Much heavier F1 cars, will the brakes explode all over the place?

I was thinking, is there any worries about brakes failures with the cars being quite significantly heavier and still quite quick? I had a look at the technical regulations and the chapter on brakes and brake cooling systems (air ducts) is a copy/paste affair compared with 2009.

Is there an overlooked massive technical challenge underlying there? or nothing special? or crossing fingers?

BTW, the season opens in Bahrain, which apparently is a bitch on the brakes..

Any thoughts?

Can you provide a link to the chapter?

ARTICLE 11 : BRAKE SYSTEM
11.1 Brake circuits and pressure distribution :

11.1.1 With the exception of a KERS, all cars must be equipped with only one brake system. This system must
comprise solely of two separate hydraulic circuits operated by one pedal, one circuit operating on the two
front wheels and the other on the two rear wheels. This system must be designed so that if a failure occurs
in one circuit the pedal will still operate the brakes in the other.

11.1.2 The brake system must be designed in order that the force exerted on the brake pads within each circuit
are the same at all times.

11.1.3 Any powered device which is capable of altering the configuration or affecting the performance of any part
of the brake system is forbidden.

11.1.4 Any change to, or modulation of, the brake system whilst the car is moving must be made by the driver's
direct physical input, may not be pre-set and must be under his complete control at all times.

11.2 Brake calipers :
11.2.1 All brake calipers must be made from aluminium materials with a modulus of elasticity no greater than
80Gpa.

11.2.2 No more than two attachments may be used to secure each brake caliper to the car.

11.2.3 No more than one caliper, with a maximum of six pistons, is permitted on each wheel.

11.2.4 The section of each caliper piston must be circular.

11.3 Brake discs and pads :
11.3.1 No more than one brake disc is permitted on each wheel.

11.3.2 All discs must have a maximum thickness of 28mm and a maximum outside diameter of 278mm.

11.3.3 No more than two brake pads are permitted on each wheel.

11.4 Air ducts :
Air ducts around the front and rear brakes will be considered part of the braking system and shall not
protrude beyond :
- a plane parallel to the ground situated at a distance of 160mm above the horizontal centre line of
the wheel ;
- a plane parallel to the ground situated at a distance of 160mm below the horizontal centre line of
the wheel ;
- a vertical plane parallel to the inner face of the wheel rim and displaced from it by 120mm toward
the centre line of the car.
Furthermore, when viewed from the side the ducts must not protrude forwards beyond a radius of 330mm
from the centre of the wheel or backwards beyond a radius of 180mm from the centre of the wheel.
All measurements will be made with the wheel held in a vertical position.

11.5 Brake pressure modulation :
11.5.1 No braking system may be designed to prevent wheels from locking when the driver applies pressure to
the brake pedal.

11.5.2 No braking system may be designed to increase the pressure in the brake calipers above that achievable
by the driver applying pressure to the pedal under static conditions.

11.6 Liquid cooling :
Liquid cooling of the brakes is forbidden.

I was thinking, is there any worries about brakes failures with the cars being quite significantly heavier and still quite quick? I had a look at the technical regulations and the chapter on brakes and brake cooling systems (air ducts) is a copy/paste affair compared with 2009.

Is there an overlooked massive technical challenge underlying there? or nothing special? or crossing fingers?

BTW, the season opens in Bahrain, which apparently is a bitch on the brakes..

Any thoughts?

I don't think it's a particular difficult challenge technically, more a question of adjusting to the right dimensions/materials. There are much heavier racing cars around decellerating from the same speeds as F1.

IF they get that wrong it would be rather embarassing.

I was thinking, is there any worries about brakes failures with the cars being quite significantly heavier and still quite quick? I had a look at the technical regulations and the chapter on brakes and brake cooling systems (air ducts) is a copy/paste affair compared with 2009.

Is there an overlooked massive technical challenge underlying there? or nothing special? or crossing fingers?

BTW, the season opens in Bahrain, which apparently is a bitch on the brakes..

Any thoughts?

Edited by Mansell4PM, 13 January 2010 - 08:35.

IIRC the teams wanted to increase the thickness of the pads this year but had the request denied? I seems to remember it being a talking point on the bbc earlier in the year..

Excuse me if I'm wrong but don't various planes at considerable higher weight (as in many tons!) use CF brakes?

Excuse me if I'm wrong but don't various planes at considerable higher weight (as in many tons!) use CF brakes?

Edited by ferruccio, 13 January 2010 - 17:24.

Interestingly, the last time they raced without refueling they didn't have any rideheight restrictions to worry about, cars would run very low on full tanks; hence the famous showers of sparks.

Nowadays they have a plank under the car to worry about, another challenging dimention to car setup? Or has the plank been abolished and I missed that?

IIRC Williams wasn't in favor of increasing the thickness, but correct me if I'm wrong.

That fact was blurted out by an unthinking Eddie Jordan on the BBC post race forum. So Williams exercised a veto...

I doubt we'll know until we go to Canada.