STEZZANO, Italy — The Formula 1 teams will be dealing with a track this coming weekend in Italy, which is very demanding on their cars’ brakes, according to the technicians at Brembo.
On a scale of 1 to 5, the Monza Circuit gets the nod as a 5, the Brembo engineers said about the track hosting this season’s final European clash.
The need to reach the highest possible speed on the long straights compels the teams to reduce the aerodynamic load to a minimum. However, when they reach the three Variants, the drivers have to slam hard on the brakes which makes good balance between the front and rear brakes vital.
Brembo’s first time at Monza
Monza is traditionally a Ferrari stronghold as shown by its 19 wins even if from 2007 onwards, the Maranello team has only won twice, in 2010 and in 2019. Twelve of these wins have been with Brembo brakes with the first one in 1975 with Clay Regazzoni.
The Swiss driver drove a 312T, the first Formula 1 single-seater with at least one Brembo brake component: Ferrari had been using Brembo-produced cast iron discs for just a few months.
Niki Lauda was behind the wheel of the twin car and with 3rd place in that Grand Prix mathematically became world champion. This was the first of more than 600 titles won by drivers and riders with Brembo brakes.
Six braking moments and four sensational ones
The Monza Circuit is the World Championship track where drivers use their brakes less, just under nine seconds per lap. Of all the other circuits, only Barcelona and Montreal remain under the 10 second mark whereas in Singapore, the brakes are used for 23.5 seconds.
Another feature of the Italian GP is that there are four different points where the speed exceeds 310 km/h (193 mph) before intense use of the brake system is needed with loads on the brake pedal ranging from 145 kg (320 pounds) to over 160 kg (352 pounds). From start to finish at Monza, each driver exerts a total load of 45.5 metric tons on the brake pedal, more than the figures for the Belgian and British GPs.
Less than 245 km/h (152.2 mph) in 2.6 seconds
Of the six braking sections in the Italian GP, four are classified as demanding on the brakes and two are of medium difficulty.
The hardest for the braking system is the first one after the starting line: the single seaters come into it at 334 km/h (207.5 mph) and drop to 89 km/h (55 mph) in just 122 meters (133 yards).
To do this, the drivers brake for 2.57 seconds, applying a load of 161 kg (354.9 lb) to the brake pedal and undergoing a deceleration of 5.2G.
