MPH: In a spin – how car rotation is key to F1 driver speed

In that millisecond moment between turn-in and the car pointing at the apex is where the magic happens, where the driver is sensing how quickly they can make the car rotate without the momentum of that rotation continuing for too long into the corner. It’s where synapses and neurons work with elastomers and suspensions to create the feedback loop the driver relies upon. It’s what makes one driver faster than another.

It’s most evident on the entry to slow-to-medium speed corners where the balance of the car is switching from the front to the rear tyres quite quickly. Into very low-speed there’s not much challenge to it, as the car is leaning heavily upon its front axle going in, having been braked hard, and transferring to the rear quite slowly. In the medium-speed, with the rear of the car not yet producing its maximum downforce, it’s still a little nervous, and the genius level drivers can push a little harder than the others as the fidelity of their sensations gives them the confidence to make it child’s play. Their internal gyros can keep up with the rotation without losing their reference. So they can make the micro adjustments to steering/brakes/throttle in the perfect moment to prevent over-rotation and consequent time loss. They get to have the cake and eat it.

But they all have different ways of getting into that corner and of setting up the car to give them the sensations they need. Some – like Lewis Hamilton or Kimi Antonelli – like to brake hard and late, giving them only the briefest of brief windows in which to get the rotation. The sudden load transfers mean the rear of the car has to be strong to keep up with the aggressive demands they are making of the front.

Others – Max Verstappen or Lando Norris – induce the transfer between braking and cornering more progressively. It asks a lot of the front end to be braking and cornering simultaneously for a relatively long time. They are using the pivoting effect of progressively coming off the brakes into the corner to rotate the rear. So the rear grip needs not to overwhelm the front.

This generation of ground effect car does seem to respond better to the latter approach. But in the case of Hamilton, his problems have been compounded by both the characteristics of the Brembo brakes Ferrari uses and the amount of engine braking installed within its software. This can be varied, but the car’s dynamics have been developed over years around having a lot of it. Using Hamilton’s aggressive corner entry, a) the brakes don’t bite hard enough initially and b) the engine braking induces more rotation than he wants. Charles Leclerc’s slightly less aggressive approach, in which he rolls the car into the turn and uses the engine braking to aid his rotation, works perfectly.