The Formula 1 Technology You Use Without Even Realizing It

Toto Wolff once called his Mercedes Formula 1 cars the “fastest laboratory in the world”. While this may be a cliché that makes our eyes roll faster than a Pirelli, it’s undeniable.

When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on shaving tenths off lap times, creating something that could change the world is inevitable. And this isn’t just a hybrid engine for your daily driver, I’m talking about technology that saves lives at hospitals.

Here’s the best trickle-down technology we can thank the grid for.

Road Car Technology

While there’s so much more to this story than just tech on wheels, we’ll start with what we know. 

• Paddle Shifters: In the years leading up to 1989, F1 drivers were forced to wrestle with a stick shift and a clutch in their cramped cockpits. But as the 1990s approached, John Barnard’s Ferrari 640 was equipped with a semi-automatic gearbox with paddle shifters. On its release, it wasn’t overly reliable. But the time saved between shifts was welcomed by drivers Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger. The technology quickly spread across the grid. By 1997, this gearbox could be found in the F355 F1 road car.
• The Modern Hybrid: The 2009 F1 season saw the introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System. It came in the shape of a heavy push-to-pass system that used electrical energy to up the output of the already punchy power units. Now, these systems have been heavily optimized and can be found in some of the fastest cars on the planet, including the Mercedes-AMG One and the Ferrari F80.

This is where things get weird. Technology built for—and that has built—some of the fastest race cars in the world can be found almost everywhere. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that you bump into something inspired by F1 nearly every week. 

There’s something ironic about how one of the most glamorous sports in the world is responsible for making some of the most interesting under-the-radar technology. Perhaps we shouldn’t roll our eyes. Wolff is right.