A foot-activated DRS at Ferrari
Unlike the majority of their rivals, Ferrari drivers reportedly activate their DRS not via a button on the steering wheel but with their left foot.
The majority of Formula 1 teams have chosen to activate the DRS by placing a button on the steering wheel of their cars according to *Auto Motor und Sport*, but according to engineer Giorgio Piola, Scuderia Ferrari has opted for a different system onboard the F2012.
The Italian team would indeed use a system activated by the drivers’ left foot, which also serves for the brake pedal. In turns, when drivers don’t need to brake, they can activate the DRS via a switch, or a pedal, and when they want to stop their car, they simply need to remove their left foot to use it for braking, thereby closing the DRS.
This is not the first time such a system has been used; indeed, Mercedes already used a similar system in 2011, with a third pedal to activate DRS. That same year, the Lotus Renault Grand Prix team used a system so that even when the accelerator pedal was fully pressed, it could be pushed a little further to activate a “boost” thanks to the KERS system, a system that Nick Heidfeld had suggested to the Enstone team because he had used it when he was driving for the BMW Sauber team.
