Smooth vs Aggressive… Which is Faster? | F1 Driving Styles Explained

If you have ever watched an F1 onboard video, you would have noticed that every driver has their own way of working the steering wheel. Some have a smooth driving style, keeping their inputs gradual and consistent, underdriving the car as a result. On the other hand, some have an aggressive driving style, liking to have active inputs and really drive the car to its limits, not being afraid to go over the grip limit. Smooth and aggressive are different driving styles. But what is a driving style in the first place?

Put simply, driving styles are different ways of driving on the limit of grip. No driver is perfectly on the limit, rather they hover around the limit of grip. To get as close as possible to the grip limit, drivers can be smooth or aggressive with the car. But which one is actually the faster way of driving on the limit?

Neither one of these styles are faster in general, as it depends on how the car and tyres like to be handled. The modern day F1 cars need smooth inputs to extract the most out of the tyres, forcing drivers to adapt to a smoother driving style if they want to get the most out of the car. In contrast, F2 cars need aggressive inputs to work the hard and skinny tyres enough so that they give you the maximum amount of grip. But regardless of whether cars like to be handled with a smooth or aggressive touch, drivers can still prefer to drive one way or another.

To understand whether being smooth or aggressive is faster, we have to understand each style’s cornering habits.

First of all, the smooth drivers. On entry, this type of driver likes to turn into the corners with one gradual movement. Mid-corner, they keep the steering wheel consistent, modulating the pedals to make sure the car is on the limit. On exit, they are smooth when applying the throttle to minimise the rears sliding and going sideways.

The smooth driving style is almost always better on the tyres. By loading the tyres up gradually, it reduces degradation, making the performance of the car more consistent over a race. Smooth drivers are generally faster nowadays, as the modern F1 cars are very sensitive to driver inputs. In some cases, they can be too smooth, driving under the limit of grip. This is the key reason why smooth drivers are not always faster in qualifying, as they tend to underutilise the limit of the tyres.

Finally, the aggressive drivers. On entry, they tend to turn in and brake aggressively, working the tyres quite harshly. The aggressive style heats the tyres up more than the smooth style, as the forces acting upon the tyres are more severe. Micro-corrections to the steering wheel are common in this driving style, as they fight the car throughout the corner. Mid-corner, they like to correct the steering, dancing the car around the limit of grip. On exit, they are aggressive on the throttle, almost drifting the car out of the corners.

The aggressive driving style is always worse on the tyres. The corrections on the steering, combined with the sliding of the rears, overstress the tyres. Aggressive drivers are quite frequently above the limit of grip, overdriving the car. They slide the tyres around from carrying excessive speed in the corners, going well over the limit. A key benefit of the aggressive style is that they can make the most out of the car over a qualifying lap. Since no tyre management is required, they can push the car as hard as they like, getting more out of the tyres than smooth drivers would.

Each of these driving styles has their own strong point. The smooth driving style is better on the tyres, but loses out on one-lap pace, being better over a longer distance. The aggressive driving style is worse on the tyres, losing out on tyre performance over a longer distance but makes up for it in one-lap pace.