The GENIUS Reason Why F1 Steering Looks BROKEN

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When you look closely at the tyres on an F1 car - they look broken! Look at a normal car - the inside tyre turns tighter than the outside. On an F1 car, the outside tyre turns more!
Have you ever noticed that F1 tyres don’t always point in the same direction?
And yes, I dont mean after they have crashed.
With steering angles, there are three ways to do it.
Parallel -Both wheels turn the same amount
Positive Ackerman - Inside tyre moves more than the outside
Negative Ackerman - Outside tyre moves more than the inside
You may think that when you turn the wheel on your car, both wheels turn the same amount. But they don’t. Here’s why.
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#Formula1 #F1Explained #Steering

[@fransschreuders8488]

Must've been hard to do a front end alignment on a horse.

[@LucasPH23]

Oh how times have changed haha

[@quarterpoundmusic]

Lol

[@Soupy_loopy]

No, actually it's super easy, barely an inconvenience.

[@Tminus89]

Nothing a hammer can't fix, call Clarkson

[@LucasPH23]

@@Tminus89 a hammer solves all as we know 🔨

[@KyleStrycharz]

Adjusting Ackerman is one of the most underrated setup changes on karts as well

[@rimka11]

not adjustable on my kart

[@benistingray6097]

So anti ackerman doesnt only work on high downforce vehicles but also carts. Lets just say we could change the steering geometry and tie rod lenght and angle on a roadcar, could we also achieve higher corner grip? Because he said in the video roadcars would be terrible to drive slow and fast so what gives? Why is it faster on certain vehicles but not on others?

[@andrejrockshox]

@@benistingray6097 it is only good if you intent to push the car to the limits all the time. and that you dont do on public roads.

[@afoxwithahat7846]

@@andrejrockshox Ackerman is what make it possible for F1 to make the hairpin at Monaco. It would make it easier to park you car I guess? Roadcars go so slow it barely matters tbh

[@subie2831]

Casper Akkerman

[@alexdentist]

I loved your overhead simulator example, it really cleared it up

[@ujjvalchauhan6628]

This is exactly why I love this channel, I learn things that I never imagined existed! Thank you!

[@Sill1992]

Same here. Gives F1 tech videos on the F1 channel a run for their money. Great stuff

[@M4RK_F]

Well, they explained ackermann and tyre wear wrong. But overall it's possible to learn things

[@MMAli-rq8kd]

I second that!

[@YoungPutter]

I have my steering setup to Levi Ackerman

[@renatastec5212]

Established Titles is a SCAM! Be careful when accepting sponsors!

[@pinkbanana1276]

short answer: to maximize the slip angle effectiveness for each tyre

[@vargasaidan7366]

Ty

[@PoisonNuke]

as far as I understand, Anti-Ackerman actually REDUCES tire-wear on the inside tire because the outside tire is driving with a certain amount of slip angle and therefore the inside tire is actually not scrubbing over the tarmac at all. The normal Ackermann behaviour would lead to massive amounts of scrubbing, because the outside tire does all of the work and the inside tire would just understeer

[@peterhewson4568]

Yep, correct. Glad someone spotted this!

[@flyingphoenix113]

Yup, a slight explanatory error in the video. Kinda surprised they didn't catch this while filming or editing. But, Ackerman is one of the more niche setup topics out there (like Castor in karts), so it's understandable.

[@LaggerSVK]

The ackermann optimizes the grip. Not just affecting the outer tire but also the inner. It can be spotted on the graph. The simple fact that the dashed line is not vertical shows that some type of ackermann would optimize the grip. With less tire load (inner tire because of load transfer) the tire needs less slip angle to get to its peak performance -> anti-ackermann.

[@matthewmcewen1]

Positive Ackerman would perhap increase tyre wear on a track, but to clarify, I imagine in a road-going car, exercising next to no slip angle, positive Ackerman would surely result in very low tyre wear

[@peterhewson4568]

@@matthewmcewen1 It helps a bit in road cars. But actually, Ackerman has surprisingly little influence on tyre wear with road cars, because on normal road cars most tyre wear occurs in straight line running. In fact, most road cars don't have 100% positive Ackerman, hence most cars squeal horribly in multi-story car parks... What Ackerman does do is change your steering feel rather dramatically, so road car designers tend to choose the Ackerman that gives them the best steering feel. The other thing negative Ackerman does to road cars is to increase the turning circle, which incurs the wrath of the marketing department. Even in F1 the dramatic change in steering feel cannot be ignored, and can present limits to how far the designers will push radical Ackerman settings. (And look at Monaco races, to see if you think negative Ackerman is being run there...)

[@mikegro5337]

Established titles is a scam. You should look them up further and not support a scam company.

[@OkieDokieSmokie]

RIP to that Established Titles sponsorship😅

[@BlakeTheSavage]

Oof, hopefully Driver61 wont be accepting Established Titles sponsorships in the future with all the evidence coming out of Established Titles being a scam.

[@bryanharvey001]

I just noticed recently that Driver61's video about Alonso's bizarre steering technique was taken down. It's such a shame, I would love to rewatch that video after watching this video.

[@Shadow1986]

I was looking for that but couldn't find it

[@dannyrobbo]

I have Anti Akerman setup from factory on my Giulia Quadrifoglio. This is a great video explaining why it’s used as it is and how it works. At low speed on cold tyres and high steering input you can fee the front end skipping

[@goodnaruk]

Thats so cool to see it incorporated into road car tech, its probably one of the base reasons why the Quad gets such great reviews out of its driving experience outside of the more well known theatrics!

[@ggbirdymill1618]

How is your tire wear? Do they get used up quicker?

[@dannyrobbo]

@@ggbirdymill1618 not too bad. Bought the car with tyres that needed replacing soon, replaced them 12 months ago and done about 8-10k mile. Still loads of life left in them. Hope for at least another 10k before they need replacing again

[@ggbirdymill1618]

@@dannyrobbo That really isn't bad at all 👍🏻

[@tsorpniala9820]

Regular Giulia owner here. I can actually feel the wheel slip at low speed when I tried to make a sharp turn. Maybe ordinary ones also have Anti Akerman. The regular Giulia is known for being a huge bang for the buck in terms of driving experience and it shares most components with the QV. If it also has anti American setup that would be nuts.

[@BionicBurke]

The way I understand it for a track car set-up is for keeping the proper wheel track while pushing the limits. The outside wheel under load will pull out while the inside with little load will actually end up turning in more. So when not under load it looks weird with outside turning more but under race load it tracks correctly.

[@jacknoname9726]

It's exactly as scott said. The tyre with more load will be able to use more of the slip angle. The outside tyre is the one with most of the load. How I understood your statement is that in ur mind the steering system angle is ther for bumpsteer correction. This is not the case because correctly designed cars don't have bumpsteer that needs to be corrected. The slip angle was very well explained in this video. More load more slip angle.

[@roryevans4295]

Kudos to Scott for having an advert timer bar just like donut so you know just were to skip too 🙌

[@rodolfoptx]

The intent of the timer bar is exactly the opposite: making us know that the ad won't take too long 🤫

[@roryevans4295]

@@rodolfoptx yeah everyone else uses those timers to skip the sponsored ads, nobody wants too hear every single KZbinr shipping the exact same vpn sponsor deal every video, its actually painful to watch

[@rodolfoptx]

@@roryevans4295 Keep it quiet, man. We're screwed if they find that out 😆

[@hambone7777777]

I like it for a long wheelbase, heavier front end truck, as well. It's already "pointy" in front. Improve the outer wheel for weight transfer and stability in the turn. Along with better weight balance throughout the truck/SUV, and you get better handling. Especially with plus-tires that handle more weight/ load; go the sway bar, coilover, equalized setup route, and it's hanging with sedans, anywhere.

[@singhamaninder5836]

You explained it in such a great manner, thank you for this beautiful video!

[@paulm3395]

There's also a significant aerodynamic reason for the F1 teams to run anti-ackerman; a shallower angle of attack on the inside wheel means that the wheel wake of the inside wheel is not sent as far inboard, thereby wreaking less havoc aerodynamically downstream.

[@josephmother2659]

Dang I didn’t even think about wheel wake lol

[@brcpimenta]

There are SO many details in an F1 car and this is another one you explained beautifully. Keep up the great job!

[@ernesto_longhi]

Even go-karts steering is like this.

[@Giuseppe_De_Bellis]

Great video! Would be great to know how velocity affects the graph. And after all, that reminds me of go karts, where steering is quite mainly on the outer wheel, as usually the inside one in a turn is quite unloaded, due to steering geometry(it lifts, when you rotate the steering,). Keep up the great work!!

[@hennysmith]

What about Casper Ackerman

[@jonathankfouri3431]

Ive always wondered why this was. Super helpful thank you!

[@paulheinrich7645]

How is the anti-Ackerman steering accomplished mechanically?

[@BharathwajSathishkumar]

Usually done by having the steering gearbox and the control arms ahead of the front axle while for Ackerman everything is behind the front axle. But its F1... they'll have some complicated solutions🤷‍♂.

[@NassimFTW]

Search for anti ackermann and read the analysis by f1dataanalysis

[@paulheinrich7645]

@@NassimFTW Thx!

[@briantayes2418]

It's the angle of the steering arms between the rack and the upright. Bob Bolles has a good description of it in his book.

[@DJSmith575]

I love this channel!

[@damienkearns3654]

Great content and subject man, never knew this - Thanks 🙏

[@discodan2265]

Fantastic content Scott! 👌

[@Brotherhood039]

What a video. Congrats guys. More of this pls

[@ColinBrazier]

Thanks for this insight, We know that's there is far more than what just the commentators talk about there's so much that goes into the setup for each track for each driver but it's good to see it's a different subject thank you

[@gabriela.s.3351]

I absolutely love this channel, very well done!

[@JaroF1]

Great job as always thanks :)

[@frankgile1996]

I was waiting for a clip of Alonso at Renault (2005-2006), back when he was actively inducing understeer in order to turn...

[@raffaelefiasella7883]

Fantastic content.... Very instructive

[@_Moki__]

All this my friends depends from slip angle of your tire

[@adnanlibya9917]

It is awesome to find who make this sport and it's technology understandable. Magnificent work bro. All the best 👍🏻.

[@DuncanCunningham]

Always wondered. Thank you

[@albanana683]

Ackerman steering was a question thrown at me during an interview for a university place. No idea what it was at the time, especially since the place I was going for was computer studies. I failed. But my major car concern right then was all the water leaking out of the radiator on my journey over. My first car, a 1959 Ford 100E, reg no 2668 CR. Would love to have you back.

[@waynec3563]

Scott, would you be able to do a feature on the 2026 F1 power unit rules? They seem to be pushing the cars into more lit-and-coast and burning fuel to generate electricity, possibly making the racing worse.

[@franciscoduarte1925]

I've been asking this for years..... thanks for explaining.

[@randellgribben9772]

been watching your channel for a while.. this is the best to show my students on how a car works,,,,a few will drop out of class.. they just want'a'be a racer bmw driver.. the ones that stay are the best students.. they dont race on the road,, and they always tell me about there driving exp.. how the car handled with this or that.. the ones that dropped out.. well thru the grapevine.. they get lots of tickets,, and a few have wrecked there( or daddys ) car,,,great channel,,keep it going

[@_Moki__]

I have made anti-ackerman geometry in my team FORMULA STUDENT car we will see how it will perform

[@1_5RCBiker]

The white line simulation reminds me of Andy Green and Thrust SSC/Bloodhound LSR going over 600MPH. I wonder what they used on the Ackerman angles. I wish I had asked Richard Noble this when I met him!

[@WizardOfOss]

The ThrustSSC was steered with two rear wheels behing each other in the middle of the car, so no Ackerman involved. Don't know about the Bloodhound though.

[@OmieSawie]

Woah, this is really amazing, never thought of it in this way !!

[@andycronin7068]

Another legendary video 💯 Thanks for the breakdown 🙏

[@jbj7599]

Adding a time bar to your ads? Simple but nice addition. Also I learned a lot in this video

[@Demdere]

Hey! I think you have the best explanation of understeer (and potentially oversteer)/slip angle I've seen yet! A layman (regarding car/racing knowledge) can understand the concept of the wheel being pointed farther than the real steering direction with this explanation. Might you do a stand-alone video explaining this? It would be a useful resource for explaining the concept

[@Pedro5antos_]

Awesome! Learning something every day

[@lilmangofast]

Now that established titles is a scam, you need to re-upload this without the ad.

[@peterhaslund]

Amazing! I had no idea how F1 cars steer... often vaguely wondering about that very question. Lankensperger steering. Thanks!

[@moyadapne968]

For dirt racing, I adjusted the Ackerman to work in reverse, so the wheels pointed the right way when the car went sideways. Edit: I split the cross steering arm in the middle and had adjustment holes in a pivoting 'spade' arrangement.

[@LuckyX0182]

I'm F1 fan for over 20 years now and never heard of this, thanks for the lesson!

[@55Aarronneedham]

Almost the same concept of how you turn on the outside ski when carving. This is very important in GS racing.

[@philippconner2818]

This is not only a great video for F1 but for automotive physics as a whole as well. The charts are also super helpful, thank you!

[@mrj3217]

I never knew this. Thanks

[@starby1243]

I totally never knew this. Learned so much.

[@GreggRoberts]

You can create a car setup for each circuit and save them to custom configs. If the steering wheel doesn't work then you have to go into settings and activate the wheel animations in player setup.

[@zooot820]

i learned something new today. thanks driver61.

[@carloscabrerahernandez3663]

very very good video and explantion, the sim is what did it for me:)

[@nickjackson5218]

Everyone knows that Established Titles thing is a scam, right? Shame to see it promoted here.

[@cedriclynn8102]

It is?? I never bought into but I was considering it. How do you know it's a scam?

[@ccar1332]

Brilliant! thank you.

[@Kriss352]

I feel like this is the kind of topic which requires a longer video and some in-situation examples. It's fascinating but a crash course is way too short for this 😥. Thanks though I learned something interesting today !

[@matthewgordon8759]

Very interesting, thank you

[@StationB]

Sorry but I think you missed the key reason. The reason stays in the graph 5:53 “Line of peaks” Before load transfer, assuming 6000N on each side, and after 2000 of load transfer, outer wheel can accept more steering angle while inner wheel needs less steering angle to keep maximum. I can’t agree that F1 cars use anti-ackerman because they rely on outside tire. They do on both tires, trying to maximize total grip.(anti ackerman offers the peak grip by finding optimum slide angle on each tires)

[@ballparkjebusite]

Fascinating. Great example of why this channel adds value to the ecosystem!

[@meetarthur9427]

so in general anti-akerman used to reduce outside wheel slip angle because its contribute more then inside wheel on cornering on F1 speeds and to have overal slip angle less to lessen chanses to lose a grip?

[@gurraglad]

Fantastic video 👍

[@murrrzick]

🤯 thank you. Must to know for everybody!

[@thefastmeow]

Ackerman angles! i don't know much about it but I can thank assoluto racing for teaching me what it is

[@djctd9ngl]

yes! didnt expect another assoluto player here...

[@stefanroseEP3]

Question is how do they engineer the steering rack and uprights etc or whatever is involved to produce Ackerman or anti-ackerman steering

[@elliotlaw1590]

I'd imagine the process would be something like this: Driver experience (Understand what the driver wants) - Analysis of current/previous designs (What works, what needs to be improved) - 3D models/FEA/Prototypes - Analysis of results - What went well, what needs to be improved, driver feedback - Necessary modifications/adaptions to steering system - Repeat until happy and ready to manufacture. Most of the important information and hard work would be built on top of existing information/data and understanding what the driver of the F1 car needs, then its just a case of design and implementation, which for the Engineers in F1 is just another day at the office :)

[@conquest562]

Established tittles is a giant scam.

[@ivanrybkin9384]

For road or other than F1 cars with FrWD or FWD front tires not only steer, but also drive, and use of front differentials enhances this even more, so different principles apply to steering

[@cepopeye]

As a skier who learned backcountry, I taught at Vail one year and they teach anti-Ackerman but it’s slower and I set the staff daily vertical feet record for the season one year skiing Ackerman wedge down backbowl pitches

[@saitejamedikonda416]

Tune to win by Caroll Smith has it all, and maybe the graph shown of slip angle vs lateral force isn't really of a slick tyre, it's more representative of a passenger car tyre.

[@happywheelssounds]

For some reason i enjoy listening to ur voice

[@Da5idc]

I thought the reduced slip angle on the unweighted (or lesser weighted) is inside tyre was to increase its contribution to cornering force because it is in the performance window where the turning angle brings the tyre into a slip angle where it can contribute to lateral force, instead of just scrubbing off speed, though some scrubbing can help to rotate the car. To help the inside tyre do this, suspension geometry can be set to reduce the camber on the inside tyre so the contact patch is bigger. The contact patch of the outside tyre is increased by the vertical load and tyre deformation so increased camber stops the inside of the tyre from lifting

[@ArchOfficial]

Tires don't necessarily have a higher saturation peak with more load. Some race tires have a negative trend, with more Fz resulting in a lower saturation peak. Either way the deltas are not big on actual tires most of the time.

[@Da5idc]

@@ArchOfficial what I'm referring to is the effect of REDUCING vertical load on the inside tyre. Without enough load for a given steering angle, the tyre will skid. Anti-ackerman reduces the steering angle to avoid this

[@ArchOfficial]

@@Da5idc Yes, and some tires will need MORE steering angle with LESS load. I remember seeing two tires that do that.

[@carloslemos6919]

It would be nice to have a follow up video explaining how the teams mechanically adjust it from track to track 🙌

[@erich9111]

Forward or backward placement of the steering rack is the best way to control Ackerman, but you can also adjust it a little with the position of the steering arms on the knuckle.

[@truegret7778]

I would like for you to analyze Fernando Alonso's driving style ( well, prior to 2022 ) with respect to slip angle, and how he had the team setup his car. As I recall, he used to put a LOT of steering input on corner entry, almost a "jab" or "excessive turn input" for a brief moment as if to put heat into the fronts.

[@erich9111]

More likely the sudden jab adds some weight transfer and gives the fronts a bit more grip to initiate the rotation of the car. It's safer to get the same effect with a jab of brakes, but then it takes away from the traction budget.

[@HotFudge1982]

Wow this is nerdy! I love it!

[@user-tz4lr8xe4d]

At first, i though it's just an angle of the camera, I didn't know it's an innovation

[@brianthemagical]

@driver61 the orange bar at the bottom of your videos is the best thing on KZbin. We the viewers really appreciate it! Thanks.

[@gersonjrgborfu]

Please can you guys make a video on the super license?

[@jth_printed_designs]

I figured it was down to slip angle. The overhead sim footage was cool

[@gabormiklay9209]

01:45 It looks like some dope machinery. Instead of Pirelli it had wood. And 1 wheel in front (for steering) and 1 in the back. It really needed to turn fast. Especially when carried in hand. Amazing! 👍 The steering wheel looks badass! Without LED.

[@MrSaemichlaus]

Doesn't the inside tire actually experience less wear with anti-ackerman? So the outside tire takes all of the load and the inside is preserved, according to the load distribution in a corner. Could we say that parallel steering in a fast race car (tires at load limit) would already be an improvement over positive ackerman for the same reasons?

[@JMPDev]

I think this video really would have benefited from a simple top-down animation of the starring assembly geometry, with lines to indicate the forward direction of the tires. I think the concept is easier to grasp when you realize that even with a positive or negative Ackerman geometry the tires do remain straight when the steering is neutral, and the difference in the angles only occurs in the geometry when steering.

[@pear7777]

After 1 minute THIS earned you a SUB!

[@joshuapowers4623]

I'd like to know how the steering works then. Like how do you get the left tire to turn less than the right one on a left corner, but then turn more than the right one on a right corner? Or can it only be done in one direction & you just sacrifice the side with fewer corners?

[@tmog-racing]

It's called ackermann, and yes it will work the same in both directions

[@oneninerniner3427]

Geometry of the steering linkage.

[@vincentleong222]

Yup I always test the car Ackerman when I first drive it. Just to get the feeling. Personally I love some anti Ackerman, but that's just a personal preference

[@marktiltins8845]

Wow can't believe they're talking about this now we understood this in the 80's when I was karting Kali karts didn't use Ackerman

[@jockihm831]

What steering do lmp or touring cars use?

[@roelhellemans2451]

Thank you that explanation. A question: why do F1 threads seem to "wobble" from side to side on slow motion footage during cornering?

[@MrAdopado]

Presumably the tyre is distorting due to the forces on it and then as it rotates it returns briefly to its undistorted shape ... then distorts again ... and repeat ...

[@Bidorto]

Frindly reminder that buying a tiny plot of land does NOT give you a title, that ad is a lie

[@rudolfvanderven]

5:14 that hás to be a Nickelback meme reference.

[@dan32767]

I would have gone with the meta: "Look at this timestamp: 5:14"

[@Chocapic_13]

Hey, really interesting video as per usual, but in this one the background music is quite loud and for me at least it is very distracting.

[@bobjohnson7207]

I used anti-acreman in the original Xbox Forza. Didn't know what it was but left out the lap with a draft of 4 car's. I was in the games 3rd fastest car a Jag XJ 220 the rest in Enzo's. We set the 1st 2nd 3rd and 6th fastest all-time times at the test track 5 mile Oval. Yeah I got passed at the line but that's how close it was at 325 MPH.

[@CaptainPanick]

Just a question... Is the Ackerman steering angles configured per track? I'm wondering because many if not most tracks have an unequal amount of left hand vs right corners.

[@benistingray6097]

So it is correct that this only works/produces more grip because there is a lot of downforce? Or would the weight transfer alone be enough to also work in a road car?

[@jacknoname9726]

Usually anti ackerman as agressive as F1 is used only in high down force uses. Or maybe some karts or idk. But in theory for the most grip you should have the correct slip angle on your wheels that are steering. The most noticeable gain will be in high speed corners of course. Setup should be sone in a way ehich matches the car for the track. If there are loads of highspeed corners you'll want more slip angle on the outer tyre because you're increasing its load thus decreasing the inner tyre's load. Same goes vice versa for low speed heavy tracks.

[@benistingray6097]

@@jacknoname9726 But you could change the "aggresiveness" of the anti ackerman by changing the steering geometry and the tie rod lenght and angle. Would a very slight anti ackerman still produce more grip on a roadcar than the normal ackerman they have?

[@RonDLite]

Muta SOG just cancelled this sponsor since Established Titles is a scam

[@rotorblade9508]

07:00 with more load the optimum slip angle is higher so the grip for the inner wheel should be higher than with a street setup

[@PmmGaMeRs]

not only, Anti Ackermann gives more stability in fast corners

[@chrisdawson9312]

Very underrated transition to the ads.

[@rydplrs71]

One simple statement or thought was missing at the summary. The inner tire has decreased slip angle allowing it to not saturate the curves and still contribute as much as possible to the turning of the f1 car. The decreased load and slip angle combine to lower the maximum slip angle of the inner wheel.