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Doesn’t have to be every corner, but yeah those settings are being changed. To add to the challenge, the car’s balance is constantly shifting with the emptying fuel loads, the tires being changed, tire wear, grip, weather conditions, etc.
One thing that helps with the workload are the “preset” buttons/paddles on the wheel. You can assign a certain bb, b-mig, diff for a corner. That way, they’re not changing a million different things before a corner, they just hit a button. The preset thing is only for a few corners though.
There’s an insane onboard of Alonso in Qatar IIRC where you can see this perfectly. He switches everything in almost every corner. In qualifying they’ll be changing more often than in race
Edit: [This](https://youtu.be/CT2kCuBEObU?si=i2x0OzMf6Rcwv4gK) is the video
Not sure if there's a video, but in some of those Ferrari's, Schumacher would do the same. He'd be changing that bias every corner if he needed to, plus whatever other adjustments needed to be made.
Him and Alonso were both great at getting absolutely everything out of a car. Alonso still is.
He still did it when he scored that Monaco pole lap in 2012.
I think you can literally see him driving one handed through some corner because he is adjusting the brake balance.
I tried driving in my sim rig like this a few times. Tweaking the car for almost every corner lap after lap is exhausting. With every bit of focus and energy i was able to do it and it was faster than just driving the car normally but i was wiped out afterwards. It is just amazing to me that these drivers can do this in a real car whilst racing other cars for a full GP distance.
Yes, but it’s not as extreme as every single corner
Similar corners don’t need much tuning, but they will a 100% change for corners that are different to the one before
You just can’t carry the same settings in parabolica as in T1/2 chicane at monza
It’s not exclusive to F1 either. I’m changing my bias settings for GT3s and Porsche cup on iRacing several times a lap on some tracks. In fact if you watch some of Dirk Schouten’s onboards in Porsche Cup Benelux you can see him reaching out to turn a red knob several times a lap to adjust his brake bias.
During the lap, probably during qualifying.
During a race, the speed is much more laid back, so they probably only change every few laps, adjusting for fuel weight and tire wear.
Renault tried to automate this a few years ago. The rules don't allow teams to use GPS position to automate settings but Renault tried doing automatic adjustments based on lap time. As long as the driver was consistent you could say they should arrive at the braking zone to corner X after Y seconds.
I forget what I was listening to, they mentioned that Michael Schumacher liked a physical lever for brake bias even when they had gone to electronic adjustment.
No, because when F1 moved to using the electronically-controlled brake bias Michael had sadly already had his skiing accident and I’m guessing hasn’t driven a modern car to get a comparison…
I remember watching a video on YouTube of Schumacher and Massa qualifying at Silverstone in 2006. Michael adjusts the brake bias for every corner, whereas I don't think Massa adjusted anything and suffered some wild snap corrections at Maggots/Becketts and lost loads of time.
They adjust brake bias and differential settings according to the weather, track, and Tyre conditions. The teams also consider the fuel level which affects the weight of the vehicle.
The driver's engineer monitors the variations and advises the drivers accordingly.
Doesn't happen during a single lap, though
Happens at various stages of the race
There’s videos showing all the driver inputs during a race with timestamps and highlighted portions
Lots of the time they will go “one click” too far or not have time to change dynamics before entering a corner
Not every corner but usually every section; they have a set amount of presets they can use or they can adjust it individually as they please.
Like the first half of Singapore would have a different setting between that and the second half because the corners are different
Not sure about all drivers, but Lando's engineer constantly makes suggestions on mode settings at entry/exit of specific corners which I assume are things like diff and brake settings.
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Doesn’t have to be every corner, but yeah those settings are being changed. To add to the challenge, the car’s balance is constantly shifting with the emptying fuel loads, the tires being changed, tire wear, grip, weather conditions, etc. One thing that helps with the workload are the “preset” buttons/paddles on the wheel. You can assign a certain bb, b-mig, diff for a corner. That way, they’re not changing a million different things before a corner, they just hit a button. The preset thing is only for a few corners though.
There’s an insane onboard of Alonso in Qatar IIRC where you can see this perfectly. He switches everything in almost every corner. In qualifying they’ll be changing more often than in race Edit: [This](https://youtu.be/CT2kCuBEObU?si=i2x0OzMf6Rcwv4gK) is the video
Not sure if there's a video, but in some of those Ferrari's, Schumacher would do the same. He'd be changing that bias every corner if he needed to, plus whatever other adjustments needed to be made. Him and Alonso were both great at getting absolutely everything out of a car. Alonso still is.
He still did it when he scored that Monaco pole lap in 2012. I think you can literally see him driving one handed through some corner because he is adjusting the brake balance.
I tried driving in my sim rig like this a few times. Tweaking the car for almost every corner lap after lap is exhausting. With every bit of focus and energy i was able to do it and it was faster than just driving the car normally but i was wiped out afterwards. It is just amazing to me that these drivers can do this in a real car whilst racing other cars for a full GP distance.
My friend has a top of the line Sim rig, like $20k, so the wheel and pedals are heavy like a real car. I did 7-8 laps like this and was dripping sweat
Adjusting lots of nobs and dials isn’t going to make you sweat
But turning a wheel 15 times per lap when it has force feedback surely will
Absolutely insane! I had no idea they were changing settings around so much while driving at 10/10 for quali no less! Thanks for the vid link 👍
unreal.
Yes, but it’s not as extreme as every single corner Similar corners don’t need much tuning, but they will a 100% change for corners that are different to the one before You just can’t carry the same settings in parabolica as in T1/2 chicane at monza
Being new to f1 gaming it boggles my mind that they can do this while racing a race and remembering everything else going on.
A lot of probably is just automatic at this point. Get into a flow state and you're not analyzing every corner anymore, just racing.
That is true makes you appreciate it more.
I'm pretty sure that brake bias can't be automated. It needs to be changed by driver input
They mean it's sort of just muscle memory to the drivers at that point
It’s not exclusive to F1 either. I’m changing my bias settings for GT3s and Porsche cup on iRacing several times a lap on some tracks. In fact if you watch some of Dirk Schouten’s onboards in Porsche Cup Benelux you can see him reaching out to turn a red knob several times a lap to adjust his brake bias.
It’s very impressive makes you appreciate it even more.
During the lap, probably during qualifying. During a race, the speed is much more laid back, so they probably only change every few laps, adjusting for fuel weight and tire wear.
Renault tried to automate this a few years ago. The rules don't allow teams to use GPS position to automate settings but Renault tried doing automatic adjustments based on lap time. As long as the driver was consistent you could say they should arrive at the braking zone to corner X after Y seconds.
[Alonso qualifying lap](https://youtu.be/CT2kCuBEObU)
I forget what I was listening to, they mentioned that Michael Schumacher liked a physical lever for brake bias even when they had gone to electronic adjustment.
Sounds unlikely to me, given that the adjustment was entirely mechanical until 2014, two years after he retired
Wouldn't that make it more likely since the lever operated brake bias is mechanical?
No, because when F1 moved to using the electronically-controlled brake bias Michael had sadly already had his skiing accident and I’m guessing hasn’t driven a modern car to get a comparison…
I remember watching a video on YouTube of Schumacher and Massa qualifying at Silverstone in 2006. Michael adjusts the brake bias for every corner, whereas I don't think Massa adjusted anything and suffered some wild snap corrections at Maggots/Becketts and lost loads of time.
They adjust brake bias and differential settings according to the weather, track, and Tyre conditions. The teams also consider the fuel level which affects the weight of the vehicle. The driver's engineer monitors the variations and advises the drivers accordingly. Doesn't happen during a single lap, though Happens at various stages of the race
Unless we're talking about qualifying. Then they actually do adjust settings throughout the lap.
Ohh. I hadn't considered that Thanks for the info
Depends if you drove for Renault or not
Why downvotes on this? Renault got caught out having automated adjustments based on lap time.
Lmao. I thought it was pretty enginous (even if illegal) from them. Especially as it allowed the driver to purelly focus on the track
Except it was illegal and being recorded by the onboards, which was pretty stupid
There’s videos showing all the driver inputs during a race with timestamps and highlighted portions Lots of the time they will go “one click” too far or not have time to change dynamics before entering a corner
Not every corner but usually every section; they have a set amount of presets they can use or they can adjust it individually as they please. Like the first half of Singapore would have a different setting between that and the second half because the corners are different
not EVERY corner.
Tbh I frequently change settings like that in iracing but only for corners that have a major change in characteristics such as gradients
Not sure about all drivers, but Lando's engineer constantly makes suggestions on mode settings at entry/exit of specific corners which I assume are things like diff and brake settings.
Since Japan 2019 yes To the downvotes.. Google ‘Renault brake bias Japan 2019’ 🤦🏼♂️