Sato using an auto transmission?

[muzza4ever]

Saw this on the mailbox of Planet F1 - can you guess where I've been surfing?

Automatic Transmission In Sato's BAR?
After today's Japanese Grand Prix a race-analyst for the Dutch TV pointed out something very interesting: during the race we saw multiple on-board shots from Sato's car were we could see him supporting his head with his hand during the high-G-force corners.

Nothing spectacular, but at one time we saw that shot during his trip though the esses and into the long left-hand corner after the esses. Since that very fast corner goes left, we saw Sato supporting his head with his right hand. However, at the same time we heard the car shifting up though the corner from third to fourth and then to fifth gear, all the time with is right hand supporting his head/helmet.

I think that it is common knowledge that in F1 cars, the driver shift up with their right hand, so what happened on Sato's car? Did his car shift automatically? If you have the race on tape, please review it and you'll see what I mean!
Eric van Ballegoie

I'd not thought about it but it does seem very strange. What does everyone else reckon? Is it even against the rules?

[shiny side up!]

Earlier this season it was reported that Ferrari had set their shift paddles up so either hand could shift up or down... and I would be willing to bet that other teams have followed suit. Might as well, really, so if you have some electrical gremlins with one of the upshift switches, you can just use the other. I seriously doubt BAR would circumnavigate the rules in such an obvious way...

[ss_collins]

some cars have thier shift on onl one side of the wheel flick forward for down and pull back for up - Villenueve used this in 1997

[T0MAT01]

I remember that, pushing on the right paddle was the same as pulling on the left etc.

I expect it is the same storey here.

[muzza4ever]

cheers for it clearing it up guys

[ASCII Man]

Button did the same thing in the German GP.

"Towards the end of the race my helmet strap started to work loose and my helmet was lifting down the straights, which was pulling the strap tight against my throat and choking me. I had to drive one-handed most of the time!"

[mstar]

didn't BAR have a new gearbox/engine ECU that enables gear changes WITHOUT losing speed/revs? similar to the Ferrari
It was reported week ago that they will be trying it in Japan maybe related to that??? and button didn't have it?

[Logrence]

Some of the steering wheels don't have left and right paddles per se - they just have the one paddle. Schumi demonstrated his wheel on german telly last summer, and it was just so.

[Tweed]

You could see the same thing with Raikkonen at Shanghai. He was going down the back straight playing with a setting in the cockpit and the car shifted up. I thought it a bit dodgy at the time because I always assumed Villeneuve was about the only driver to have one gear paddle.

[raul_iulian]

Strange this F1 cars, aren't they!????? hihihihi

[Kicking-back]

Not particularly, raul_iulian.

If the teams were running auto gearboxes and people on here had spotted it, Charlie Whiting would have spotted it too.

[Spudgun]

My race sim steering wheel connected to my PC has a bar behind the wheel which acts as a rocker. You can either pull each side to change up/down gear or you can push/pull one side to do the same.

If you can do that on a £100 PC steering wheel, I'm sure you can do that, and most definitely more on a 30+ grand F1 steering wheel.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Guys, it was only Tom Coronel who noticed it.
All he's done is an Arrows test way back and his recently planned Minardi test was cancelled. What would he know about F1 gearboxes