FIA bans asymmetric braking: a top team in the crosshairs? | FP

by SIMONE PELUSO
On Wednesday 31 July the FIA ​​released the changes to the Regulations which will come into force as early as the next appointment at the end of July in Zandvoort. If from the sporting point of view these are all in all marginal subtleties, on the technical front a detail in particular deserves some food for thought.

The change in question concerns theArt. 11.1.2 (“Brake System”), which now states (change in bold): “The braking system must be designed so that, within each circuit, the forces applied to the brake pads are of the same magnitude and act as opposing torques on a given brake disc. Any system or mechanism which can systematically or intentionally produce asymmetric braking torques for a given axle is prohibited.“.

What is an asymmetric braking torque?

The Federation has therefore expressly bandit the installation of systems on vehicles that are capable of creating asymmetric braking pairsBut what exactly is meant by asymmetric braking torques?

As is well known, current Formula 1 cars are capable of adjust the braking balance between the front and rear axlesthus allocating greater pressure exerted on the brake pedal (and consequently braking torque to the wheels) to one of the two axles, but not to a single wheel in particular.

McLaren 1997: the “brake steer” with the third pedal

However, in the past there are those who have also managed to find a brilliant solution to make a wheel on the same axle “brake more”, in particular the rear one. We are talking about the “brake steer” (later renamed by Ross Brawn as “fiddle brake”) that McLaren introduced in the second half of 1997. The system, through the famous third pedalallowed the rear brakes to maximize the braking load on one of the two rear wheels. The advantage was clear: by reducing the speed of the inside rear wheel more than the outside one, this acted as a pivot point helping the car to “rotate more” and eliminating understeer, with much more cornering speed and acceleration.

A top team in the crosshairs

At this point it is natural to ask why the FIA ​​has decided to proceed directly with a modification of the Technical Regulation during the current year, not limiting itself to the issuing of a technical directive.

FormulaPassion.it he learned that one of the top teams was probably pushing development in this directionwithout having actually implemented any such system on the cars. The Federation may have been alerted to the issue and promptly took steps to clarify a particularly grey area of ​​the regulation.