Being an F1 driver isn’t an easy job. If you were thinking that all a driver does is turn the steering wheel and press the accelerator and brakes at the right time, you are gravely mistaken.
One of the most complex aspects of the car a driver interacts with is actually the steering wheel. If you would have caught a glimpse of an F1 steering wheel, you’d know that it features a wide array of buttons, knobs, and notches.
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However, if you found yourself asking the question, ‘What on Earth is the use of so many buttons?’ Mercedes F1 are happy to oblige.
Mercedes F1’s leader of the trackside electronic systems, Evan Short, gives us a lowdown of Lewis Hamilton’s F1 steering wheel.
He starts by talking about the design and layout of the steering wheel. It has rubberized grips, a digital screen conveying vital information, and numerous buttons, all in reach of the driver’s thumb.
Next, he explains the most important bits, the functions of all those buttons.
Every bit of the Mercedes F1 steering wheel explained
The first thing Short mentions is the yellow DRS button at the top left of the wheel. The button, as you’d expect, opens and closes the flap on the car’s tail, allowing for greater speed on the straights.
Then there is the driver default button. It acts as a default setting that a driver may switch to in case something goes wrong with the car and requires fixing. Next is the green neutral button on the top left, which according to Short is of no use anymore.
A yellow button bearing the initials ‘PL’ is situated on the right-hand side. It stands for ‘Pit Limiter,’ helping drivers maintain the required speed in the pits.
At the top right of the steering wheel, there is an orange ‘PC’ button that stands for ‘Pit Confirm.’ It acts as a signal from the driver that something is wrong with the car.
Then there are two rotary switches on either side. Short explains, “We have the diff entry switch, brake balance (high speed), all the areas of the adjustment of the differential. So the amount of torque transfer between the sides of the rear axle of the car.”
After which we see a couple of obvious, self-explanatory buttons, namely the ‘Overtake’ and ‘Talk’ buttons. Furthermore, there are a few different brake balance switches and buttons. These aid drivers to adjust the brake balance forwards or rearwards.
Additionally, he talks about the three knobs towards the bottom of the steering wheel. Those knobs help with the power unit tuning. It helps drivers to get the required amount of power at different stages of the race.
All these various buttons, knobs, and switches must be used in combination to achieve the desired results.
