F1

F1 brakes and bias

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  • #133597
    Michael
    Participant

    Does anyone know whether development of brakes is allowed? I know that there are only a couple of suppliers and I thought it might lead to better braking and more overtaking by those who had better brakes.

    Also, Can the bias of the brakes in an F1 car be adjusted left and right as well as front to back, or is that counter-indicated by the way the cars are driven?

    #241837
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @dedischado I’ve never heard of left-to-right brake bias settings – but that wouldn’t be quite useful anyways, because a left brake bias would mean the car brakes harder on the left side – ie makes the left slower than the right, which would send it on a circular path without even steering.

    Development of the brakes is indeed allowed – and there have been numerous advances there, though not on performance terms. Development of brakes generally has been on longevity terms as they seek to better cool brakes, etc. In terms of braking power, you’d have to find another material that is capable of a higher friction coefficient between caliper and pad – which isn’t easy.

    And not only is it not easy, it wouldn’t do much. As it is today, F1 braking isn’t limited by the brakes at all, counterintuitively – it’s grip limited. At speed with downforce, a driver can push the pedal all he wants and he wouldn’t have enough power to lock the brakes, thanks to all the downforce and grip the tyres have. Then as the speed bleeds off, you have less downforce and have to decrease your braking.

    If a human cannot even produce enough foot power to fully utilise the current brakes at speed, and the car doesn’t have enough grip to fully utilise the brakes at low speed – then adding brakes would be like switching from the sea to the ocean as a water source.

    #241838
    Matthijs
    Participant

    @raymondu999 “which would send it on a circular path without even steering”. This could be helpful in situations when you brake into a corner. In fact, back in 1998 or 1999, McLaren had an extra paddle to aid this.

    #241839
    Michael
    Participant

    That’s actually what I was thinking of, a kind of primitive traction control activated by a stick in the cockpit

    #241840
    raymondu999
    Participant

    @matthijs Yes, that was to stop the car understeering under trail braking – the net effect is the same (eliminating understeer vs inducing oversteer)

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