The season will be largely played out on updates and not just the visible ones. Brembo, for example, is witness to a great ongoing effort by the teams to modify their braking systems, especially the rear ones, which this year are of great importance in energy management. In some cases, the developments are inspired by competitors’ solutions, freely accessible as components classified as open source, but their production will require longer times compared to aerodynamic novelties.
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Brakes, updates coming
Mario Almondo, GBU Chief Officer of Brembo Performance, who witnesses the great attention teams are dedicating in this area, anticipates the arrival of changes on many braking systems: “In these months we are in a situation where several teams, not all, but close to it, are already considering some modifications and some substantial experiments to correct what they have put in the car at the start of this championship regarding braking function.”
The components of the braking system are classified as open source and, as such, their designs are accessible to all participants. According to Almondo, however, the developments underway are also driven by other motivations: “It should be clarified that the teams are not requesting modifications only after seeing on the FIA servers what their rivals have done, but they requested them from the start. This is because, when the car went on track, they saw that the use of energy had certain characteristics that perhaps were not well predicted, also listening to the driver’s comments. It is true that the driver had already tried the simulator, but in the car it is another thing. Therefore, even before, they had started thinking about making a rear system bigger or smaller, depending on the starting choices of each team. It is a process that had already begun before.”
The rules of open source
The context becomes an opportunity to delve into the rules of open source components. Almondo explains: “After the start of the championship, for components defined as open source, all teams can consult the FIA servers and see what the rivals have done on their cars. Obviously this does not include industrial secrets belonging to Brembo, but it still allows getting an idea of what others have developed, for example for the calipers.”
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“This leads to re-examining what the technicians of each team have done and to requests towards the partner company, in this case Brembo. We define ourselves as solution providers, because that is what we do: we provide solutions and solve problems for our clients, the Formula 1 teams, who need performance, reliability, and affordable costs. In this process everyone goes to see what the rivals have done and, ultimately, this triggers doubts, proposals, or requests for clarifications towards the supplier and solution provider, in this case Brembo.”
Even with open source, however, Brembo can only share information that does not violate the confidentiality of others’ work: “We have been playing this game for many years and we do it well. We provide clarifications, but we never, ever tell one team anything about another. Team A will never know what Team B is thinking or doing, nor the reasons. Obviously, however, having the open source files available on the FIA server, if Team A asks why Team B did something specific, they are given an explanation that does not concern what Team B wanted to do, but a technical reason why Brembo thought that was a possible thing.”
Timelines
Overall, the coming months could be rich in updates in the field of braking systems. Almondo, however, specifies that development will be slower than aerodynamic: “Any visible modification to the braking groups, such as calipers and others, requires longer times. It certainly will not be immediate, because the processes are quite complex and objectively long. It is not something that can be compared to an aerodynamic modification, absolutely not.”
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