TECH TUESDAY: What is the 'magic' brake setting cost Hamilton in Baku – and why do Mercedes struggle at low-grip tracks? | Formula 1® (2024)

Technical

TECH TUESDAY: What is the 'magic' brake setting cost Hamilton in Baku – and why do Mercedes struggle at low-grip tracks? | Formula 1® (1)

Technical Contributors

Mark Hughes and Giorgio Piola

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  • 2021
  • Azerbaijan
  • Hamilton
  • Technical

TECH TUESDAY: What is the 'magic' brake setting cost Hamilton in Baku – and why do Mercedes struggle at low-grip tracks? | Formula 1® (2)

Mark Hughes examines Lewis Hamilton's race-defining issue at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when his chance of re-taking the Championship lead went up in a huge puff of tyre smoke – and looks at why Mercedes are struggling on low-grip tracks. Giorgio Piola provides technical illustrations.

Lewis Hamilton’s ‘brake magic’ error at the final restart was one of the big stories of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which, in combination with the other big story – Max Verstappen’s tyre blowout – ensured there was no change at the top of the championship points table.

READ MORE: Hamilton explains switch issue that led to him dropping from P2 to P15 at crucial Azerbaijan GP restart

The brake magic button on the back of the Mercedes steering wheel is there to give an instant switch to almost full front brake bias as an aid to heating up the front tyres before the start or restart of a race. In normal running the front bias would be running at something like 52-53%. Brake magic switches it instantly to whatever it’s been set for – in this case believed to be 86.5%. It is not a race setting and is only used on warm-up laps or behind the Safety Car.

That is purely a setting for generating heat in the wheel rims, which is then conducted to the tyres. With the fronts applying almost all of the car’s braking force, the heat generated by the carbon brake discs (which can run beyond 1,000 degrees Celsius) and metal calipers quickly increases more than proportionately.

TECH TUESDAY: What is the 'magic' brake setting cost Hamilton in Baku – and why do Mercedes struggle at low-grip tracks? | Formula 1® (3)

Front tyre temperatures are generally more difficult to generate than rears, which are, of course, on the driven wheels. Struggles with front tyre temperature was absolutely the key to Mercedes’ struggles in Baku, at Monaco and, to a lesser extent, at Imola. In other words, in half the season’s races to date, the Mercedes W12 has struggled to instantly generate the required tyre temperatures necessary for good single-lap pace.

Multiple factors determine why one car can easily generate tyre temperature and another can’t. But it’s particularly acute on low-grip surfaces and circuit layouts with mainly low-speed, short-duration corners. Tracks like Monaco and Baku.

READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from Azerbaijan – Who shone on the streets of Baku?

This fundamental tyre trait impacted upon everything about Mercedes’ weekend. If the tyres cannot be brought into their temperature window – if the core of the tyre cannot reach that critical threshold – set-up changes won’t have the desired effect and the car will simply not work.

Get it into that window, and everything begins to work in an understandable way. It’s not so much about surface temperatures – but the core. The core needs to be warm enough to bend under load in order to give support to the tread. With the core rigid and unbending, the stress is taken up by the tread which, with no support from the core, simply slides across the track and overheats.

Click to enlarge: Outlined in red is the description of Mercedes' brake-bias selector and the buttons to control brake bias on their steering wheel – but the 'brake magic' switch is on the rear of the steering wheel. Diagram courtesy of Mercedes

The overheating surface cannot put decent loads into the core, thereby keeping it rigid, which in turn cannot help the surface etc in a vicious circle. A cool, unyielding core and an overheated surface is the perfect ingredient for tyre graining, whereby the tread begins to rip itself away.

Begin nudging into that area of load where the core is being worked and it can be like a light switch and a virtuous circle is initiated instead. Hence, we saw Hamilton suddenly reach that threshold into Saturday but Valtteri Bottas remaining beneath it for the whole weekend.

READ MORE: Wolff calls Mercedes’ Baku performance ‘unacceptable’ as he says team in toughest ever period

At Monaco it was the other way round and in the damp cool of Imola, it was Bottas who struggled while Hamilton got to the threshold. At Istanbul last year it was a similar story.

So what is it with the Mercedes? It seems to be even more sensitive to this trait on the '21-spec tyres and aero regs. It may be to do with the aero traits of the car. If it cannot load up the front as well as the high-rake cars at low speed, it could make initiating the virtuous circle more difficult.

A low-rake car inherently has a less aggressively loaded front end into slow corners than a high-rake one because of the way the aerodynamics of each work.

TECH TUESDAY: What is the 'magic' brake setting cost Hamilton in Baku – and why do Mercedes struggle at low-grip tracks? | Formula 1® (5)

But the low-rake Aston Martin – with plenty of Mercedes in its DNA - was great with the tyres at both Monaco and Baku. Not as fast as the Mercedes over a single lap but working its tyres brilliantly well. There does seem to be something specific about the Mercedes which makes this a problem.

On the other hand, the Mercedes has shown itself to be superior to the Red Bull at keeping its tyres cool when that is the challenge. Barcelona was a prime example of the other side of the coin where the Merc’s tyre traits, around a track where minimising heat degradation of the tyres is the biggest challenge, won them the race. But on low-grip tracks it’s clearly not a window which can be conjured on demand by the team.

LISTEN: Max’s misfortune, Perez’s joy, and Mercedes under pressure – The F1 Nation crew on the Azerbaijan GP

As Mercedes’ James Allison said after Monaco: “Even in years we’ve won championships with some ease, we’ve nevertheless struggled [at Monaco] and although we have generally been on a path that has delivered a car that is really sort of broad-sworded weapon that you can attack most tracks with, here has been a significant Achilles' Heel.

“Particularly ironically, a car which, one of its best weapons has been its usage of its tyres circuit after circuit after circuit, this particular track we always struggle a bit with that and we’re never really getting them happy on a Saturday, so our grid slots are lowly.

“And then on Sunday, although we are OK at the start of the stint, by the end of the first stint where most of the crucial action takes place at this rather particular track where there isn’t much opportunity for overtaking except around that first stop, we are normally all out of ideas with a tyre that has died a little sooner than our competitors.

READ MORE: Ross Brawn on Verstappen’s pain, Vettel’s resurgence – and that dramatic finish in Baku

“We have failed to understand that for a number of seasons and we need to figure out from first principles, what are we getting wrong at this track? What is it we are doing year on year that is just not right for here?”

As we head to more conventional circuits we may well see a tyre picture more like that of Barcelona. But that won’t stop Mercedes from searching for the solutions to this particular problem.

  • 2021
  • Azerbaijan
  • Hamilton
  • Technical

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TECH TUESDAY: What is the 'magic' brake setting cost Hamilton in Baku – and why do Mercedes struggle at low-grip tracks? | Formula 1® (2024)

FAQs

What does the Mercedes Magic Button do? ›

The brake magic button on the back of the Mercedes steering wheel is there to give an instant switch to almost full front brake bias as an aid to heating up the front tyres before the start or restart of a race.

What is Mercedes Magic? ›

MAGIC BODY CONTROL® is a special feature by Mercedes-Benz that is exclusive to the S-Class. This system allows the car to pre-adjust the suspension by scanning the road ahead.

What is brake balance on f1 car? ›

Brake Balance, also known as brake bias, is the distribution of braking force between the front and rear tires. It's a setting that can be manually adjusted by the drivers during the race, enabling them to change the car's balance better to suit the conditions or behavior of the vehicle [4%5E].

What speed does Mercedes brake assist work? ›

If a potential collision is detected, Active Brake Assist 6 can react with automated emergency braking in the speed range up to 60 km/h.

Why did Hamilton lock up in Baku? ›

Mercedes discovered after the race in Baku that Hamilton had accidentally activated their so-called 'brake magic' button as he blasted away at the standing restart two laps from the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with the brake balance on his Mercedes W12 having shifted dramatically forward, causing him to lock-up ...

Why is Mercedes so special? ›

Performance. In addition to luxury, it's well known that Mercedes-Benz perform. That means more horsepower, torque, and speed. You'll enjoy easy handling, responsive and smooth steering, and clear views.

What did Mercedes used to be called? ›

Originally, Mercedes-Benz was founded by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler and was part of Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, better known as DMG. The company was first known by the name Daimler-Benz, as an homage to the founders.

What is a magic button? ›

The Magic Button is a Photoshop action that removes color casts from images and anchors the black and white points giving more pleasing natural contrast. It is designed to be run on images before making adjustments.

Why is F1 braking so hard? ›

On road cars, servo-assisted brake systems multiply the pressure you apply to the master cylinder but the regulations in Formula One demand that the braking force has to be generated by the driver alone. They need very strong legs to do this, but they do get some help from the violence of the braking manoeuvre itself.

What should my brake balance be? ›

Front and rear wheel drive

Road cars with front-wheel drive can typically have a brake balance of 80% front-wheel bias, while road cars with rear-wheel drive typically have around 60-70% front-wheel bias.

How do F1 cars brake so fast? ›

F1 cars carry so much downforce that at the start of braking, they can generate huge amounts of load that push them into the ground and help them to stop in an incredibly short space of time.

How does Mercedes active brake assist work? ›

If the driver fails to react at all, Active Brake Assist initiates emergency braking. In the current generation of vehicles, Active Brake Assist uses camera and/or radar-based sensor technology to detect pedestrians and cyclists in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel.

How does Mercedes electric parking brake work? ›

Instead of a physical lever or pedal, the EPB is activated or released through electronic buttons or switches. When the EPB is engaged, it uses electric motors to apply the brake pads or calipers to the rear wheels. This achieves the same function as a traditional handbrake, but it is done electronically.

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