FULL GUIDE on how to drive FAST in F1

If you’ve ever watched an F1 onboard, you will notice that almost all drivers take corners in the same way. The reason why I say ‘almost’, is that every driver has a different driving technique. This variation extends to car setup preferences; some like an unresponsive yet stable car where some like a sharp and unstable car. I’ll get more into this later. 

All these differences in driving and car handling preferences make up a driver’s driving style. In the large expanse of driving styles you have the aggressive drivers, the smooth drivers and the ones that don’t quite fit in a category. 

Despite the vast spectrum of driving styles, there are traits that all the quick drivers have in common. In order to qualify as a fast driver, they have to be very close to the limit of tyre grip. It is important to understand what the grip limit is, as it is the cornerstone of identifying different driving styles.

Put simply, going over the limit of grip means that they are sliding and damaging their tyres, reducing the amount of grip they can extract. Whereas going under the limit means that they are being too slow and not using the available grip to corner faster. While this is beneficial to tyre preservation, it is not the fastest possible way to drive around corners. Further, tyres love to be in the optimum pressure and temperature zone. Anything outside that, and you are not getting the maximum grip they can offer. This is why looking after tires can pay off in the long run.

Being on the grip limit requires drivers to turn the steering, shift the gears and modulate the pedals to the perfect amount that allows them to manoeuvre the car as quickly as possible around corners. However, this is not humanly possible. No human being is capable of consistently driving on the grip limit around corners. Not even the fastest drivers can be perfectly on the absolute limit of grip in the corners, they are just closer to the limit than others. 

If everyone was perfectly on the limit at all times, it would look almost robotic and artificial. Their steering would be perfectly smooth, they would brake at the perfect time and throttle on at the perfect time all while adapting their inputs to the micro-bumps in the track surface to keep the tyres on the limit of grip. 

This is the key reason why driving styles exist. Since no-one is perfectly on the limit, there are infinitely many driving styles a driver can have, while being as close to the grip limit as possible. However, they can all fall into four generalised categories that I will explain later on. For now, we can focus on the universal techniques that F1 drivers learn from an early age, allowing them to get as close to the limit as possible on the racetrack. 

But first, to understand how the quick drivers do it, we have to break the corner down into five basic stages. 

The first and foremost is the early entry stage. Let’s imagine that you are driving down a road at 100km/h and see a sudden hairpin emerge out of nowhere. With no other path to take, your first response (hopefully) is to press the brake pedal. Racing drivers, when approaching most bends, also have to lift off the throttle or brake hard enough, to slow down for the corner. Congratulations, you are now a racing driver.

 In the early entry stage, F1 drivers apply the maximum braking pressure possible without locking up a wheel. Too high of a brake pressure slows the wheels down too much, but not the car, so the wheel stops rotating and ends up sliding along the racetrack, going over the limit of grip. This is called a lock-up, which is usually followed by a plume of tyre smoke and an overambitious, overshot entry.

Too low of a brake pressure doesn’t slow the car down enough and you end up not using the limit of grip. The perfect balance of braking pressure slows the car down as quickly as possible while not overstressing the tyres. This seems manageable at first, however it does not take into account the fact that as an F1 car slows down the aerodynamic grip reduces. As grip levels reduce, so does the amount of brake pressure a driver has to use to be on the limit of grip. Braking pressure graphs generally look like a downward sloping line, with the drivers releasing the brake to compensate for the loss in grip.

But wait there’s more! In the early entry stage, drivers also shift down a few gears depending on how fast the corner should be taken. Downshifting is a useful tool to control the amount of engine braking you get on corner entry. Engine braking occurs when the drag of the engine parts moving around slows the car down enough to cause deceleration. Higher RPMs (revolutions per minute) mean more engine parts are moving, causing more deceleration. 

When downshifting, the RPMs jump higher, causing more engine braking and deceleration. So faster, more frequent downshifting usually increases the amount of engine braking at the risk of over-revving the engine and breaking the gearbox. Slower, more intermittent downshifting creates a more stable car platform by slowing down over a longer period of time, rather than a quick period of deceleration. Let me explain why.

Not only does downshifting slow the car down, but it also induces rotation. When you slow your car down, the weight shifts to the front of the car. More weight at the front of the car means more friction and grip on the front tyres. More front-end grip allows for better responsiveness with the steering wheel, giving you more rotation as you turn the steering wheel. So downshifting at certain parts of the entry stage of a corner can temporarily help you induce rotation. Downshifting earlier on corner entry can help you slow the car down quickly from the engine braking, and induce a lot of rotation under hard-braking. Downshifting near the mid-corner will not slow the car down as effectively, but will allow for more mid-corner rotation. There are many ways to use downshifting on entry to manipulate the car balance, but here are the most common. 

You have the early and fast downshifting technique, which is most common for aggressive drivers that like to induce lots of rotation on entry. Pierre Gasly is a prime example of an aggressive downshifter. On the flip side, you have Kimi Raikkonen who shifts gears less aggressively and quickly to stabilise the car on entry. He induces rotation primarily through the brake pedal, rather than with the downshifts. That sums up the early entry stage of the corner, where drivers brake hard and downshift to slow the car down just enough to corner quickly.

The second stage is the late entry stage. Let’s imagine you are braking hard for the sudden hairpin that emerged out of nowhere. Once you slow down just enough, you are going to release the brake pedal progressively, much like an F1 driver. This is called the trailbraking stage of the corner as you trail and hold the brakes into the corner. It is also where you start to turn into the bend to avoid going straight into the wall. Late entry is the most important stage in the corner as it determines how well your car is set up for a good exit. Think of it as the turn-in stage, where if you turn in too early you end up going wider on the exit and having to rotate later on. If you turn in too late, you miss the apex (usually the inside and middle of the corner) meaning that you are not using up all the available grip and track. 

Cutting the corner as much as possible by hitting the apex is almost always the fastest way around a bend. It minimises the amount of track surface you have to travel, shortening the racetrack. A shortened racetrack means a faster lap time, the aim of circuit driving. 

While turning in, F1 drivers are not perfectly smooth. Despite the absolute fastest lap time requiring perfectly smooth steering inputs, it is not humanly possible. Ideally, the perfect turn in would be smooth. The reason being is that tyres generally do not like to be scared with sudden changes in steering input (corrections). To reach and stay on the grip limit, tyres have to be loaded up slowly and gradually with smooth steering inputs. In reality, F1 drivers make corrections to the steering wheel, in order to keep the car as close to the grip limit as possible. They usually go above and below the limit through micro-corrections of the steering.

Apart from turning into the corner on late entry, they trail the brakes into the apex to varying extents. Trailing the brakes means releasing the pedal progressively. As mentioned earlier, braking shifts weight to the front of the car, giving the front tyres more grip. This allows for more responsiveness in the steering and more rotation as well. It is vital to build up rotation before the mid-corner stage, in order to load the tyres up to the grip limit. Trailbraking with more brake pressure gives the fronts tyres more grip and releasing the brakes (trailbraking less) shifts the weight to the rear and gives the rears more grip and the fronts less. 

F1 drivers typically modulate the brake pedal while trailbraking in order to manipulate the weight transfer and grip balance of the car. If more rotation is needed, they trail the brakes for longer to induce more rotation. If they over rotate, they have to release the brakes slightly to reduce the amount of entry rotation. Rotation comes with instability, so more rotation increases the chance of spinning and losing control. Over-rotation occurs when too much rotation is induced and the rears start to slide around, going over the limit of rear tyre grip.

The late entry phase is critical for cornering on the limit of grip. Being the stage of the corner where rotation has to be induced, there is a fine balance between under-rotating and over-rotating that allows you to be as close to the grip limit as possible. To sum up the late entry stage, drivers release the brakes progressively, trailbraking into the corner to maintain rotation. They also have to fine-tune and adjust their steering inputs to keep the front tyres on the grip limit while making the rears slide a tiny bit, to rotate the car on the front axle. 

The third stage is the mid-corner phase, where a transition between braking and acceleration is being made. During this stage, drivers have to induce more rotation to reach the maximum rotation of the car, in order to set up the car for the exit. After reaching the grip limit through the entry stage, they have to keep maintaining the available grip to maximise the speed they can carry mid-corner. Primarily, there are two ways to stay on the grip limit in the mid-corner. The first is to micro-correct the steering and the second is to modulate the pedals. 

While most drivers do a combination of the two, some are more inclined to micro-correcting than modulating the pedals and some like to keep the steering smooth while modulating the pedals more aggressively. Michael Schumacher was a prime example of being aggressive with both the steering and pedal corrections. Jenson Button on the other hand, was incredibly smooth with the steering but stayed on the grip limit by aggressively modulating the pedals. 

By modulating the brake and throttle, the driver can shift the balance of weight and grip to the front or rear. When getting on the brake, the front end dips down as it has more weight and therefore grip. When using the throttle, the weight shifts to the rear and the rears get more grip.

If the car is under-rotating mid-corner, likewise to the entry stage, the driver should brake deeper into the corner to increase front end grip, decrease rear end grip and induce rotation. If the car is over-rotating mid-corner, then the driver should release the brakes and get onto the throttle progressively to increase rear end grip and decrease front end grip, ultimately decreasing rotation. Just remember, when braking, the grip balance shifts to the front and when accelerating the grip balance shifts to the rear.

In addition, drivers have to micro-correct the steering in order to keep the front tyres on the grip limit and to make sure the rear tyres don’t overtake the fronts (when over-rotating) . If they turn the steering too much, the fronts start to slide and this reduces the ability to rotate. If they don’t turn the steering enough, and rotation has been induced, the car pivots on the front end with the rears sliding around. This in turn, causes the car to over-rotate, needing the driver to make a steering correction to keep the car pointed in the right direction. 

Let’s say the car is rotating clockwise, ideally the front end is roughly the pivot point and the rears follow along without sliding too much. This is good rotation as all the tyres are closest to the grip limit as possible and the car can achieve its maximum ability to rotate, therefore allowing for more speed to be carried in the mid-corner.

Under-rotation occurs when the rear tyres are too planted and the front tyres have not enough grip to be the pivot point. This causes understeer, where the car doesn’t rotate enough due to a lack of front tyre grip or excess rear tyre grip. Further, understeer occurs when the front tyres slide more than the rears, and results in the fronts going over the grip limit, while under-utilising the rear tyre grip.

Over-rotation occurs when the front tyres are planted and the rear tyres have not enough grip, so they start to slide. This causes oversteer, where the car pivots too much on the front axle and the rears slide around. Oversteer occurs when the rear tyres slide more than the fronts, with the rears going over the grip limit and the fronts not being used enough.

Understeer and oversteer are the two extremes of going over the grip limit, consequently going slowly. On the other hand, drivers can use a little bit of understeer or oversteer to maximise the time they are closer to the grip limit. Drivers are not perfectly on the grip limit all the time, so they generally go over and under the limit many times throughout the corners. Some drivers prefer to use the limit of the fronts more and like a bit of understeer, where some like to use the limit of the rear tyres more and like oversteer.

In the mid-corner, the drivers are at the lowest speed of the whole corner to get the maximum rotation they can achieve. This is a critical part of the corner, as they have to set the car up for a good exit, carrying momentum from the mid-corner.

The fourth and penultimate stage is the early exit phase. This is when the driver starts to unwind the steering after reaching the maximum steering angle (depending on the corner) at the mid-corner stage. It is also when they start to get onto the throttle progressively. Imagine that you have successfully cornered through the middle of the hairpin and you are approaching the exit. If you slam the throttle, you will spin the rear tyres and lose control, so it's best if you get onto the throttle gradually unless your name is Ayrton Senna, in that case you may proceed to aggressively stab at the throttle pedal. 

The reason why it is best to get onto the throttle almost exponentially and progressively is to make sure you are keeping the rear tyres near the grip limit. F1 drivers are fast in getting from 0 to 100% throttle, but in between they have to modulate the throttle pedal according to the amount of rear traction they have. Otherwise they risk spinning the rear tyres and scrubbing off speed. 

Another aspect to consider is the fact that you are not gaining any more rotation on the throttle. It is best not to induce rotation by spinning and sliding the rear tyres, using more than enough throttle on exit. While it may be the most crowd-pleasing, to drift your way out of a corner,  it is certainly not the fastest way over a race stint after your tyres start to blister and grain from the stress. On the flip side, if you are too progressive in getting to full throttle, the car starts going wider and wider out of the corner. 

The longer you spend getting to 100% throttle, the less rotation you have due to the weight being on the rear tyres, inducing understeer on exit. This is detrimental to your exit line, as you are forced to run too far off track and lose speed in the process of dancing around in the grass/sand. Again, a fine balance of too much throttle and not enough throttle is needed for a near perfect exit.

If you thought that was easy, now it’s time for the last stage of the corner: the late exit phase. This stage of the corner is undoubtedly the most relaxing. It is all about maintaining that 100% throttle and never backing down. At least, not until the next corner. In that case, rinse and repeat the cornering stages.

Now that you know about the driving inputs that all drivers use to go fast around corners, let’s look at the different preferences each driver has to drive on the limit.

Cornering lines, commonly known as racing lines, are critical for driving on the limit of grip and going as fast as possible in the corners. Racing lines are the optimal paths around a racetrack that either shortens the track or allows for a driver to carry more speed where there are higher grip levels. They generally involve staying out wide on entry, cutting the corner around the apex (middle of the corner) and going back wide on exit. 

There are many different racing lines that drivers can take depending on the sharpness or specific track conditions of the corner. They want to always be on the part of the track with the most grip but still take a shorter path around by cutting the corner. Again, the perfect racing line would be impossible for a human to drive on, and there is only one best racing line for each corner. Drivers generally tackle corners with similar racing lines to each other. They all convene around the perfect racing line, hoping to get as close as possible to the fastest lap time. There are three types of racing lines that are optimal for certain types of corners and slow for others. Drivers do not use the same racing line for every single corner, rather they adapt their preferred racing line to it. 

That being said, the fastest drivers are the ones who do not have a preferred racing line, as they have the ability to adapt to the fastest line possible for each corner.

The first type of racing line is called the U-shaped line. Drivers can either brake early or late for this line. Braking later requires them to trail the brakes into the mid-corner, where braking early allows them to have a stable platform mid-corner and carry more minimum speed. On entry, they turn in early and generally more smoothly to carry speed into the corner. Smoothness on entry helps them load up the tyres to the grip limit. 

Consequently, their rotation is prolonged over a longer period of time from having a higher mid-corner speed and turning in earlier. Higher speed means that they have less ability to rotate the car, so it takes them longer to fully rotate the car when taking a U-shaped line. Although they can carry more speed in the mid-corner, they still have to rotate the car enough to avoid going too wide on exit. This means that they have to be more hesitant on the throttle to avoid running off track. Remember that using the throttle lifts the weight off the front tyres, giving them less grip and reducing ability to rotate.

The U-shaped line is beneficial for corners that require a high minimum cornering speed and high mid-corner speed. The only downside is that their exits can be compromised since drivers have to be more hesitant on the throttle, at risk of running out of track. Typically, drivers who take a slightly U-shaped biassed line in all corners prefer to be smooth and have an understeery car setup. I’ll get onto car setup preferences later on, but understeery setups allow for drivers to have more stability, hence allowing them to carry a higher cornering speed.

In short, U-shaped lines benefit mid-corner speed while causing the driver to lose out on entry and exit speed.

The second type of racing line is the V-shaped line. On entry, drivers typically brake hard and late in a straight line, without turning into the corner as early as the U-shaped line. After maximising the longitudinal grip by braking in a straight line, they find themselves deep in the mid-corner. This is where they induce a lot of rotation sharply and quickly, getting the car fully rotated before U-shaped line drivers. While they have to slow down more in the mid-corner to rotate the car more, they benefit from a straighter exit line. 

A straighter exit line allows them to get onto the power more aggressively and reach higher exit speeds. This is due to having more longitudinal grip, being in a straight line and not having to rotate the car more on exit. The V-shaped line is beneficial for corners that entail a long straight, requiring the maximum top speed they can get. The line sets the car up for a better exit at the expense of a slower mid-corner speed. Another upside of the V-shaped line is that it allows drivers to brake hard and late into the corner. Thus they can carry lots of speed into and out of corners.

This line requires more aggression than the U-shaped line, as the driver has to aggressively induce a lot of rotation mid-corner in order to set the car up for a good exit. Further, it is complemented by an oversteery setup that has a lot of natural rotation for a sharp mid-corner performance. I’ll touch on this later, when discussing car setup preferences.

In short, V-shaped lines cause a driver to lose out on mid-corner speed but benefit entry and exit speed.

The third line is the double-apex line. This only occurs in long corners that are best taken by hitting two apexes. The previous racing lines I mentioned mainly apply to corners with one apex (in the mid-corner). Despite this, double apex corners can be taken with a few different approaches, resembling U-shaped and V-shaped lines. 

The first approach is to actually miss the first apex, as it is called a ‘false apex’ and only aim to hit the second one. This is a rare case, but it is important to know how to encounter a double apex corner with a false apex. For this racing line, drivers purposely miss the first apex by turning in later. This is so they can position the car for an optimal racing line at the second apex. The second apex can be taken like a normal corner with a U or V-shaped line, again depending on if a long straight follows the corner.

This approach to a double apex is beneficial for when the first apex is just a kink and can be taken full throttle. When the second apex entails a long straight, requiring the driver to set up their racing line before the corner, in order to benefit the exit speed, then the ‘false apex’ racing line is also a viable path.

The second approach to double apex corners is similar to the V-shaped racing line. For this, drivers brake late and turn in early to hit the first apex. This excess speed they carry on entry forces them out wide in the mid-corner. Mid-corner, between the two apexes, they rotate the car sharply and quickly to set up a straighter exit line. This allows them to hit the second apex while aggressively getting on the throttle. Overall, the V-shaped approach to double apex corners allows drivers to brake hard and late while setting up a good exit.

The last approach to double apex corners is much like the U-shaped racing line. In this case, drivers tend to brake earlier on entry but turn in as early as the previous line. This allows them to have a more stable platform mid-corner to carry lots of minimum speed, similar to the conventional U-shaped line. They prolong their rotation throughout the cornering phases, carrying as much cornering speed as possible. They tend to hug the inside of the corner more than V-shaped lines, hence the smoother, U-shaped line they take. However, this compromises their exit line and forces them to be more hesitant on the power in order to stop the car from going too wide. Overall, the U-shaped approach to double apexes allows drivers to carry lots of mid-corner speed but is detrimental to exit speed.

It is important to know that these racing lines are generalisations of how drivers take corners. No two corners are the same, so no two racing lines are the same. Drivers cannot take the same racing line for each corner. They use these types of racing lines to guess how they take corners quickly, then fine-tune their racing line to be as close as possible to the perfect, absolute fastest racing line. Even though drivers have to adapt their line, some driving styles tend to lean towards a particular racing line. They will always have a bias towards a U-shaped or V-shaped line when approaching corners, but must adapt to the fastest line if they have any chance of going quickly.

The next important factor of a driver’s driving style is their car setup preference. Car setup affects how the car handles in the corners and how fast it is on the straight. There are many factors such as suspension geometry, tyre pressures, aerodynamics and much more that impact how the car handles in the corners.  As a result of tweaking these factors, the grip balance of the car shifts like a seesaw.

If there is more grip towards the front, the rears will be less grippy, causing more oversteer and a higher ability to rotate. However, this is at the expense of rear end instability making it easier to spin out from over rotating. Oversteery cars are more twitchy and harder to handle, but can reward laptime when mastered.

On the contrary, if the grip balance is biassed towards the rear, the front will have less grip, causing more understeer and less ability to rotate. This requires drivers to induce rotation themselves, having less natural rotation than an oversteery car. Understeery cars are more stable overall, but have limited rotation as a result of a weaker front end and stronger rear end.

Firstly, let’s look at how suspension geometry impacts the car’s grip balance. Suspension allows the tyres to stick to the track without bouncing around. Softer suspension allows for more grip on a bumpy surface and more grip under lateral load. This means that as a car is rotating, softer suspension gives the tyres more grip under rotation rather than on turn in. When the tyres exceed the grip limit and start sliding, it is harder to counter and stop the slide. With softer suspension, there is more dive and squat under braking and acceleration. This means that the weight transfer is more severe, for example, giving more grip to the fronts when braking. 

Whereas harder suspension increases grip on turn-in, giving a more responsive feel on corner entry. It is more suited for tracks with smoother surfaces, such as Silverstone and Suzuka. Harder suspension makes the tyres more prone to sliding, as there is less leeway for the tyres to laterally load up to the grip limit. Mid-corner, drivers have to induce more rotation in order to extract the most out of the lack of mid-corner lateral grip. A harder setup will also decrease the amount of dive and squat. This makes the weight transfer less severe, allowing the car to have a more stable, balanced platform under high cornering load.

The front and rear suspension settings are independent of each other. Some drivers prefer to have a softer front and stiffer rear suspension in order to have more oversteer and a front biassed grip balance. Some like to have a stiffer front and softer rear suspension to set the car up to understeer and shift the grip balance rearward. This is a basic run-down of how the suspension geometry affects the car balance, not taking into account camber, caster, bump-stops and more terms that confuse even the fastest drivers.

The second aspect of a car setup is tyre pressure, which is one of the less important settings to get right. A soft tyre pressure allows the tyre to deform and increase the contact patch with the ground, increasing friction and grip. However, it is less responsive on turn in and can wear out faster due to more friction and load on the tyre’s surface. A harder tyre pressure increases the responsiveness on turn in and also can last for longer under load, making the tyre grip degradation less severe. Despite this, there is less mid-corner grip due to a smaller contact patch with the track. 

In another sense, increasing the tyre pressures has similar longitudinal effects with increasing stiffness of the suspension. Under braking, a softer tyre or suspension leads to a more pronounced weight transfer to the front tyres. The grip balance shift tends to be more severe. Under acceleration, a softer tyre or suspension shifts more weight and grip to the rear tyres. The opposite applies to harder tyres and suspension, as the grip balance will tend to shift less.

While cornering, softer tyres and suspension maintain the most contact patch with the ground in the mid-corner but have a lazier turn in. They tend to wear out the tyres more as a result of having more grip and friction with the ground. Harder tyres and suspension have a responsive turn in but have less contact patch and grip mid-corner. Despite this, they can perform more consistently as a result of having less load and friction on the tyres. Hard tyres tend to last longer in race conditions and have more consistent grip levels, hence why drivers seldom use soft tyres in their race strategy, unless they take more pitstops. 

One of the more important parts of car setup, especially in Formula One is aerodynamics. Like the mechanical grip balance shifting from suspension geometry changes, tweaking the aerodynamic setup can also shift the grip balance. Aerodynamics is a critical factor to how F1 cars can corner incredibly quickly. At high speeds, the air flowing under the car is at a much lower pressure than the air flowing over the cat. Coupled with wings, spoilers and vortex generators that optimise downforce, this pushes the car down to the ground at high speeds. More aerodynamic weight without actually adding weight to the car increases the overall grip levels. 

Drivers can fine-tune the amount of angle their rear wing or front spoiler has. The higher the angle, the more downforce it produces. Drag is a byproduct of increasing angle of attack, so drivers have to make sure they can have as much downforce as possible in the corners without compromising their straight line speed with excess drag. 

Increasing the amount of front-end downforce leads to more oversteer and natural rotation at medium to high speed corners. For a similar effect, decreasing the rear wing angle can both reduce drag for a better straight line speed and shift the grip balance frontwards.

Increasing the amount of rear-end downforce makes the car more understeery, less willing to rotate and more stable at medium to high speed corners. Likewise, decreasing the amount of front-wing angle reduces drag and shifts the grip balance rearwards. 

Now that the car is all set up, it's time to induce rotation for some quick cornering. How much a driver induces rotation and where they do it is one of the defining features of a driving style. 

Obviously, the first means of inducing rotation is to turn the steering in order to point the car into the corner. However, turning the steering by itself does not allow drivers to rotate the car on the grip limit. To enhance this rotation, allowing them to rotate near the limit they have to do the following: trail the brakes into the corner, lift off the throttle or downshift to induce rotation. 

Under braking, there are 3 factors involved: how late they brake, how hard they brake and how for long they hold the brakes into the corner. 

Late braking shifts more weight to the front mid-corner as a result of the shift in weight balance being closer to the apex. Late brakers tend to carry more speed into the corner and use the limit of grip more on entry. In terms of inducing rotation, late braking is a key player. Whereas early braking allows drivers to have a more stable platform mid-corner. They slow down earlier and have the leeway to carry a high minimum speed as a result of an even weight balance. Early braking allows for the driver to induce rotation later by setting up a stable platform in the mid-corner.

Hard braking shifts a lot of weight to the front tyres and slows the car down quickly. It upsets the grip balance by severely moving the weight to the front end. This makes the rears lift up and lose traction, decreasing stability on entry. Using more brakes induces more rotation as well as slowing the car down more. Softer braking shifts less weight to the fronts, making the car less oversteery. It allows for drivers to carry more speed at the apex from more balance and stability. Although it doesn't typically extract the most out of tyre grip under braking, losing laptime on corner entry.

The last part of the braking phase involves trailing the brakes into the apex. Holding the brakes for longer and trailbraking more induces more rotation and mid-corner oversteer. Trailbraking less or lifting off the brakes induces understeer and causes the car to under-rotate more. 

Many factors that reduce rotation are also used synonymously with the throttle pedal. Slightly getting onto the throttle shifts weight and grip balance to the rear tyres. This induces the car into understeer and reduces rotation. However, if the throttle is applied too hastily and aggressively, it can cause the rear tyres to break traction and spin from the lack of grip and excess of power. This causes oversteer, as the rears slide from excessive throttle application while the fronts remain grippy.

Primarily, the key to manipulating the grip balance in order to drive on the limit is pedal modulation. Drivers have to manipulate the balance of grip if they have any chance of driving near the limit. In other words, they have to induce or reduce rotation and balance off the grip bias of their car setup. When drivers have an understeery car setup, they tend to induce more oversteer themselves through the methods explained above. When drivers have an oversteery car setup, they tend to induce less rotation themselves, inducing understeer to balance off the effects of excessive oversteer. 

On the contrary, this was not always the case. Michael Schumacher won 7 World Championships inducing oversteer in an oversteery car setup. Fernando Alonso won 2 World Championships inducing understeer in an understeery car setup. These extreme driving styles only worked when the car wanted it to. This stresses the importance of adapting your driving style depending on the car behaviour.

All cars can be either naturally understeery, oversteery, like to take a U-shaped or V-shaped line, have weaker mid-corners or stronger mid-corners and so many more characteristics in terms of car handling. It is vital to adapt to how the car likes to be driven. Most F1 drivers have driving styles that conflict with how the car wants to be driven. This is the main reason behind their failure to perform. The very best F1 drivers have driving styles that are flexible and can adapt to how the car needs to be driven on the limit of grip.

Despite all of the theory on how to drive fast, and the preferences each driver has in their driving inputs, there is one factor that contributes to the largest amount of laptime. It doesn’t matter if you have good knowledge on how to drive fast or a proficient understanding of how the car handles on the racetrack. The main contributor to laptime and driving as close as possible to the limit of grip is your feeling for the car. 

You simply cannot expect the car to listen to you if you are not listening in the first place.

The best F1 drivers are sensitive to every bit of feedback and sensation that the car gives to them. The g-forces from the extreme cornering speed, the feedback from the steering wheel, lightness of the pedals that tells the driver when the brakes are about to lock up and of course the amount of rotation the car is experiencing from your bottom. These bits and pieces of information, when translated into the perfect driver inputs, allow a driver to be in harmony with the car and manoeuvre it as fast as it can go. 

Some quick drivers have lots of talent but not a great practical application of their innate sensitivity for the car. They are less calculative and analytical, adapting to the car’s behaviour and dealing with it, rather than pushing for car setup changes and analysing each corner, seeing where they can gain time.

Some quick drivers lack innate talent, but with a gritty, hard-working mindset, they can push hard towards driving faster. They are calculative and analytical, fine-tuning the car setup and looking to gain time through analysis of the telemetry data.

Whereas the extremely quick drivers – only a few have existed since the birth of F1 – have an innate feeling for the limit of grip combined with a hard-working, analytical and meticulous attitude to driving.