Formula 1 is about experimentation, the constant search for the smallest detail to gain even a few thousandths in development with the aim of improving performance. Red Bull leads the drivers’ championship with Max Verstappen aiming for his fourth world title: the Milton Keynes team has adopted the full braking system from Brembo this year.
The Bergamo-based multinational, which has the “monopoly” on calipers in the paddock (only McLaren uses AP, the British company owned by Brembo), now also has half the grid covered in carbon discs. Five teams (Ferrari, Red Bull, Haas, Sauber, and Racing Bulls) just like Carbon Industrie (McLaren, Mercedes, Alpine, Williams, and Aston Martin): the French company is trying to react to the progress of the Italian brands, and it’s no surprise that at different times the French giant has introduced a new solution for carbon discs.
During free practice at the Italian GP, Williams tested a composite material front disc with fins, a solution seen during the era of steel discs. The Enstone team used a set with radial grooves in Monza. This operation was repeated by Alpine at the Mexican GP, indicating that the concept was not dismissed, but rather is being developed.
The goal is to improve the bite, meaning the “grip” at the start of braking, increasing the grip between the disc and the pad and managing temperature: we know that with the current ground effect cars, it’s crucial to avoid overheating the tires, and it becomes important to dissipate the heat so it’s managed inside the brake disc housing in the corner without radiating to the rim.
To find a similar solution, we need to go back to 1999, 25 years ago, when Williams introduced a steel disc with fins on the FW21 at the Austrian GP at Alessandro Zanardi’s request. Nothing came of it regarding the metal that increased the weight of the unsprung masses, while the grooves, this time on carbon, are making a comeback, though none of the observers in the paddock had noticed them.
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