Gearbox

F1F1 is the pinnacle of open wheel,  single seater car racing and arguably the highest level of any motorsport globally.... There's more... cars use an 8-gear, sequential automatic transmission, meaning that there is a clutchAll cars with a gearbox use a clutch to engage the engine and deliver power to the transmission. F1 cars... There's more..., but no clutch pedal.

The clutch can be operated via the many buttons you see on F1 steering wheels. The clutch is usually only activated by the driverOK, so we all know what the driver is, right. I've always liked the description that F1 drivers are like... There's more... for things like warming up the tires by manually locating the clutch’s “bite” point. 

They are not just automatics, as the drivers are able to select gears using the paddles mounted on the steering wheelAn F1 car steering wheel is a custom-built device that, in addition to steering the car, feeds back to the... There's more.... 

The gearbox can be seen located at the rear of the car, making it very vulnerable to an impact from another car or if the rear of the car has an impact with a barrier. 

Teams are not permitted to change the gear ratios during the season and are limited to 4 gearboxes per season.