Formula 1 drivers wrap their hands around the most staggeringly complex steering wheels ever built.

The drivers who line up on the grid this weekend at the Malaysia Grand Prix will face more than a dozen dials, knobs and buttons that control everything from engine, clutch and differential settings to communications, to the sippy bottles they drink from. And then there are the paddles behind the wheel used for shifting and so forth.

All that tech is housed in a carbon-fiber steering wheel that costs more than a Toyota Prius and, frankly, looks cooler too.

Here we present Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP Petronas to explain how it all works, and how he keeps it all straight at speeds approaching 200 mph.

Video: Mercedes GP Petronas