Do Formula 1 Cars Have A Clutch Pedal?

Formula 1 is beloved by fans and innovators alike for two reasons: The sport represents one of the ultimate tests of a driver's skill, and it features some of the most advanced technologies ever conceived for a human-piloted vehicle. Some of the fastest F1 cars are marvels of engineering, right down to the very components that comprise them. A modern Formula 1 car's clutch, responsible for connecting the engine to the drivetrain, isn't too dissimilar from a regular car's, though it's obviously far more specialized. The multi-plate unit is extremely small and light, comprised of several adjoining layers of materials rather than the usual single disc of most stick-shift passenger cars. If you are new to F1 racing, you might have several questions in mind — If F1 cars feature clutches, are they operated via pedal? As in, when you shift, do you press down on the clutch pedal to change gear like in a regular car?

In short, no, a formula car uses a sequential semi-automatic gearbox and, therefore, has no clutch pedal (though it retains the use of a clutch). Instead, modern F1 cars utilize specialized clutch paddles located on the steering wheel to actuate the mechanism. This changeover occurred in 1989 with the advent of the first-ever paddle-shifted F1 car, the Ferrari 640, which simultaneously introduced the first paddle-operated clutch. This provided such a significant advantage that other teams scrambled to develop their own systems, and the clutch pedal disappeared entirely following the 1995 season. The Forti FG01, which is among the last cars utilizing a manual gearbox, recorded one of the worst seasons for any F1 car, becoming a laughing stock for the community and sealing the company's fate.

Most F1 cars throughout history utilized a traditional H-pattern gearbox with very few exceptions. That is, until the advent of the semi-automatic gearbox, with its most distinctive element resting on the back of the steering wheel. F1 steering wheels typically feature two or more paddles: the upper paddles control gear changes, while one or two lower paddles operate the clutch.

This design offers three distinct advantages. First, it narrowed the body because you didn't need a physical pedal with the associated linkages, making for a more aerodynamic package. Second, it allowed for left-foot braking, which is crucial because it lets drivers more accurately balance throttle and brake input and eliminate the delay between moving between pedals. Third, shift times were no longer limited by human factors, with today's shift times measured in the tens of milliseconds.

While some drivers prefer the two-clutch setup, both clutch paddles perform the same action as per modern regulations in place. Originally, this setup was used as a sort of "traction control," with one of the pedals used to help control wheelspin off the line. These regulations reflect the FIA's philosophy to "force more control away from engineers and back into the hands of [drivers]." Traction control remains banned, though it certainly hasn't stopped teams from trying to worm traction control into F1 through a variety of means. And while some sequential F1 cars did feature more than two pedals, these pedals did not actuate the clutch; rather, they were similarly used for other "clever" interpretations of the rulebook.