F1 Car BrakesInteresting Facts

A Formula One brake disc is 28mm in thickness and 278mm in diameter, and is made out of the best possible

carbon fibre available on the market.

Discs and pads are now carbon-carbon on F1 cars and are produced by specialist firms such as Brembo, Carbon Industrie and Hitco.

Carbon-carbon is extremely light (approximately 50% of the weight of standard materials).

Carbon brakes need to be at a minimum temperature of 500°C before they will work effectively.

The working temperature is over 1000°C during braking. (Aluminum melts at 659°C)

During a braking event the temperatures of the brake discs will reach around 1200°C. (Gold melts at 1063°C)

If a carbon brake disc overeats it can fail with a sudden and instant explosion.

The brake systems have two hydraulic circuits - one for the front and one for the rear so that one will remain operational if the other fails.

A Formula One brake disc typically costs several thousand pounds depending on the supplier and the complexity of the cooling holes machined into it.

It can take up to 6 months to produce a single brake disc.

An average team will get through 240 disc-brakes a season. That's 120 on each car.

In a complete season, on average Brembo supplies the following materials to each of its teams running 2 race cars:

10 sets of calipers From 140 to 240 discs From 280 to 480 brake pads

F1 cars can corner around 3Gs and brake around 5Gs. (the maximum acceleration of the space shuttle was just 3.5 Gs)

4 seconds is the amount of time it takes for an F1 car to go from 300km/h to a complete halt.

At 200 km/h, a Formula One car requires just 2.9 seconds to stop completely, in only 65 meters.

At 100km/h, a Formula One car requires just 1.4 seconds to stop completely, in only 17 meters.

At the Australian GP, during second corner braking, Formula One cars can develop 5.6g of load and developed power of 1855 Kw (1,855Mw).

Drivers need to generate an average 80 kilograms of downward pressure on the brake pedal just to get their car to slow.

Drivers need to use the brake, approximately 1,500 times in an average race.

Under heavy braking periods, a driver is subjected to a horizontal deceleration of close to 5.4Gs.

The 7 brakings that subject the pilot to greater G force according to Brembo engineers:

Click here to read more about Formula One brakes.