F1 carbon materials may take 10 years to adapt for road use, Brembo manager says

Adapting F1 carbon materials for road use may take as long as 10 years, says Andrea Algeri, Brembo's racing car market manager. He estimates that it takes at least three to four years to adapt an F1-developed component for a standard road car. The timeline depends on the customer and the solution; some caliper geometry can be incorporated into a finished product much more quickly, he says.

Algeri warned that transferring an F1 product directly to a road car without changes can cause problems. Carbon material needs heat to perform at its best, and a road car may travel several miles without braking; when braking is needed, the material may not be warm enough, he said. Process changes can make a similar material suitable for everyday use, he added.

Algeri called F1 the most challenging championship Brembo supplies, saying its technology is pushed further each year. Teams move quickly to advance development, sometimes doing work themselves, he said, so Brembo has to keep pace. Brembo works with every F1 team, and its technology and expertise are also used in WEC, GT, WRC, Formula E and MotoGP. Algeri says WEC components are close to those in F1 but less customised; brake-by-wire can be more complex there because the rules allow greater integration into the car.

Algeri says the flow can run in the other direction too: some road-car brake systems are more technologically advanced than F1's in certain respects because F1 rules restrict some areas. Motorsport also sometimes draws inspiration from road-car solutions, he said.