24/08/2014
NEWS STORY
As Lewis Hamilton prepares to start the Belgian Grand Prix from second, due to brake glazing in Q3, Brembo announces findings following his problems in Q1 in Germany.
A brief statement issued this morning reads:
"Following extensive joint analysis of the previously unseen failure mode experienced by Lewis Hamilton during Q1 at the German Grand Prix, Brembo and Mercedes AMG Petronas have reached definitive conclusions concerning the cause of the failure.
First of all, both parties can now confirm that the quality of the disc material was not a contributory factor.
Instead, extensive analysis and experimentation has demonstrated that the specific interaction between the structure of the brake material in question and the brake mounting on the F1 W05 Hybrid was at the root of the failure.
Countermeasures have already been applied to both the disc geometry and the mounting to ensure there can be no repeat of the failure.
These developments allow the team to once again run Brembo brake disc material, should it choose to do so, in race conditions.
Thanks to the close technical relationship between Brembo and Mercedes AMG Petronas, we have been able to collaborate to objectively analyse, diagnose and resolve the failure, and we remain committed to a close working relationship in the future."
Losing out to teammate Nico Rosberg yesterday, Hamilton revealed he had suffered brake glazing, the claim subsequently confirmed by Paddy Lowe.
"This is a circuit where - as on all circuits - you need to have confidence in the brakes," said Hamilton. "You saw a couple of times in Q3 when I was just going straight on everywhere because the left brake wasn't working and then for some reason - I don't really know why - it went into glazing.
"When it glazes, it's sometimes very hard to recover, especially in the wet," he continued. "You have to put the brake balance forwards but whilst you're trying to clear that, you're also overheating the rears so it's really not that easy to always clear but in the evening they're able to scrub it and get rid of the glazing. I think it goes shiny and then you lose that bite so hopefully over the evening we will lose that and in the dry tomorrow it shouldn't be a problem."
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