driver to make gear shifts at the right time; also, in the event of an accident or safety car, the the lights start to blink the colours corresponding to the flags, like yellow colour for yellow flag.

Other buttons such as pit stop indicator, pit lane speed limiter, neutral, radio button and drink button (which allows the driver to consume fluids whenever necessary) are also mounted on the wheel. With the innovation of Drag Reduction System and KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery system), two more buttons for these systems have been added to the steering wheel.

Now that we have dealt with the basic elements of the steering wheel, let’s take a closer look at some of its more advanced features. The wheel has various rotatory switches on it which are used for adjusting differential, torque and the clutch bite point. Differential plays a major role in getting a perfect lap and is quite important in qualifying . During qualifying or even during a race lap, a driver changes the differential many times to get sufficient handling in different corners. The torque rotatory switch is used to adjust how much power will be generated when a driver pushes the throttle pedal; in other words, it is used to adjust throttle sensitivity. This is very important when drivers face rainy or changing conditions as they can use the torque rotatory switch to go for softer settings in rainy conditions. The clutch bite point switch is important to make an adequate start to the race, i.e., it is used to the launch the car from the grid.

So now you know there’s a lot more to the F1 steering wheel than it seems at first glance!