Hypothesis in System 1 obtained intense in the course of the summer time break within the wake of a change the FIA made to the technical rules outlawing asymmetrical braking methods.
Off the again of the newest FIA World Motor Sport Council assembly that ratified a number of revised and future guidelines, an added clause concerning braking methods set tongues wagging.
The modified Article 11.1.2 of F1’s Technical Laws had some contemporary textual content which is in daring under.
“The brake system should be designed in order that inside every circuit, the forces utilized to the brake pads are the identical magnitude and act as opposing pairs on a given brake disc. Any system or mechanism which may produce systematically or deliberately, uneven braking torques for a given axle is forbidden.”
Brembo F1 brake pistons element
Picture by: Brembo
The character of the mid-season change to the technical rules, one thing which isn’t quite common, fuelled a wave of hypothesis that the FIA was responding to a tool that a number of groups might have been utilizing this season.
There have been even wild accusations thrown at Pink Bull that its drop of kind for the reason that Miami Grand Prix was linked to a possible banning of a system it might have been utilizing – with some even suggesting that Max Verstappen’s retirement from the Australian Grand Prix might have been linked to this.
Nonetheless, the truth of the state of affairs could be very totally different as high-level sources on the FIA have defined that the change was not prompted in any respect by something groups had been doing in the mean time – it was extra about future-proofing rules.
An FIA spokesman advised Autosport: “There is no such thing as a fact that any group was utilizing such a system.”
So what was occurring?
Finally the tweak alters little or no with regards to the legality of uneven brake methods. The adjustments made by the FIA to 11.1.2 of the technical rules are supplemental to the unique textual content, which solely implies that the forces being utilized to the brake pads are equal on both facet of the calliper.
The brand new and extra textual content forbids the braking circuit, both entrance or rear, to have the ability to produce uneven braking torques.
It subsequently prohibits what would extra generally be known as a brake steer system, whereby one wheel, often the within wheel, is braked with extra bias than the surface, with a purpose to assist steadiness and steer the automobile.
Nonetheless, in accordance with FIA sources, the wording that was initially in place was already sufficient to make any uneven braking system unlawful anyway.
The true motivation in altering the foundations as an alternative got here from efforts to tidy up the rules for 2026, and make it clearer within the subsequent guidelines period what was and was not allowed.
As a part of the continued discussions to border the 2026 rules, a particular clause has been added to the foundations to outlaw uneven brake methods utterly.
And, following a request from groups to make sure that no person tried to use the tiniest of gray areas earlier than then, it was requested that the brand new clause be added to each the 2024 and 2025 rules.
McLaren historical past
Brake steer gadgets usually are not a brand new factor in F1. Famously, McLaren had such a system on their automobiles in 1997/98, referred to as a fiddle brake, which employed a further brake pedal within the cockpit to use braking drive to only one facet of the automobile.
McLaren MP4-13, third pedal
Picture by: Giorgio Piola
Such a tool is, after all, nonetheless outlawed, having been prohibited by regulation adjustments on the time and now lined in 11.1.3.
The foundations state: “Any powered system, aside from the system referred to in Article 11.6, which is able to altering the configuration or affecting the efficiency of any a part of the brake system is forbidden.”
Had there been any nefarious behaviour by a group in operating a braking system that was in opposition to the unique rules, then throwing in a mid-season regulation change wouldn’t have been the primary plan of action.
As a substitute, the FIA would probably have issued a Technical Directive, which might have gone to all groups and alerted rivals to one thing being amiss elsewhere.
