What are all the buttons on an F1 steering wheel for?

What the buttons on an F1 car do. Picture: Honda Racing.Source:Twitter

If you've ever struggled to turn up the radio without turning off the cruise control, take a moment to pity the F1 drivers whose wheels make even the most complicated road cars look simplistic.

Looking more like a games console controller than a traditional steering wheel, it now controls so much more than just the direction in which the tyres point.

The introduction of the V6 hybrid engines for 2014 saw even more switches added to the wheels, with more and more in-race adjustments needing to be made by the driver.

But just what do all the switches do?

Thanks to Honda, here is a little explainer of what Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso have to work with on the McLaren MP4-31.

Aside from fitting the buttons onto the wheel, there are other decisions teams need to take when it comes to the design.

While McLaren, like many, have an LCD screen embedded in the wheel, Williams have built their screen into the car.

This is said to save them weight, but perhaps more importantly means the screen is always facing the driver at the correct angle.

Force India have taken weight saving and cost saving further, by 3D printing their steering wheels this season, although the screen is still part of the wheel.

F1 RETURNS TO OLD QUALIFYING FORMAT

Meanwhile, Formula 1's governing body has officially approved a move back to last year's qualifying format for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix after the new system proved widely unpopular.

The new rolling-elimination format - in which the slowest driver is eliminated every 90 seconds - was used in the first two races this season in Australia and Bahrain, but heavily criticised both times for a lack of on-track action.

With leading drivers such as Sebastian Vettel increasingly unhappy, all the teams voted against the new format last week, forcing FIA president Jean Todt and series commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone to backtrack.

The return to 2015 qualifying still needed to be officially approved, however, and the FIA said Monday that the World Motor Sport Council had approved it.

-News.com.au