Formula 1 brakes are incredibly powerful pieces of machinery. They experience tremendous amounts of pressure from multiple braking points at every circuit.  The car can come to a stop at 100kph in roughly 15 meters, so they need to be strong and durable.

F1 cars use a disc brake system. In other words, brake fluid gets sent from it’s holding area through the brake calipers to the brake pads which get squeezed onto the brake discs to slow or stop the spinning wheel. In the rear of a car, there is a brake-by-wire system in place, which was introduced in 2014. It was introduced because of the need to guarantee proper braking force to the rear axle apart from the output of torque generated by the electric motors. Essentially, an electric vehicle control unit keeps continuous track of the braking force linked to the MGU-K as well as the braking distributed by the the driver.

Brake Discs

The brake discs are made entirely out of carbon. The temperature range is between 350-1500 °C. In order to cool the brakes so they don’t overheat and wear away, there are more than 1,200 ventilation holes to let cool air into the center of the disc and out.  A single brake disc has a life span of 1,200 km and weighs between 1-1.2kg. Disks can be no larger than 278mm in diameter and have a maximum width of 32mm. The larger the diameter the greater the stopping power the disk has. This is because it is easier to stop a spinning disk by grabbing it further from the center. These rules are in place to allow braking zones on track to stay somewhat competitive.

Brake Pads

The brake pads have a maximum temperature of 1000°C. They have a life span of about 800km and a single pad weighs 200g. These are the parts of the brakes that push on the brake discs to stop their spinning.

Brake Calipers

The brake calipers have a maximum temperature of 200°C, and this is because they don’t actually go near the actual brake discs. They have a life span of 10,000km and a single caliper weighs between 1.5-2kg. These are the parts of the system where the brake fluid travels through and they push on the brake pads.

The Season

Drivers and cars can experience in excess of 5.5gs of force when decelerating and the whole braking system, can get extremely hot. This means that the brake system doesn’t last for every race in the year. In a season teams can go through up to :

  • 10 sets of calipers
  • between 140-240 brake discs
  • between 280-480 brake pads

 

For more information check out this video: