Chapter 09
Driving styles
Put two drivers in the same car and they’ll find different ways to be fast. They brake differently, shape the corner differently and want the car to feel different. Here’s how, and why it means teammates can’t always share a setup.
Builds on Chapter 07: Corners and Chapter 08: Handling.
V or U
A V-shaped driver brakes late and hard in a straight line, turns the car sharply around the and gets it pointing straight early, so they can get back on the power sooner. A U-shaped driver brakes a little earlier and more gently and drives one rounder arc, keeping more speed through the middle of the corner.
Neither is simply faster. Play both corners. Through the hairpin the two cars finish level, but through the fast corner the U line is more than a second quicker. Most drivers mix the two and lean one way. In 2025, The Race described McLaren’s Lando Norris as a U-shaped driver who carries speed into corners, and teammate Oscar Piastri as leaning towards a V, which suited the slow hairpins.
Side by side
Speed through the corner (km/hmph)
- U-shaped
- Slowest 5635 km/hmph · 9.74 s
- V-shaped
- Slowest 4729 km/hmph · 9.73 s
Brake, then turn, or trail it
The simplest way into a corner is to finish braking in a straight line, then turn. Most F1 drivers instead: they keep some brake on as they turn in and ease it off as the steering builds.
Keeping a little brake on keeps weight on the front tyres, so they bite and the car turns. Release it too fast and the front washes wide; too slowly and the rear can step out. Done well, the tyres stay at the edge of their all the way to the apex, and the car pivots into the corner.
Brake, then turn
brake steeringinto the corner All the braking happens in a straight line. Only once the brakes are off does the steering start, so for a moment the tyres are doing very little.
Trail braking
brake steeringinto the corner The driver keeps some brake on as they turn in and eases it off as the steering builds. The tyres stay at their limit the whole way to the apex.
Pointy or planted
Drivers also differ in how they want the car to behave. Some like a that turns in instantly and live with a rear that can snap. Most prefer a planted rear that gives them confidence in fast corners, and accept a little for it.
Teammates drive the same car, and the team can only tune its so far. A car whose sweet spot suits one driver can push the other out of theirs. Slide the setup to see who gains. (The lap times are a teaching model, not real data.)
Time lost per lap
- Driver A, likes a pointy front end
- at their best
- Driver B, likes a planted rear
- +0.38 s
Driver A is 0.38 s a lap quicker in this car.
Red Bull’s second seat
Since 2019 a string of drivers has struggled alongside Max Verstappen: Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Sergio Pérez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. They described a car with a very responsive front and a nervous rear that was hard to trust. Albon said the car was set up around its lead driver; Red Bull says it isn’t built around any one driver.
Either way, the car’s sweet spot sat where Verstappen is comfortable and few others are. That’s the problem from the chart above, played out at the front of the grid.
Six drivers, six ways to be fast
The throttle stabber
Ayrton Senna
On old onboard footage you can hear him stab the throttle in quick bursts through the middle of a corner. Why he did it is still debated: to keep the turbo spinning, to feel for grip, or to steer the car with the rear.
The Professor
Alain Prost
Nicknamed for how he thought a race through. He drove smoothly and went easy on the brakes and tyres early in a race, keeping something in hand for a late charge.
Off the front
Michael Schumacher
According to his designer John Barnard, he wanted a car that turned in sharply and handled a loose rear himself, a setup most drivers hated. His Benetton teammate Johnny Herbert tried his settings and couldn’t make them work.
The feel
Jenson Button
He looked like the smoothest driver on the grid, but his race engineer said his feet were busy balancing the car so his hands could stay calm. That feel made him brilliant when grip kept changing: seven of his 15 wins came in rain-affected races.
Drives around problems
Fernando Alonso
Give him a car that won’t turn and he finds a way: in his Renault days he leaned into the , using sharp steering and the brakes to pitch the car into corners.
The pointy front
Max Verstappen
He likes a front end that turns in quickly and strongly, and copes with a nervous rear that would unsettle most drivers. It lets him rotate the car early and get back on the power sooner.
Styles aren’t fixed. Lewis Hamilton, known as a late braker, had to change when he moved to Ferrari in 2025. He used engine braking for the first time in his career.
New for 2026
Driving the battery
From 2026, about half of a car’s power comes from its battery, and there isn’t enough energy to use it everywhere. So drivers manage it through the lap. They before some braking zones so the motor can , and on some straights the car harvests even with the throttle flat, slowing before the braking point. That’s called .
Drivers complained that qualifying laps had turned into energy management. From the Miami Grand Prix in May the FIA changed the rules so less of it is needed, but deciding where to spend and where to save is now part of every driver’s style.
What to watch for on race day
- An onboard camera through a slow corner. Does the driver turn sharply and straighten up early, or sweep round in one smooth arc? That’s V or U.
- Teammates’ sector times. One is often quicker in slow corners and the other in fast ones. That’s a clue to their styles, and to which way the car’s leans.
- A car slowing slightly before the end of a straight with the throttle still flat. That’s the battery recharging, a trick new this season called .