<P> As of the 2014 season, all F1 cars have been equipped with turbocharged 1.6 - litre V6 engines . Turbochargers had previously been banned since 1988 . This change may give an improvement of up to 29% fuel efficiency . One of the many reasons that Mercedes dominated the season early, was due to the placement of the turbocharger's compressor at one side of the engine, and the turbine at the other; both were then linked by a shaft travelling through the vee of the engine . The benefit is that air is not traveling through as much pipework, in turn reducing turbo lag and increases efficiency of the car . In addition, it means that the air moving through the compressor is much cooler as it is further away from the hot turbine section . </P> <P> Formula One cars use semi-automatic sequential gearboxes, with regulations stating that 8 forward gears (increased from 7 from the 2014 season onwards) and 1 reverse gear must be used, with rear - wheel drive . The gearbox is constructed of carbon titanium, as heat dissipation is a critical issue, and is bolted onto the back of the engine . Full automatic gearboxes, and systems such as launch control and traction control, are illegal, to keep driver skill important in controlling the car . The driver initiates gear changes using paddles mounted on the back of the steering wheel and electro - hydraulics perform the actual change as well as throttle control . Clutch control is also performed electro - hydraulically, except to and from a standstill, when the driver operates the clutch using a lever mounted on the back of the steering wheel . </P> <P> A modern F1 clutch is a multi-plate carbon design with a diameter of less than 100 mm (3.9 in), weighing less than 1 kg (2.2 lb) and handling around 720 hp (540 kW). As of the 2009 race season, all teams are using seamless shift transmissions, which allow almost instantaneous changing of gears with minimum loss of drive . Shift times for Formula One cars are in the region of 0.05 seconds . In order to keep costs low in Formula One, gearboxes must last five consecutive events and since 2015, gearbox ratios will be fixed for each season (for 2014 they could be changed only once). Changing a gearbox before the allowed time will cause a penalty of five places drop on the starting grid for the first event that the new gearbox is used . </P> <P> Aerodynamics have become key to success in the sport and teams spend tens of millions of dollars on research and development in the field each year . </P>

How fast does a f1 car change gears
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