Do Formula One drivers have too much to do in the cockpit? Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo talks us around the steering wheel of an F1 car...
'Working with the steering wheel has been a bit of an issue this season, hasn’t it? Personally, having just done free practice sessions it’s not a problem; I find I’m getting more used to keeping busy on the wheel while driving.
Others are in a better place to say what it’s like in a race situation: maybe when you’re in a fight out on the track is could be more difficult. I can’t speak to that, but in free practice it isn’t a problem. Busy, yes, but we can handle it.
Regarding KERS and the DRS, some teams are maybe using a pedal for the rear wing, but ours is a thumb button, so we keep both hands on the steering wheel. KERS is a thumb button on the other side. It’s quite safe: looking at the F-Ducts last year, where drivers had to take a hand off the wheel to operate it, this is probably better. The issue is getting the technique of using the KERS at the right time and trying to get on the rear wing as soon as you get out of the corner. How well the driver adapts will make the difference.
KERS is on-off and DRS is a hold: so you press the KERS button to engage it, and press it again to stop it. For the rear wing, you hold the button down to have the wing up and release it when you want the wing to close.
'World Series by Renault car I drive has four buttons on the steering wheel. The STR6 has 22'
The thing with KERS is the increments: the display across the top of the cockpit show how much KERS you’ve used. Ours counts down from 100 per cent. The team will tell you to use 50 per cent exiting one corner, 30 per cent exiting the next, etc., so we push the button at the appropriate point and the percentage starts to run down. That’s the hard bit: trying to stop it at the right spot – but there is an amount of leeway.
The World Series by Renault car I drive has four buttons on the steering wheel: radio; pitlane limiter and two for changing the display. The STR6 has 22, so it is a little bit different. Starting on the left side I have the radio button, the DRS button, one for the auxiliary oil tank, another for my drinks bottle. Another that, in combination with pushing the brake pedal, displays my brake balance setting, and finally the button to select neutral.
© Getty Images for Scuderia Toro Rosso
On the right side there’s the buttons for reverse and one labelled ‘PC’. That stands for ‘Pit Confirm’. When the team calls you into the pitbox, you press that to let them know you’re received the message. The next one is bite-point bind. This is a procedure you’ll see all the cars do before the start of the race and in the pitlane, basically to find a clutch setting or clutch mapping to help with the start. Above that are the KERS button and the pitlane limiter.
In the centre of the wheel we have a number of rotaries. These allow you to select different settings: We have an engine performance dial that allows you to alter the maximum rpm. For example if you’re comfortable in the race you might want to abuse the engine a less by turning down the revs. The engine mix rotary fulfils a similar function. Those decisions are made by the team: you’ll hear ‘mix 7’ over the radio, and twist the dial to the appropriate number. Beauty.
We still have a dial for adjusting the front wing, though the drivers aren’t adjusting the front wing this year. But if we’re on track and feel we need a front wing adjustment, we twist the dial, the team sees it on the telemetry and when we come to the box, they can change it straight away.
'When they start saying things like ‘engine mix 2, torque map 4’, things can get a little… erratic. But you get into it'
In the middle we have the big multifunction rotary. It does all sorts of stuff, like clutch settings for pulling out of the box, different start maps, a rain setting, a constant speed control, a safety car setting and even a command function that controls the brightness of the display. Behind the wheel we have the paddles for clutch and the gears – but I’ve probably confused everyone enough already.
If the team can wait until you’re on a straight to give you instructions, they will but if something needs to be done immediately, you’ll get the call wherever you are. It can be a little bit tough at first. I remember very well the day I first drove the RB5 at a test in Jerez. Obviously it helps to have sat in the cockpit and studied it, but when you’re on track and it’s your first time in a Formula One car, just driving the car is already a whole new level and takes up a lot of your brain capacity and energy, before you’ve begun to think about pushing any buttons.
I was supposed to do a radio check on my first lap, operating the radio to making sure everything was working – I don’t think I touched it once because I was just so entertained by driving the car. When they start saying things like ‘engine mix 2, torque map 4’, things can get a little… erratic. But you get into it.
With time it becomes natural; just as natural as pushing the accelerator or brake pedals. The buttons on the wheel are just another part of it. Or, to put it another way, it isn’t the buttons that are driving the car.'
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