Brembo has developed a new generation of brakes

Today’s meeting of the FIA ​​World Motorsport Council is due to approve the Formula 1 Technical Regulations for 2026 and subsequent years. The racing press still has to analyze it, but now there is an opportunity to get acquainted with the innovations regarding the brakes in general.

Mario Almondo, chief engineer of the Italian company Brembo, said in an interview with Formu1a.uno that he and his colleagues are already developing new braking systems for next-generation cars.

“The brakes of the new generation of cars will most likely be completely different, as the FIA ​​​​has included in the draft regulations the possibility of switching to completely new brake calipers,” said Almondo.

For more than half a century, Formula 1 cars have used braking systems in which the brake calipers have two mounting points and two brake pads. The adjustments to the draft technical regulations include a transition to brake calipers of a more modern design, similar to those used on the Bugatti Bolide hypercar, a real monster weighing less than 2 tons with an 8-liter W16 engine equipped with four turbochargers.

The maximum speed of the car is 400 km/h, and of course it needs very effective brakes, which Brembo specialists worked on for two years.

“This is a conceptually different caliper with a different geometry, and is based on different technical solutions patented by Brembo and AP,” Almondo continued about the new generation of braking systems. – The disc on such brakes works as efficiently as possible, is protected from improper loads, and the pressure of the brake pads on it is more evenly distributed. At the same time, the entire system only works well if it consists entirely of carbon.”

Unlike the usual brake design, the new one uses not two brake pads, but four, which allows more stable and optimal deceleration of the car, but also reduces the weight of the caliper.

On the one hand, such braking systems are much more complex and therefore more expensive. On the other hand, according to their designers’ calculations, as the season progresses, certain parts will be replaced less often – precisely because the load on the parts is distributed more evenly.

“We believe that these high-performance carbon fiber braking systems, designed for the next generation of cars, will last longer, be more efficient, provide optimal performance and be able to operate in all temperature conditions,” said the Italian engineer. “This is important because the 2026 cars will be much faster on the straights because they have a lower drag coefficient, but also slightly less downforce.”

Of course, the new braking systems will use more advanced materials, but as Almonodo emphasized: “This is confidential information, so I can’t go into too much detail. But I would like to add that we have also revised the design of the brake cylinders and the Brake By Wire system, which is also different from the current one, but technically based on the same principles.”

Source: F1 News

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