Hard start for Brembo brakes at Bahrain F.1 GP

3/23/2021

Features and methods of use of the Brembo braking system at the Bahrain International Circuit and similar solutions for your car

According to Brembo technicians, the Bahrain International Circuit is one of the most demanding challenges for the brakes. On a difficulty index scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 4 - exactly the same as the legendary tracks such as Monza and Spa-Francorchamps and – other more recent ones – such Baku and Sochi.

The last year the GP was held in November with lower temperatures than in the spring editions. The proximity to the desert will produce a high mechanical grip which, combined with numerous high-energy braking maneuvers at a short distance, makes it difficult to dispose of the heat dissipation between braking actions.

Up to 1,480 ventilation holes for Formula 1 discs 

Depending on the temperatures forecasted for the Grand Prix, and the specific race strategy, each driver can choose from six different Brembo front disc solutions. There's the medium cooling option with 800 holes, high cooling with 1,250 holes, and very high cooling with 1,480 holes; each of these then offers a sub-option with a process on the outer diameter - the so-called “groove”.

In the case of very high cooling, the holes are arranged on 7 rows, with 6 rows for the intermediate option and 4 for the lowest level. The holes are 2.5 millimeters in diameter, and are made one at a time by a precision machine; it takes 12-14 hours to make all the holes on a single disc. The mechanical component tolerance is only four hundredths.

No to thermal shocks even for road cars

Even if the braking systems of road cars do not reach 1,200 ° C (2,192°F), even the braking systems of road cars can overheat. To avoid these phenomena, Brembo has been carrying out studies on the shape of the ventilation chamber for over a quarter of a century. Thanks to it, the traditional lugs have given way to ventilation with a series of pillars.

Arranged in three bands on the braking platform, with different geometry to ensure the best performance in fluid dynamics, the pillar structure increase the resistance to cracking caused by thermal shock by over 30 percent, guaranteeing a longer life to the disc.

Find the brakes tailored to your car at www.bremboparts.com

Half a ton for every minute

On every lap, the F1 drivers use their brakes 8 times for a total of 15.8 seconds: this all comes down to 3 areas in particular, two of them coming one after the other on bends 8 and 10, where the brakes are used for more than 2.7 seconds. And there's a high average of maximum deceleration points too: 4.2 G identical to Monza and Sochi.

From the starting line to the checkered flag, the drivers use their brakes over 450 times and exert an overall load of more than 48 tons on the brake pedal: in practice, that's over 510 kg (1,124 lb) per driver for every minute of the race. It's also true that on 7 of the 8 braking sections the speed loss is greater than 130 km/h (81 mph).

Just 122 meters to lose over 250 km/h 

Of the 8 braking sections at the Bahrain GP, 3 are classified as very demanding on the brakes, 4 are of medium difficulty, and the remaining one is light.

The most challenging for the braking system is at the first bend, because today’s cars benefit from a 1.1 km (0.7 mile) straight: the single-seaters start braking at 337 km/h (209 mph) and then slow down to 83 km/h (52 mph) in just 122 meters (400 feets). To do this, the drivers brake for 2.44 seconds, applying a load of 172 kg (379 lb) on the brake pedal and undergoing a deceleration of 5.5 G.