New steering wheel tested at London shakedown: "Not much difference"

For the first time, Formula E will be testing a steering wheel originally developed for the Gen3 start at the London E-Prix shakedown. So far - and also this weekend - the drivers are still using the steering wheel of the Gen2 car. We asked the drivers what they thought of the new volant.

"It's certainly a bit different in terms of how the buttons and switches are assigned," Max Günther tells e-Formula.news. "The shape is also slightly different. I've already driven the new steering wheel once in a private test and also in the simulator. That's how we know what to expect. It gives us a few more options to adjust things for next year. But in the end, it doesn't make a big difference for us."

"Overall, I like the design," Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein tells us, but he's not happy about doing a test at the final race of the season. "I don't know if this is the right place to test the steering wheel instead of doing it in the winter or during the season break. We tried it in the simulator, and of course there are differences in the buttons and the software. So I see it with a bit of mixed feelings."

"To be honest, I haven't looked into it much," admits Nico Müller to our microphone. "In general, it's not as wide, and the geometry is different. You have more buttons, but they're not all functional yet. It's all about the basic function test here, that everything works in the background, and the communication between the steering wheel and the car works. For the 1st free practice, we'll switch back to the old familiar steering wheel anyway."

The Gen3 steering wheel is thus expected to make its first official race appearance at the 2024 season opener in Mexico.