Some of the drivers study how to do it in a textbook, others
from photographs, while still others do it whenever they have a spare moment.
Lewis Hamilton likes to fool around with it blindfolded, while his friend Nico
Rosberg says he does it with a dummy model while jogging.
By whatever method, one of the modern Formula 1 driver's
biggest technical challenges - especially early in the season or when they move
to a new team - is to learn by heart the positions, buttons and lights on their
complicated steering wheels.
Evolving from a simple wooden guide to turn the wheels, the
steering wheel has become a tool to regulate everything from the car's wings to
its brakes to engine settings and even the driver's drinking bottle.
''In the past, it was just a steering wheel; now it is a
computer,'' said Jarno Trulli, a driver for the Caterham team. ''You drive the
car and you have a computer on the steering wheel and you need to know exactly
what's going on and where to put your hands in order to improve your car's
handling, with several different settings and switches.''
All the drivers say, however, that learning how to use the
steering wheel does not require any special skills. It is just part of the
evolving job of a Formula 1 driver today.
''It's like you guys,'' said Mark Webber, the Red Bull
driver, referring to journalists and pointing to the voice recorder on the
table in front of him. ''You used to have to write shorthand, but now you have
these things.''
Still, a recorder usually requires only the pressing of two
or three buttons. A Formula 1 steering wheel, however, is the most complicated
car steering wheel in the world. It is also much smaller than a road car's
steering wheel, as it requires less turning action at high-speed to have the
same effect, and the cockpit of the racing car is so small. But the small size
does not make for easy navigation of the buttons, lights, switches and LCD
screen.
It also has paddle shifts for the gears, and at high speed a
driver has little time to look down at the wheel. He must therefore memorize
which button is where and how to adjust it in the appropriate manner.
''Looking down is difficult,'' Trulli said. ''It's all about
knowing where to put the hands straight away. You don't have the time to look
and choose; you have to know in advance where to put your hands.''
Most of the drivers say that they have occasionally pressed the
wrong button. Most often it involves the button that limits the speed of the
car down the pit lane - which is the last thing they want to do while on track
during a race - or failing to hit that button while in the pits, which results
in a speeding fine.
Romain Grosjean, who drives for the Lotus team, said that
the steering wheel was the most difficult aspect to learn in a Formula 1 car.
He has also raced in the world touring car championship, in which he said the
steering wheel was just a steering wheel, not to be compared to the Formula 1
wheel.
''In F1, on the wheel you have the differential, the front
wing, the fuel mixtures, the change of the engine revs, the gearshift,''
Grosjean said. ''That's a lot of factors to modify and amuse yourself with, and
to learn how to use it takes time - to understand that touching this button
will do this thing in this part of the corner at this moment with the car.''
The driver's job is also both helped and complicated by his
radio communication with the engineer, who relays orders throughout the race on
which buttons to use based on how the engineer sees the car reacting.
''The most important things the driver can control from the
cockpit are the differential settings, the brake balance and the front wing
angle,'' said Alan Permane, an engineer for the Lotus team. ''As the fuel load
comes down and the tires lose performance, the driver can change all these
parameters to improve the balance and handling of the car.''
Because it is so complicated, however, the engineers try to
limit the amount of information that goes, for instance, on the LCD screen.
''We can put pretty much whatever information we want on the
steering wheel display,'' said Mark Slade, the the former chief race engineer
for Vitaly Petrov the former driver for the Renault team. ''But we try not to
overload the driver with issues relating to the health of the car, such as
temperatures and pressures. The most critical information they want is their
lap times, so we store their fastest time and the readout gives them a
continuous update of their current lap relative to their best.''
On average, drivers tweak the differential every five laps
or so, but there are some buttons that are used at every corner. Learning the
steering wheel is also complicated by the fact that each team designs and
builds its own steering wheel, and the drivers do not have a great deal of
input over how it is laid out - apart from the shape of the grip or the style
of the rubber of the grip. But while steering wheels are becoming like computer
games, drivers still say that it is of no advantage to be good at playing video
games.
''I don't feel that computer games help,'' the driver Heikki
Kovalainen said. ''It is still very different. I've got used to it as part of
the job and I think anyone who drives this car will get use to them eventually.
It is not the same as a computer game.''
For Trulli, the drivers have not changed over the years,
just the technology.
''No, it's not a different driver; it's a different era,''
Trulli said. ''This is a Formula 1 car just like one was 20 years ago. It's
just a matter of keeping up to date yourself. I don't think 20 years ago they
were able to run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds; nowadays they are very
close always to 9.7, 9.8.''
Article Credit: formula1.about.com
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