19 Jun 2013

Sauber's F1 steering wheel explained in exacting detail

It wasn't that long ago that F1 steering wheels were used for just turning the wheels.  Take a look at this to see how complex they are now.

Here's some other cool stuff about the modern F1 wheel and it's many knobs, as described by Sauber.

Following are the controls most used by the drivers during a race:

➡ Shifting levers
➡ KERS boost
➡ DRS
➡ RPM / Fuel / Pedal
➡ Radio (R)

Some additional information:

➡ Average number of shifting events per race (all races): 2750
➡ Grand Prix with the highest number of shifting events per lap and per race: Singapore (70 per lap, approx. 4’270 in total)
➡ Grand Prix with the least shifting events per race: Belgium (1’980 in total; 44 per lap)
➡ Grand Prix with the least shifting events per lap: Brazil (36 per lap, 2556 in total)
➡ Average KERS boost button usage: 4x per lap, >220x per race
➡ Average use of team radio: <1x lap="" per="">30x per race