The sports automatic we're talking about here goes into manual mode if you use the paddles on the steering wheel. And then it operates the same as an F1 car, you are in manual control of the gears and the "automatic" side of it only steps in when the engine would otherwise stall (F1 calls it anti-stall and does it in a different way, but the effect for the user is the same).

Other than that of course an F1 gearbox is a very different and much more advanced piece of technology. I was talking about the way the user operates it, that's equal for a road car with paddles.