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The last Italian Grand Prix at Monza in the Ferrari suit was nothing positive for Sebastian Vettel, who was forced to retire at the end of the sixth lap following a brake system failure. After the chaos that occurred in qualifying that prevented him from making the second attempt to overcome the trap of Q1, the German accelerates from the seventeenth length of the starting grid, with the aim of making the first batch of the race on hard tires .
Already during the third lap, however, the Ferrari technicians began to notice overheating of the brake discs., an anomalous phenomenon considering that the race had just begun. In the straight that leads to the first variant, in fact, the first notices to Vettel begin to arrive via radio from the wall: “Stay clear to cool the rear brake discs”. The hope of the Maranello men was that moving away from the path traveled by the other cars would be enough to ensure a greater supply of air to the brakes, promoting cooling.
F1 | Leclerc’s mistake: not having considered the wake (and the SF1000)
The wall’s concerns, however, intensify on lap 4, when the German receives the following message while tackling the Biassono corner: “We are very at the limit with the brakes on the left rear. Do some elevation and shoreline if you can”. A few seconds later, another instruction follows: “It also shifts the brake distribution forward.”. As disc temperatures continue to rise, Ferrari are opting for even more drastic countermeasures than simply walking away from the wake.
the elevation and coast in fact it is a driving technique widely used in Formula 1, which consists of taking your foot off the accelerator for a short period of time at the end of the straight before braking. In addition to several advantages on the consumption front, the elevation and coast it also allows the car to partially decelerate by taking advantage of external drag, including friction, including aerodynamics. In this way, the workload on the discs to brake the car is reduced.
Brake distribution, on the other hand, is an index of how much braking force required by the driver on the pedal is divided between the front and rear wheels and can be adjusted with a small knob on the steering wheel. By shifting the distribution further to the front, Ferrari technicians attempted to alleviate the work required on the rear brakes, which by that time had reached critical temperatures.
Although immediately after the warning Vettel had implemented the indications of the wall both to the Canal and to the Lesmo curves, a new communication arrives just before the Ascari: “Get more elevation and shoreline”.
F1 | Slow down to win
During the fifth lap, the dialogues between Vettel and the track engineer intensify: “We have a problem with the left rear“They communicate by radio to German. In addition, on the return straight a part of the Vettel SF1000 detaches, which reveals obvious insertion problems in the Parabolica. In fact, on the main straight the driver himself confirms the failure: “There is something wrong with the rear left”. The wall’s response immediately follows: “Yes, we know, try to cool the brakes.”
At the braking point of the first variant, Vettel does not brake the car and drives straight against the polystyrene billboards. “The brake broke, the pedal no longer responds. The hydraulic line exploded “, Sebastian warns immediately after the episode. On the return lap, the German does not seem particularly irritated or upset, but extremely calm. Once in the pits, Vettel repeats his feelings for the last time on the radio: Ok, the brake line was already broken at the last corner. I was trying to get up, slide and move forward. “ “Yes, yes, you were doing the right thing “, they reply from the wall.
Ongoing investigation
No further details have come from Maranello about the failure that ended Sebastian Vettel’s race early, but which could have had far worse consequences. It is especially surprising how the excessive temperatures of the left rear brake disc, confirmed by the flames immortalized by the television images, may have affected the brake line, which is the hydraulic system that contains the oil to activate the brake caliper. Even more enigmatic, however, is how the anomaly may have affected both hydraulic circuits.. In fact, as indicated in article 11.1.1 of the technical regulations, cars must be equipped with two brake lines, one to activate the front calipers and the other for the rear system.
The same regulation specifies that the presence of the double hydraulic circuit serves to ensure that “If a fault occurs in one circuit, the pedal can still activate the brakes of the other”. Since the oil is put under pressure in both lines through the single brake pedal, even in case of explosion of the rear circuit Vettel should still have been able to slow down at least with the front brakes. The lack of pedal response described by radio by the German instead testifies that the front hydraulic line was also damaged.
In Maranello, therefore, it will be necessary to investigate to reconstruct the exact dynamics of a breakdown as anomalous as it is dangerous, especially considering that the Scuderia is now awaited by the Grand Prix that celebrates its thousand appearances in Formula 1.
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