"The most sensitive sensor" - Mercedes engineers call F1 drivers the most important part of car setup

In a recent video on Mercedes' YouTube channel, the team's senior race engineer Peter Bonnington explained how the driver is the most important component of an F1 car's setup. The engineer, who is often heard on Lewis Hamilton’s radio, explained the role drivers play in setting a car up.

Despite thousands of sensors on an F1 car, Bonnington referred to drivers as the "most sensitive sensor" when it came to providing the feedback needed to guide setup adjustments:

“We’ve got hundreds of sensors on the car giving us all sorts of information. Having the driver, who is the most sensitive sensor, convey what they’re feeling...and correlating that with what you're seeing on the data, that is really key.”

Bonnington explains the key to a perfect car setup in the video below (from 1:01 onwards):

Mercedes' senior race engineer explained how important driver feedback is when it comes to pre-event and on-event information about a particular circuit. Driver feedback is critical in terms of setting up various elements of the car, fine tuning its aerodynamics, and altering chassis specifications from circuit to circuit.

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Mercedes race engineer explains the importance of driver feedback in car setup

While most pre-race preparation involves virtual computer simulations and drivers working with the simulator, the key factor involved in shaping the car setup is driver feedback. According to Bonnington, it is one of the building blocks to a good race weekend.

Explaining how the process comes into play before and during the event, Bonnington said:

“Before the race, the driver feedback, we just tend to have a general discussion and that's really focusing on what happened [in the] previous event and previous year at that track. So we take these bits into consideration but its really more on-event when the driver feedback really comes into its own.”

Car setups for each circuit vary from driver to driver, as each one has a different driving style. What's quick for one driver may not be quick for another. As such, their feedback and input is key for engineers setting up their car and hitting on the perfect configuration to extract maximum performance.