After four weeks of rest, the Formula 1 World Championship restarts from the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium. According to Brembo technicians, this track falls into the category of the most demanding circuits regarding the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5 it earned a difficulty index of 4, identical to the Monza circuit, which will host the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks.
Spa-Francorchamps is considered the most complete track of the Formula 1 World Championship because in its 7 km there are corners and straights of all kinds. One of its characteristic features is the presence of three braking sections of at least 2 and a half seconds, a trio that no other track on the calendar has.
Brembo Brakes – Formula 1 2021: braking impact at Spa-Francorchamps circuit
The advantages of carbon brakes
Carbon discs have been used in Formula 1 since the 1980s and later spread to other motorsport competitions. In fact, no other element offers that combination of lightness, high thermal conductivity and the absence of expansion even at 1,000 ° C that distinguish Brembo F1 discs.
The density of carbon is 1.7 grams per cubic centimeter, unlike the 7.8 grams of steel and 7.3 grams of gray cast iron. Its thermal expansion coefficient is one fifteenth of steel and one eleventh of cast iron. The melting point of carbon is above 3,000 ° C compared to 1,200 ° C for cast iron and 1,800 ° C for steel.
The braking at Spa-Francorchamps
Despite being the longest track in the World Championship, the brakes are used just 7 times per lap, i.e. on average once per kilometer: in the Monaco Grand Prix, on the other hand, the brakes are applied on average every 300 meters. In fact, at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps the brakes are used for 13 seconds and 3 tenths per lap, equivalent to just 13 percent of the overall duration of the race.
Six of these seven braking sections, however, have an acceleration of at least 4.1 G with a couple of braking sections of over 5.3 G. In five corners the braking distances exceed 110 meters, a value that will never be approached in a week at Circuit Zandvoort. On the other hand, the load on the brake pedal in the Belgian GP is low: less than 36 tons from the start to the checkered flag, about twenty less than the Hungarian GP.
The hardest braking zone is Turn 18: the single-seaters arrive there at 333 km / h and descend to 92 km / h in just 134 meters. Formula 1 drivers just need to brake for 2.78 seconds but they must apply a force of 207 kg on the brake pedal, the record peak of the championship, and face a deceleration of 5.9 G.
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