Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
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Formula 1 Special feature

The positional factors involved in optimising F1 driver performance

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A driver’s positioning in the car has changed over the years and can still play a big part in how they feel about their machine, as PAT SYMONDS explains

Ergonomics, the study of how design features improve people’s efficiency in their working environment, isn’t a word often associated with motorsport. It is however a fundamental part of the process of designing a vehicle. It sits alongside packaging as the starting point for what is popularly known as the architecture of the vehicle.

The modern Formula 1 car is certainly a triumph of packaging. The complex power unit and all its associated systems are contained within extremely narrow confines so as to allow the engine cover and the diffuser ‘boat tail’ to be pulled in as far as possible to enhance the aerodynamics.

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