McLaren's 4-paddle steering wheel
 

I posted earlier in the F1 Rumors and News section about the new system McLaren are using on the steering wheel and thought I would start a new thread to discuss is in detail.

Here's a picture of it courtesy of Formula 1 Complete
http://lord_k.home.comcast.net/4paddles.bmp


Reported by the UK's Telegraph, it allows the driver to select different engine mappings.

According to the FIA's race report from Hockenheim, Lewis Hamilton's engine will be checked before the Hungarian Grand Prix.

I have to go, but I'll be back.

Wow. Very, very interesting..
I can't make it out from the picture, but it makes sense.. Talk about multi-tasking though. I'd crash for sure!

i cant see 4 paddles. i can only see 2 ... unless im looking in the wrong area ????

but who cares HOW many paddles it has ??? there is knobs and switchs all over the thing...

So then that would make it a 6 paddle wheel lol

I thought you can always change engine mapping?

It apears to have 6 paddles. Maybe one is for that rear braking thing tey were tying?

Looks like Lewis hit the wrong paddle and the steering wheel came off, lol.

Right turn Clyde
 

...and the finger pointing up saying "just a second, lemme put this back on. Woopsie!"

Ferrari will surely be attempting a copy of this but after Silverstone they might want to put a Tom-Tom on Felipe's car :laugh:

Kissy, this is a really cool thread man. I'm impressed with your diagram too - thanks!
I was confusing the steering wheel release with the up-shift paddle haha. Now it makes sense! :thumbup:

In all honesty, they are so close together, it's almost as if you could want to change the mapping and hit a rumble strip and blip down a gear on accident. I can see the difference between where you show each of the paddles are, but it seems way too close. With gloves on, won't the paddles feel flush between eachother anyway? Very difficult to tell.

by the looks of it is upside down and the "steering wheel release" is the upshift and the down shift u cant see my two cents dont know bout the rest

???
 

Judging by most of the replies to my thread, most people think this is some speculation on my part but in most of the F1 community this is a forgone conclusion.

My intention was not to debate whether or not there are four paddles there but perhaps how it works and how it will affect this year's championship and the sport as a whole.

This was one of the most original F1 threads i've opened - which wasn't just reporting on past-events, but actually diagnosing team-specific parts and performance that the general public isn't really aware of. Cool!

I wish I knew more about the mechanics of how a driver adjusts torque-bias on corner exit, but I am out of my engineering depth here unfortunately..

Kissy, please elaborate if you can, or any of the other engineering / mechanically talented members on how this may actually work. This is really freaking cool technology. I'd also like to know what other teams are running a similar setup, or variation of. :-)

After seeing the Ferrari boys click off some early impressive victories, team McLaren has been rather dominant of late, with Hamilton collecting three victories in the last five races. Some of the credit for this success may be due to an innovative new steering wheel on McLaren’s MP4-23, which utilizes four paddle levers in place of the standard two. Two of the levers are used to run up and down through the gears as per normal, with the other set able to modulate the engine torque to suit the selected gear into a particular corner. This flexibility allows for reduced wheel spin in slow corners while retaining all out speed for the quick ones.
We’re told that four levers are needed only because the FIA has made a rule that drivers may not select gear and torque setting in one move, but we can hardly imagine the combination of split-second timing and digital dexterity that must be needed to use the system effectively. Further proof that (sadly) Lewis Hamilton is a much, much better driver than we are.