FULL GUIDE to Driving Fast in F1 | Part 1

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.