Brembo Formula 1 Brake Facts for the United States Grand Prix

October 23, 2023 by Brembo

THE SECOND OF THE THREE ROUNDS OF THE SEASON IN THE USA FOR FORMULA 1, DEMONSTRATING THE GROWING INTEREST FOR THE SPORT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

Brembo engineers offer a guide to braking for this weekend's Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix, to run at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Oct. 20-22.

The second of the three rounds of the season in the USA for Formula 1, demonstrating the growing interest for the sport throughout the country. According to the Brembo technicians, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a circuit with medium-level difficulty for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it is rated 3 on the difficulty index, the same as the Miami International Autodrome and the still to run Las Vegas track.

In April, when the COTA hosted MotoGP, several riders complained about the conditions of the asphalt mentioning the difference in grip on various parts of the track. For the single-seaters, the consequences of this may be diminished but a lot depends on the weather, in 2015. due to flooding caused by Hurricane Patricia, the qualifying rounds were postponed to Sunday morning.

The USA, a land of fun and work ​​

Within the circuit, near corners 19 and 20, an amusement park will be opened next year with 27 rides including several roller coasters considered the most exciting in the world. The decelerations are similar to those of the fastest supercars in the world many of which use Brembo carbon ceramic discs and mono bloc calipers.

Brembo has been operating in North America since 2009 with HQs and a R&D center in Plymouth, Michigan. Brembo has a disc machining plant and a caliper assembly plant in Homer next to which a massive cast iron foundry was built in 2015 that so it could provide the car manufacturers with a dedicated, fully integrated production process.

36 to 17 for MotoGP

On the Circuit of the Americas, the Formula 1 drivers use their brakes 11 times, the same number of times as the motorcycle riders. This is the only thing that the two motorsport premier classes have in common because the brakes in MotoGP are used for 36 seconds per lap compared with less than 17 seconds for cars due to the fact that the braking power can be discharged onto all four wheels.

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From start to finish, each driver should exert a total load of just under 59 metric tons on the brake pedal, almost 17 metric tons more than the Miami GP. However, the track in Florida only has three braking moments with over 80 kg of load compared with the 8 braking moments on the Austin track including all those from turn 10 to turn 13.

230 km/h (143 mph) less in less than 3 seconds ​​​​

Of the 11 braking sections in the US GP, four are considered very demanding on the brakes, four are of medium difficulty and the remaining three are light.

The hardest one is on Turn 12 where the single-seaters go from 316 km/h to 86 km/h (197 to 53 mph) in 2.78 seconds and cover a distance of 128 meters (139.9 yards).

The drivers are subjected to 4.4 G of deceleration and exert total on the pedal of 131 kg (288 lbs.).

And what about the video games? ​ ​​

To take on Turn 12 on the Circuit of the Americas correctly in the Formula 1 video game, you need some experience so that you don't take it too short, you should start braking just before you go past the 100 m sign.

Move down into third gear and move the car into the turn using the curb.

Keep your eye on the mirrors because your rivals may try and overtake and do not overdo it when you open up the throttle or you will end up on the green area.​

•The circuit identity card with all the information on all the braking sections, in .pdf format: https://mediakit.brembo.com/index.php/circuits/f1-2023

•The video of the hardest braking point of the GP, in mp4 format (low and high resolution): https://we.tl/t-RdtaLAOjeP

•The video can also be consulted at the YT link: https://youtu.be/umq0_-vcMBw?si=lKDzHLU_G4XBqq59

•The comment of the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix according to Brembo, in web format: https://www.brembo.com/en/company/news/2023-formula-1-austin-gp-brembo-brakes

•The video that presents in detail the characteristics of the Brembo braking systems functionality on a Formula 1 single-seater, that you can download at the following link: https://mediakit.brembo.com/index.php/brembo-continues-to-be-the-braking-systems-leader-in-the-2023-formula-1-championship#videos