After Oceania and Asia, Formula 1 arrives in North America for the Miami GP, the first of three races in the USA this season, although the other two (Austin and Las Vegas) will take place in the fall.
A feast that satisfies the American audience, which from 2008 to 2011 couldn’t enjoy even a single home GP. The circuit is built around the Hard Rock Stadium complex, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team, and features 19 corners with several elevation changes.
The GP data
According to the Brembo technicians who work closely with all Formula 1 drivers, the 5.412 km-long Miami International Autodrome falls into the category of medium-demanding circuits for brakes. On a scale from 1 to 5, it earned a difficulty index of 3, as only 3 of the 8 braking zones are classified as High and they are far apart from one another. During one lap, F1 drivers use the brakes for less than 14.5 seconds, and only 4 braking zones require more than 65 meters.
The toughest corner
The most demanding corner of the Miami International Autodrome for the braking system is Turn 17, due to the dramatic drop in car speed from 319 km/h to 76 km/h in 2.81 seconds over a distance of 121 meters. Drivers experience a maximum deceleration of 4.6 g and apply 169 kg of force on the brake pedal. The braking power reaches 2,462 kW.
Sergio Third
The 2023 Miami GP was historic in its own right for what happened on Saturday: Sergio Perez managed to secure pole position with a 361-millisecond advantage over Fernando Alonso and 508 milliseconds over Carlos Sainz. For the Mexican driver, it was his third and final pole in F1, and also the last one achieved by a Red Bull driver other than Max Verstappen. That day, the Dutchman aborted his first attempt after a mistake and couldn’t try again due to the session being cut short by an off-track incident.
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Perez’s first braking system
Sergio Perez made his Formula 1 debut in 2011 with the Ferrari-powered Sauber. That year, he stood out with a 7th-place finish in the British GP and an 8th-place in the Japanese GP, helping the Swiss team to finish 7th in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of five other teams. Credit also goes to the Sauber C10, which used six-piston calipers and carbon discs, both made by Brembo. Compared to the previous year, relentless research work enabled a weight reduction of the caliper to just 1.6 kg and the disc to 1.4 kg, despite an increase in stiffness.
The weight variable
The weight of braking systems hasn’t always decreased since Sergio Perez’s debut, partly due to regulatory changes. When wheel rims increased from 13 to 18 inches in 2022, the diameter of the discs and the size of the calipers also grew, to cope with the 46 kg increase in the cars' minimum weight. On that occasion, the braking system gained 3 kg, but already the following year it began to decrease again: a 350-gram drop thanks to Brembo’s studies, which led to the removal of material from less critical areas.