For the 10th consecutive year, Brembo supplies its braking components to all MotoGP riders. However, this is not a requirement imposed by the organizers or regulations but a free choice by the teams, who consider Brembo brakes superior in terms of performance, reliability, and consistency.
Brembo engineers, present at every GP to advise and assist the riders, have analyzed all premier class events to assess the braking system’s difficulty on each track.
Several variables were taken into account to compile the ranking of the most demanding circuits for MotoGP brakes. We will present them one by one so you can understand how we arrived at the final results.
The hardest braking zones
One of the key factors for correctly ranking the circuits is the intensity of braking. For example, in Austria, England, Qatar, and Japan, there are five High-category braking zones—the highest level in terms of stress on the brakes and the rider. In Thailand, Catalunya, and Malaysia, there are four, while Phillip Island features only one High braking zone.
High braking zones are characterized by brake usage for over 3 seconds, lever loads of at least 4 kg, decelerations of no less than 1.4 g, and braking system pressures exceeding 8 bar.
Another factor that affects the difficulty of a track is the number of braking zones per lap. At Lusail, Jerez, Silverstone, Misano, and Sepang, MotoGP riders use the brakes 11 times per lap. However, these tracks are very different from one another, as shown by their respective lengths: from the 4.23 km of the Marco Simoncelli Circuit to the 5.9 km of the British track.
In contrast, there are only 6 braking zones per lap in Australia, 7 in Thailand, and 8 in Argentina, Mugello, Germany, Austria, and Japan.
It’s clear that the higher the number of braking zones, the greater the strain on the braking system. However, there is a big difference between having multiple braking zones lasting one or two seconds and having braking zones that extend for four or five seconds.
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The disposition of braking zones
The number of braking zones per lap can also be misleading, as it doesn’t provide information on their placement or the intervals between them. Hard braking zones, typical of stop-and-go tracks, generate high brake temperatures. However, if they are spaced out by long straights, the braking system gets valuable seconds to recover.
On the other hand, intense braking zones in quick succession hinder the cooling of the braking system, as seen at Donington Park. This was also the case at the season-opening GP in Thailand, where braking at Turns 1, 3, 4, and 5 all lasted over 3 seconds, with braking system pressure reaching at least 10 bar.
How Brembo handles the most demanding circuits for brakes
But what changes in Brembo braking systems on the toughest circuits? Generally, the braking system components that adapt to circuit difficulty are the brake discs and pads, while the calipers and master cylinders remain unchanged. For example, on circuits like Buriram, Spielberg, and Motegi—classified as category 6 circuits—riders can only choose between 340 mm finned or 355 mm finned discs, as the use of smaller-diameter discs (such as 320 mm) is explicitly prohibited. Additionally, non-finned 340 mm discs (i.e., 340 Hmass or STD mass) are also banned.
When it comes to braking performance, the size of the brake discs (and pads) plays a crucial role. The braking torque of a disc brake results from the product of three factors: the effective radius of the disc, the clamping force of the caliper, and the coefficient of friction. A larger disc diameter increases braking torque because it expands the effective radius, which—when other variables remain constant—enhances the overall braking force.
However, beyond the diameter, another crucial factor is the height of the braking band. This aspect affects heat dissipation: a disc with a wider braking band facilitates heat dissipation, reducing the braking system’s tendency to fade. Consequently, it allows riders to execute multiple consecutive braking maneuvers more effectively than a disc with a narrower band, assuming the same diameter.
For this reason, each type of Brembo brake disc is available in three material specifications: Standard, High Mass, and Extreme Cooling. High Mass discs feature a larger braking surface than Standard discs, which have a smaller surface area. The braking surface height is directly linked to the temperatures the discs reach: when temperatures are lower, Standard discs are preferred due to their lighter mass.
Lastly, the Extreme Cooling brake discs feature a high braking band with internal fins that increase the heat exchange surface, providing better cooling. This leads to a positive impact on braking performance.
Of course, on the most demanding circuits, it’s not just the brake discs that receive dimensional upgrades—brake pads do as well. On the toughest tracks, in combination with larger-diameter, high-band discs, oversized pads with fins are typically used to further enhance heat dissipation.
The final assessment
Brembo technicians took all these variables, along with other harder-to-quantify factors, into account to assess the demands placed on the braking systems by the 22 MotoGP circuits in 2025. Data from previous editions was useful, with the exception of Balaton Park (Hungarian Round), which has never been used in the World Championship, as it only opened in May 2023.
For this occasion, a scale from 1 to 6 was used: the lowest value, recorded at Phillip Island, corresponds to a modest demand on the brakes. The stress is maximum for Buriram, Spielberg, and Motegi, and extremely high for Montmelo and Sepang.