How Formula 1 Gearboxes Work (F1 team explains)

[@wh7787]

Great move by Alpine. Closing down the engine program means they have little to hide anymore and using what they have for some good press is a smart move!

[@GreenPlasticWaterCan]

Won't mean they won't be designing their own gearbox though. McLaren uses Mercedes engine but designes their own box.

[@irgendeinerandomperson]

@@GreenPlasticWaterCanfor 2026 at least they will use Mercedes gearboxes. After that is unknown

[@curoador]

Designing a gearbox is half the fun of building an F1 car ... they will still do their own gearboxes im sure !

[@silverwolf9352]

@@curoadorthey wont

[@silverwolf9352]

10:20 ahh yes the infamous oil pump of 2022, caused like 4 dnf’s

[@Michael-pi8ps]

Alpine stopped making their own engines/transmission and immediately decided to spill the tea on how it all works

[@wyskass861]

It's not a mystery how a transmission works. The secrets are in the small details to make a small incremental gains in efficiency and weight for each new year. No race team is gaining any insight by watching this video. It's for the public to do a little Alpine marketing.

[@josue_kay]

We can all make our own F1 gearbox now that we know the secret. 👍

[@cbmbdb]

@@josue_kayTO THE WORKSHOP!

[@DrDeuteron]

*beans. Beans are material facts, tea is (people) gossip.

[@mikosoft]

it's not a current gearbox though

[@ALewTech]

Awesome that Alpine provided this access. Hoping other F1 teams follow suit, it's great to learn all about the tech behind these amazing cars.

[@NKY151]

Only if they have no more edge. This move is just as strategic as anything rthey do on track, just to do with publicity and goodwill.

[@DrDeuteron]

...or this is a design that flopped terribly. A disinformation gearbox.

[@AIAdventures1524]

Or they showed the gearbox cause they're going to ditch it?

[@quadrantalerror1121]

Lego Technic for Adults pretty much

[@LastGoatKnight]

It's the other way around, Lego Technic is this but for children (and collectors)

[@UKBUILT]

Brilliant 😍 I would love make a V10 into a clear cutaway 👍 after my V12 build 😎

[@quadrantalerror1121]

@@LastGoatKnight true

[@egem4m]

@@LastGoatKnightthats what he meant?

[@mohitsasidharan]

Exactly!!😄

[@meanredspider]

Loved the diff explanation - I’m always surprised how often F1 parts are just much lighter, more sophisticated versions of road car parts but that diff is a different league.

[@GreenPlasticWaterCan]

It's what you get when production cost and durability are less of a concern.

[@theairaccumulator7144]

@@GreenPlasticWaterCan nah they're both concerns in the modern era of F1 with the cost cap and replacement limits

[@GreenPlasticWaterCan]

@@theairaccumulator7144 Not really, in normal cars it's a matter of cents. Every cent saved adds up quickly. Unlike F1 where performance is objective number 1.

[@GamezGuru1]

@@GreenPlasticWaterCan F1 diff is not like it is because it doesn't have to be durable, it's a hydraulically actuated ACTIVE differential - entirely unnecessary on a road car, and enormously expensive to manufacture and maintain.

@@GamezGuru1 yeah road car (sporty one),, LSD would suffice

[@Kresnov]

I remember quite a few years ago before the final race of the season in Japan, I was in Italy to pick up 4 Ferraris from the factory, my first visit and didn't really know where I was going (before satnav) I turned down this country road to see loads of cars parked all over the place, I stopped my truck to see what was going on and spotted this chap going through the trees to a fenced off area, I worked my way through the trees to be greeted by armco around Fiorano Test Track and Michael Schumacher testing, the violence of the gear changes as he came past us is something that still stays with me today, it's utterly brutal how they bang into gear with astonishing force, and the noise omg it was biblical, a day and a moment I will never forget.

[@atn_holdings]

it's crazy to me that F1 seamless gear shifts are still basically just one technological step ahead of regular street motorbike units with the double barrel pre-select. I really thought at this point there would be some new inner mechanism at play but nope. Just really careful engineering and ECU programming. Amazing

[@byanymeansnecessary9329]

FIA has mandated it st stay as is, possibly at the teams' request. cvt and fully seamless were both banned

[@benjones4365]

@@byanymeansnecessary9329"cvt and fully seamless were both banned", yes and I understand why it could be bad for the sport. However if F1 is supposedly to be the development side that we see in road car some 5 years later, IMO it should have been allowed.

[@mechanismguy]

Engineer comment- These videos are great, but a bit frustrating when the B-roll doesn't match the actual topic. At 10:45 they show a close up view of a gear pump which has two identical meshing gears and can be referred to as an external gear pump. It is similar to how a roots blower works. In between the gears where they mesh does not allow oil through, so it is forces the oil to be carried by the teeth around the outer wall. The actual pump hanging from the strings is an annular gear pump which uses an internal and external gear (this pump has two sets). Notice that in the F1 pump the "inernal rotor" (regular gear) has six teeth and the external rotor (internal ring gear) has seven teeth. You can also notice at 10:38 that the pivot hole in the body for the shaft is off center. This locates the internal rotor to properly mesh with the external rotor, which leaves a gap on the far side where the pumping is done. Also notice that the internal rotor is keyed to the shaft, so it spins with the shaft, and the teeth drive the external rotor to spin at 6/7ths the speed of the shaft. The external rotor spins in the pocket in the body. The B roll of the "bevel gear" mesh at 12:56 was painful to see. If you have ever used Lego gears, you know what is wrong with that animation... Again, these videos provide incredible inside views of F1 tech that is just amazing, and I'm grateful to have access to it.

[@tturi2]

that non bevelled diff is fair enough since it simply shows how the gears apply force to someone with zero mechanical aptitude, yes it's literally grinding gears irl lol

[@bigyeet8905]

In his defense that animation is taken from toyota

[@amrnasser1324]

That diff animation was painful to watch

[@licencetoswill]

yeah I saw that gear pump footage and thought somethings not adding up. it would've be nice to have some detail on the two parallel annular pumps as they're quite fascinating. amazing info none the less.

[@TorqueFormulaWon]

This video was hard to watch in general. Alpine put all the effort in basically. The more I think about it the more it makes me mad that this access was given to Scott as I don't feel he did them justice. It was just a rushed mess in parts and hard to follow. Things should be understandable to layman's but this was just rushed to get under 15 minutes. The amount of cuts and fast "explanations" that were edited in that way regarding important things was just painful. With this access to very recent tech he should be doing it justice. I would rather have a quality video that's longer than a shorter rushed mess like this that didn't even match. Wasted the privilege of seeing this or maybe takes it for granted with being a driver. All the tools were there and transparent as well. Could have been really interesting and educational but the editing was poor. All that easy to see setup wasted.

[@AlphaEngineer2022]

I've walked past this gearbox everyday at alpine, it's mesmerising :)

[@rickintexas1584]

The amount of engineering behind these machines is staggering. My hats off to the men and women who bring us these amazing machines.

[@julesselmes]

This is the best F1 channel on KZbin. Thank you @Driver61 , F1 brings a lot of joy to me and your content enhances it.

[@goat3898]

Still waiting for a driving upside down update.

[@einglis]

Give it a rest.

[@goat3898]

@ nah

[@christiancolombo2317]

I think its gone

[@justin-rh6pz]

He’s to scared and to cheap to do it

[@SuperPhexx]

I read somewhere they have issues finding a location. They basically need a long tunnel with smooth concrete lining without anything attached to the roof/walls. And they need to build on/off ramps at the openings/inside this tunnel so the tunnel can't really be used for something important as the ramps would put the tunnel out of commission for most likely weeks, at best days. Tunnels filling all those requirements are extremely rare. I'm not even sure something like that exist. Best option might be to look for some feeding tunnel for some hydro power plant that's under heavy maintenance/repair where the tunnel is either made with a TBM throu solid rock or thats lined because it goes through consistently poor rock. But there are not many of those either.

[@Tahm_]

That note about singapore being hard on gearbox was interesting, if possible could you guys do a video on an entire F1 Calendar track by track and which components are particularly stressed? That would be very interesting to know

[@lourensvandervyver1585]

Very nice Stroll cameo

[@briangschaefer7048]

Magnificent video as usual Scott! Big thanks to Alpine for the wonderful insight.

[@amrnasser1324]

That differential is a masterpiece. I truly want a deep explanation on how it works. With no simplified animations. The differential animation you had there that had two straight cut gears meshed together perpendicularly was painful to watch. But overall, great video and hope to see more like it

[@JSB2500]

The funding is split 50:50 between gearbox development and funding his sleep. That's 6 million a year on high tech beds, and also on sleep apps for him to mess with when the bed isn't working. The fact that he asked how many oil pumps there are in the gearbox and was wowed by the answer of one makes me think the bed isn't working at the moment.

[@flightmaster999]

Man, I could spend a weekend there just looking at the differential. Just amazing design and simplicity all at once. And then there's the 1000 HP going through it all, or to be exact, it's the torque that matters here. HP is just the torque multiplied by RPM.

[@l49165]

Divided by 5,252 😉

[@flightmaster999]

@@l49165 Exactly!

[@springford9511]

Another great video, thanks. The cut (10m 43s) from the exploded 6 lobe Eaton style (I know it as) pump to the assembled but coverless gear pump did have me doubting my sanity. Luckily a quick rewind confirmed the situation🙂

[@flyzeyefab]

Absolutely LOVE F1 Tech! Fantastic engineering!!!

[@donf2944]

stone cold shade thrown at Stroll on that not using reverse line. Perfect haha

[@abcshopper]

Casual F1 fan. Fan of all racing. Mega fan of all science and engineering. Good on ya KZbin algorithm. 👍

[@UKBUILT]

I love the in depth engineering on F1 tech 😍 I'm building my own V12 supercar 😎

[@jukeseyable]

that engineering is absolutely beautiful

[@FinnD777]

What a week to post this video, considering Alpine just announced they’re using Mercedes gearboxes from 2026!

[@nicholaspayne349]

I feel like you could’ve done an entire video on just the diff. That thing is amazing.

[@kh40yr]

Nascar started spraying gear oil into the Ford 9" diffs , with a pump and squirter tubes built in and on the rear housing.

[@millennialpoes5674]

Nascar? Wtf cares. 😅

[@donwheeler1683]

Wow! Always loved the transmission rebuilding of my Alfa's and this is a fantastic presentation.....Thanks!!! How all those gears mesh and turn revolutions in to forward movement is incredible.

[@evanbo173]

Great video. Would love to see a whole video on the diff!

[@COYOTE_N8]

Man I wish we got more then two mins on the differential. That thing deserves it's own video

[@bradinch1563]

after working on transa les for 25 years, they really have not changed, but the straight cut ring gear is cool.

[@timog4991]

Thanks for this amazing video. I would have loved to see more of the differential. I think that's the most interesting part of the whole gearbox

[@MendicantBias1]

Alpine is actually pronounced with the P first, A and L are silent, the E comes next with I and N switched. Also add an S at the end.

[@TesterAnimal1]

Pins?

[@chevy4x466]

I have no patience for people that insist their name should be pronounced differently from how it is spelled

[@hampocampo]

Wow that diff is amazing.

[@233kosta]

Simulation doesn't mean you do no physical testing. For one thing, you have to validate the method. Even then, you should always test the final product, just in case one of your assumptions was wrong.

[@X19-x5f]

For some reason this popped up in my feed. Glad it did as this is some really fascinating stuff. Thanks!

[@gerrydepp8164]

I've done loads of those...in Motorbikes, I'm amazed I recognised everything. Bikes dont normally have a pump tho but they do have Dogs! Its called constant mesh - not like cars at all - here the actual gears are always engaged - its the ring/fork in between them that moves and connects the gear to the shaft via dogs that are a bit like pins that go in holes in the side of the gear where you cant see them. This makes for the fast gear changes until eventually the dogs wear down and it can fall out of gear. Pity he didnt mention the oil - there is enough tech in that too...

[@brianb-p6586]

Excellent insight into the transaxle internals. It would have been nice to cover why they use a cross-shaft, driven by a spiral bevel gear and driving the differential by parallel straight-cut spur gears, rather than the hypoid gear set of a typical longitudinal road car transaxle or final drive. The answer is that a hypoid gear set provides the required vertical offset, right-angle turn, and reduction gearing in one stage.... but this arrangement provides the same functions with less drag (and resulting heat production), despite needing two stages to do it.

[@idonjohnson6999]

Came for gearbox. Learned about some aircon bed matras.

[@deltacx1059]

The thing is it's easy to make a strong transmission if it being strong is top priority ,things immediately get much harder if you want it to be light too. Basically the engineering triangle, your choices are strong, light and cheap, you only get to pick two.

[@srinitaaigaura]

Some of those components look like they should belong in a watch, they're pure jewellery, can't believe they can handle 1000 HP at full tilt! Engineering masterpiece!

[@adamthomas1222]

Where I'd like you to visit next is the tunnel where you were supposed to drive upside down on

[@cadrianocrr]

Could you make a video specifically about the differential used in Formula 1 cars?

[@ZoefontheMove]

This was really interesting because it's a recent component! More of this! ❤

[@aw9680]

Other than super alloys, f1 cars don't produce a whole lot of torque. So the transmissions don't need to be as strong as a camaro, for example.

[@tilleulenspiegel660]

[skip ad] ⏭ 7:10

[@roysoutdoorlife]

2.45 Mclaren breakdown. The Tooned advert on the rear wing was from the Button/Hamilton days... I think probably 2012. Pretty sure that's a Hamilton helmet. Maybe Singapore when Ham retired with a failed gearbox?

[@jesser9134]

Yer gonna need to explain that diff a bit more

[@mariusmoreira2588]

Nice video ! But a bit frustrated you didn't really go through what is so specific on F1 gearbox : seemless system. Hope we can learn more later!

[@BadWallaby]

Engineers are basically super heroes. I genuinely hope these videos encourage more young people to jump into engineering

[@Madpegasusmax]

so nice video , it's a clockwork mechanism , really liked to see how they are build inside , and were the straight tooth sound is "produced" . Sad you not show how the 3rd sprocket gear from Reverse works .

[@UKBUILT]

The sound comes from the straight gears themselfs. The Teath have a clearance gap. What your hearing is the movement when one tooth disengages and the next reengages 👍 straight gears have no axial loading allowing for less friction. This is different for helical gears where the there is always a tooth engaged (hense no rattle, no noise) but they do have axial loading and more friction. I hope this helps 🙂 I'm building a V12 supercar 😎

[@thehandleiwantedwasntavailable]

Would’ve been great to gain some insight on oil flow during high G situations. Especially on things like avoiding oil surge etc.

[@PRJX_S3]

Another important thing to look at with the oil flow is the amount of cavitation on the geartooth caused by the gears running through the oil, which can be even more of a disaster than running minimal librication. Cool video tho! Love these ❤

[@UKBUILT]

Yeah that's why they are spraying oil directly onto the gears 👍 straight gears can run on almost no lubrication. As you say, to much oil can damage a gearbox, this is typically on 'wet sump' gearboxes. These f1 gearboxes are essentially a dry sump system, some even have oil tanks built into the casings 😎

[@zentrolm]

2:48 Leclerc Monaco 2021 qualifying , the driveshaft failure caused the DNS the next day

[@wagnerfontoura4614]

There might be an oil cooler, and the breath pot, usually due to oil expansion temperature and flow during the comissioning of the system the pipes diameter may need to be adjusted to bigger or smaller sizes to avoid overflow. 😎

[@VijaiShyam]

yo this looks FIRE bro LOVE the engineering series on f1!!

[@nj033]

Awesome and very informative video! It makes me wonder if 1> Can one of those transmissions be adapted to a vette and 2> Would it last a lot longer since it wouldn't be supporting the suspension and it wouldn't see the same amount of stress? It would be interesting 🤔

[@Jimmy_Moon]

@2:44 Lewis, Singapore 2012. The straw that broke the goats back.

[@brygry]

That's not how a vehicle oil pump works; you're describing an impeller. You also change from showing gerotor internals to showing a gear pump (which moves the oil very differently) when describing incorrectly how the oil pump works.

[@bdjm8595]

Always interesting to see how F1 cars work and evolve !

[@bm7760]

Love all this stuff. Love the detail and precision. It's mind-blowing. Just a shame that this pinnacle of automotive engineering should ever be handed to a brat like Stroll.

[@hutch430]

Thank you for this. Amazing engineering and machining.

[@TheSmokeofAnubis]

Ahh man, thank you for explaining this! Especially the _dif_ bit.. very nicely done for this absolute layman 👌🏼 👍🏼

[@bbkandsons]

Wow! Another terrific video!

[@theelf152]

What a crazy differential, planetary gears and spider gears controlling all that torque. I would love to see a clear view of that in operation.

[@bryanspanjer3213]

Modulated limited slip differential is very nice.

[@Mr4Strings]

Would be nice if you'd shown how the gearbox actually functions by illustrating the movements. Perhaps showing how the shifting mechanisms function? Spending half the video on lubrication circlations is a waste of time.

[@2103i]

So I am not the only one watching Garage54 AND Driver61 as well!

[@Nitrox4me]

Interestingly, they don't care about noise when using straight gears instead of helical gears. We get a whine while in reverse in "our" cars because they are straight tooth. Helical removes the whine, but they are weaker. To understand the engineering with the speed of shifting is amazing.

[@brianb-p6586]

While the active hydraulic control of the differential clutch is interesting, it is not as unusual as one might think - even GM has use their electromechanically operated equivalent (which they call "eLSD") since 2014 (or earlier?) on a least some variants of the Corvette and other models, and other manufacturers have their own versions What is more unusual is the planetary differential, rather than the usual bevel gear design. They're readily available - Schaeffler supplies these to some manufactures of production vehicles - but still not common. They're used because they are compact, particularly in the axial direction.

[@trabajostecnicos]

El doblaje es de Pocholo y Borja Mari 😂😂😂😂. Buen reportaje, saludos.

[@threadtapwhisperer5136]

Man, you the MVP for getting this awesome detailed nerdy stuff to me and everyone else! Good lawd nah, would ya just look at it? Fricking GORGEOUS, bro, beautifully engineered. Hell yeah, brother!

[@Chris-ml3hw]

Super cool. Thanks Alpine!

[@pcread]

That narrow torque-band means they have to changes much more often per mile than a road car. Some circuits more than others.

[@andreasselbergs7021]

The most interesting thing for me is that the gears are simple spur gears and not helical. When I think of how noisy the reverse gear is in my vehicle, it’s astonishing that these gearboxes don’t scream when under load.

[@geniferteal4178]

Not a radically different design. The shape and input an output is obviously different.But otherwise it's just super strong and very good at what it does. It still uses a relatively similar technology. As this is mentioned at 8:58

[@colinbeckstrand2612]

Showing Lance beached in the gravel when talking about the reverse gear is hilarious. He didn't even use reverse and there was an escape road he could have taken to keep going forward.

[@idokwatcher2062]

There's that forum story of a guy that drove spare parts for these gearboxes across europe because flying them out on race day would take longer than driving. He used a Carrera 996 3.4L to do it.

[@chriscampbell7245]

4:07 this guy sounds like Ricky Gervais... I wonder if they grew up in the same area

[@deltacx1059]

F1 is 90% dealing with insane regulations and 10% racing.

[@Jojo_Bee]

HOLY SHIFT!!!😲😲😲

[@drfibonacci7570]

Shift happens

[@WinnfieldCustoms]

I love how competetive F1 is behind the scenes, its all cutting edge

[@KingofUrasus]

Let’s see how this diff works!

[@benjones4365]

That was fantastic. Thank you very much.

[@DrDeuteron]

12:48 the steering "wheel" display is not public info. So how do the teams handle confidential info? Are there different proprietary levels? Is it compartmentalized need-to-know (e.g. our gear-box expert doesn't know any details about the fuel system and likewise for the aero ppl)? Are there special access developments that some key team members (in different areas, duh) aren't even aware of? What kind of background investigation do you need to pass to get on an F1 team?

[@markchapman2585]

I would love to have that see through transmission. Awesome video.

[@vannustube]

why is the bevel gear a separate gear? couldn't the final drive gear have it's teeth at 90 and do both bevel and final drive?

[@glennac]

L❤VE these engineering videos❣️ Sure, driver strategy and talent play a significant role in winning races and championships. But if they don’t have the technology, and reliability, underneath them they aren’t going anywhere. So many potential careers have been let down by poor equipment.

[@mendo707savmrb8]

F1 cars are absolutely amazing

[@tsbrownie]

Note: wear creates heat, heat is a byproduct of wear (friction).

[@m3tvl138]

The reverse gear is meant for people like Stroll lol 😂 9:22

[@shawnsousa7473]

How does this comment not have more engagement?!? This had me rolling 🎉

[@kento6201]

At this rate we will be able to build our own F1 Cars 😁

[@UKBUILT]

I would like to see that 😍 I'm building my own V12 supercar with the OG zonda engine 😎

[@Деныч-т9щ]

БРАВО , ЗА ПЕРВОКЛАССНОЕ ВОЖДЕНИЕ И ХОРОШЕЕ ЧУВСТВО СВОЕГО АВТОМОБИЛЯ !!!!!!!!!!

[@gfpunto]

It's always a good day when your mind gets blown away.

[@terranzoid]

Keep the gearbox and bring the V10s back?

[@UKBUILT]

Yeah 💪 I'm using a V12 for my project 😎

[@SubversionGarage]

Having a cost cap negates the need to limit component usage. Let the teams spend their budget however they deem fit

[@nathanplayseuphonium]

This just informed me of new tactics for diff adjustments in sim racing.

[@peterthomas5792]

That diff is just gorgeous!

[@adamturowski8948]

7:28 The highlighting is wrong. It should be moved one gear to the left.

[@geraldgoodiii6993]

3000mi on an F1 gearbox is actually insane. Running 14k rpm with super fast WOT gear shifts (obviously has an ignition cut when they shift) They used to be able to have unlimited number of motors and gearboxes per season.

[@Rob2]

"every F1 car should have a reverse gear" Lance Stroll: "really? why? you can just make a U-turn and drive back through the gravel!!"