How do F1 brakes work?
F1 cars use carbon-carbon brake discs and pads that work best when glowing hot, above several hundred degrees Celsius. They have no ABS, which is banned, so the driver modulates the pedal and adjusts the brake bias by hand. The braking is ferocious: an F1 car can decelerate at around 5G, with disc temperatures passing 1,000 degrees, and Brembo supplies the whole grid.
Carbon brakes that like to be hot
F1 cars stop on carbon-carbon discs and pads, carbon fibre in a carbon matrix, rather than the steel brakes of a road car.[1] They are unusual in that they only work well when very hot, operating from a couple of hundred degrees up past 1,000 degrees Celsius, which is why the discs glow orange under heavy braking.[1]
No ABS, by the rules
Unlike a road car, an F1 car has no anti-lock braking system; ABS and other driver aids are banned.[1] The driver controls the braking entirely by feel, modulating the pedal to the edge of locking the wheels, and can shift the brake balance forward or back from the cockpit to suit the corner and the tyres.[1]
How hard they stop
The performance is brutal. An F1 car can decelerate at around 5G, roughly five times the force of a hard stop in a road car, scrubbing off enormous speed in a very short distance while the discs run beyond 1,000 degrees.[1] Brembo supplies braking systems to the entire grid, a rare case of one company equipping every team.[2]
:::analysis Braking is where F1 drivers make up much of their time, and where the cars feel least like anything on the road. A driver stamps the pedal with huge force, lets the car decelerate hard enough to throw a passenger into the belts, and does it dozens of times a lap with no electronic safety net. It is one of the most underrated skills in the sport.
:::
Related reading
- [1]Formula One brake systems explained (Mercedes-AMG F1) (mercedes). Accessed 2026-06-20.
- [2]Brembo on F1 braking (Brembo) (brembo). Accessed 2026-06-20.