Qatar F1 GP: anything but MotoGP braking

11/17/2021

In Losail, use of the Brembo one-piece calipers is entirely different than with bikes. For street-legal cars, on the other hand…

Seventeen years after MotoGP, Formula 1 also makes its début in Qatar. However, the Losail International Circuit has already hosted car races, from the GP2 Asia Series to the WTCC, but clearly no car has reached the speeds that the Formula 1 single-seaters will hit, both on straights and in turns.

According to Brembo technicians, the Losail International Circuit is one of the those tracks that are not very demanding for the brakes. On a difficulty index scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 2 - the lowest of the Middle Eastern tracks. For MotoGP, on the other hand, this track is considered to have a medium difficulty level for the brakes.

Monobloc calipers, an all-Brembo invention

Brembo makes aluminum-lithium brake calipers with six pistons (the maximum established by the regulations) for eight teams in the 2021 World Championship. Brembo introduced monobloc calipers into racing in the second half of the 1980s on the Ferrari F187/88C driven by Michele Alboreto and Gerhard Berger.

For the 2021 season, based on the specific vehicle requirements, each team - together with Brembo engineers - identifies the optimum weight-rigidity ratio for the brake calipers. For each team, the development of the braking system takes place independently and separately to preserve industrial secrets.

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Calipers with internal ducts for road cars too

After verifying the quality of its monobloc calipers on the track, Brembo transferred them to the production line for today's most prestigious and popular sports cars. The large quantities of calipers to be produced and a duration equal to the lifespan of the car, represented an additional challenge. This high quality distinguishes the B-M family of Brembo calipers, designed for drivers who want the very best from their car.

Machined from a single billet of cast aluminum, using a 4D technology casting process and with internal fluid channels rather than conventional external rigid tube connections, these calipers ensure outstanding rigidity and minimized deformation. This technology means that the technical characteristics of the B-M4, B-M6 and B-M8 are similar to those of billet or forged racing calipers.

See all the advantages of the B-M braking systems

From 10 to 16, all without braking

Unlike the MotoGP bikes, forced to use the brakes on twelve of the sixteen turns at Losail International Circuit, the Formula 1 drivers only brake on seven corners. However, on the first half of the track, turn 5 is the only one where the bikes brake and the single-seaters don’t. On the other hand, for the second part, the Formula 1 cars only brake on turns 10 and 16, whereas the MotoGP bikes also brake on turns 9, 12, 14, and 15.

This results in a time on the brakes per lap of just 8.7 seconds for Formula 1 compared to MotoGP’s 34 seconds. From start to finish, the braking system operates for 10.7 percent of the time on the single-seaters, compared to 30 percent for the MotoGP bikes. Deceleration is also completely different. Just once per lap over 110 km/h (68.35 mph) for Formula 1 and five for the bikes.

No, it’s not like MotoGP

Of the seven braking sections at Losail International Circuit, none are classified as very demanding on the brakes, whereas four are of medium difficulty and three are light.

Compared to MotoGP, where the hardest braking section is on the first corner, the single-seaters enter it more than twice as fast - 208 km/h (129.25 mph) compared to the bikes’ 98 km/h (61 mph) - so the toughest braking section for the cars is on the sixth turn. They go from 258 km/h (160 mph) to 98 km/h (61 mph) in just 2.47 seconds as they travel 103 meters (338 feet). On that section, the drivers are subjected to deceleration of 4.2 g.