Formula 1 Transmission Question

[Shel_B]

Do any contemporary F1 cars use an automatic transmission or one that can be shifted without using a clutch?

 

[bdcardinal]

Automatic is strictly banned. It is a version of an 8 speed sequential. There is a hand clutch for pit-stops and race standing starts.

 

[bdcardinal]

Article 9 covers gearboxes.

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/fia_2023_formula_1_technical_regulations_-_issue_4_-_2022-12-07.pdf

 

[bdcardinal]

9.7.1: The number of forward gear ratios must be 8. Continuously variable transmission systems are not permitted


9.9 Gear changing
9.9.1 Automatic gear changes are considered a driver aid and are therefore not permitted. For the purposes of gear changing, the clutch and power unit torque need not be under the control of the driver.

 

[Shel_B]

Thanks for the great info.

 

[Passport1]

Excellent question and answer. Always wondered the same thing. Watched the F1 race yesterday. After Sergio Perez was out and Kevin Magnussen crashed it was a complete yawn. Max Verstappen and who cares, everyone else.

After Senna/Prost, the music died. BTW, Perez looks a bunch like Al Unser sr.

Sportskeeda

 

[97prizm]

Yeah I wish they'd go back to the Schumacher F1 days. 3.5 Liter V-10s

 

[Carmudgeon]

Do any contemporary F1 cars use an automatic transmission or one that can be shifted without using a clutch?

The 1989 Ferrari 640 introduced the paddle shifters that became the norm, first in F1 cars, and later in street cars.

However, it's important to note that relates only to the shifting method. Dual-clutch gearboxes were developed and raced by Audi and Porsche earlier in the decade, in their rally cars and sports prototypes, respectively, under the PDK moniker, with push buttons. Their early street efforts with hand-shifting, the Tiptronics, were conventional automatics that were shifted manuallly via electronic rocker switches, but otherwise nothing special.

And while the concepts are commonly associated with each other, they are not mutually inclusive.

Conventional gearboxes may have conventional levers, and be shifted sequentially.

A race gearbox may even lack a neutral "gear" entirely, forcing the clutch to be engaged while the engine is running, and car stationary.

"Driver aids" in F1 peaked in the early 90s with the Williams FW15C, before being outlawed in 1994.

 

[bdcardinal]

Blown diffusers were magical and sounded incredible

 

[loneryder]

Don't they shift with paddles on the steering?

 

[andreigbs]

They do, once underway the clutch is no longer used. The shift paddles go up/down through the gears sequentially.

 

[Marcozi]

Actually, what happens is the engine computer changes the engine's revs to match the transmission's input shaft revs. The transmission is then shifted. I don't know if the clutch is used, but I would bet that it's not used.