Abu Dhabi ends the world F1 championship 2023: the last 400 braking moments

11/21/2023

266 days after the first race of the season in Bahrain, Formula 1 is returning to the track for the last event in the 2023 World Championship.

266 days after the first race of the season in Bahrain, Formula 1 is returning to the track for the last event in the 2023 World Championship. For the tenth time in a row, the World Championship comes to a close in Abu Dhabi but the layout has not always been the same: in the first 7 editions, there were 21 turns but the number was later reduced to 16.

According to Brembo technicians, the Yas Marina Circuit is a track with a medium level of difficulty for the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it is rated 3 on the difficulty index. The track features a 1.2 km (0.75 mi) long straight which separates turns 5 and 6 where a lot of overtaking takes place because DRS can be used.

Brembo and its 500 wins

2023 was the year in which Brembo celebrated 500 wins in Formula 1 GPs. The series began in 1975 with the Monaco GP which was won by Niki Lauda in a Ferrari which had begun to use Brembo cast iron discs that year. 1975 was a magical season for the Maranello Team which with the Austrian driver won the World Rider's and World Constructor's Championships after an 11-year break.

The first 37 wins with Brembo brake components in Formula 1 were all achieved with Ferraris, a series that was broken by the Portuguese GP in 1985 which was won by Ayrton Senna in a Lotus. In 1986 Benetton became the third team to win a GP with Brembo brakes and was copied in 1989 by McLaren. Over the years, the number of single-seaters with Brembo brakes has continued to increase up to 2022 when all the drivers used Brembo calipers.

406 to the end

On the Yas Marina Circuit, the Formula 1 single-seaters use their brakes 7 times per lap, but on 3 corners in a row, from corner 2 to 4, they don’t use them at all. Considering just the race, the drivers perform the last 406 braking moments of the season. The drivers use their brakes for approximately 13.2 seconds on each lap, amounting to 16% of the total race time.

This is due, above all, to the 4 braking moments that last for over 2 seconds, all with deceleration of at least 3.9G. The stopping distances, on the other hand, vary a great deal from one turn to the next: just 19 meters (20.7 yards) on turn 13, 90 meters (98.4 yards) or so for the first and last and over 110 meters (120.2 yards) for turns 5 and 6, both to the left. From the starting line to the checkered flag, each driver exerts a total load of 52.2 metric tons on the brake pedal which is almost identical to the Japanese GP which has 12 braking moments per lap, all with a moderate load.

2.8 seconds needed to reduce speed by 250 km/h (155.3 mph)

Of the 7 braking sections in the Abu Dhabi GP, 5 are classified as very demanding on the brakes, 1 is of medium difficulty, and the remaining one is light.

Preceded by a very long straight section, the most challenging braking section is on turn 6: the single-seaters come onto it at 315 km/h (195.7 mph) and slow down for 2.81 seconds to a speed of 65 km/h (40.3 mph).

They do this in 120 meters (131.2 yards) thanks to a 148 kg (326.2 lb) load on the pedal and 4.8G deceleration.

And in the video games? 

Perfect braking on turn 6 at Abu Dhabi in the Formula 1 video game is not very difficult thanks to the bright colors of the various parts of the asphalt.

The curb appears on the right-hand side on the same level as the 150 m sign. Halfway between this sign and the 100 m sign, brake hard and move down into 2nd gear.

Only move into the corner at the last minute and make sure you do not hit the inside post.