It looked like a very promising Imola weekend for Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo starting the race in P7 and P9, respectively. However, a bad start saw both VCARB01s lose two positions, preventing them from obtaining more than a single point, thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s tenth position. The Faenza team remains sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, with 20 points under its belt – compared to 44 for fifth-placed Aston Martin and 7 points for Haas.
LIKE RED BULL, VCARB WILL HAVE STARTED USING BREMBO DISCS
Red Bull previously tested the Brembo brake discs in free practice earlier this year, aiming to keep them in the car for the entire season. The Austrian team has kept this plan, following very positive feedback from Max Verstappen – who convinced Red Bull to take this step.
To show how much a driver can influence certain choices, Formu1a.uno can reveal that since the Imola Grand Prix, the Racing Bulls have also switched to carbon Brembo. VCARB, under Red Bull ownership, are maximising what is permissible in the regulations regarding shared parts between teams.
In fact, it was fundamental for this step for the three-time world champion. Verstappen was very satisfied with the material provided by the Bergamo and Italian brand in the first seasonal events, as well as the team.
This positive feedback pushed Racing Bulls to try Italian carbon during the fifth weekend of the season, which took place on the Shanghai circuit (China) and ended with Max Verstappen’s domination. It seems like months ago, but it was only a month ago, after seeing how close Red Bull, Mclaren and Ferrari were in Imola. However, only from the first Italian weekend of the two scheduled in this 2024 F1 world championship, Brembo brake discs were also used in the race on the VCARB01.
THE NEW MATERIAL WEIGHS MORE BUT HAS BETTER PERFORMANCE AND ALLOWS FOR OPTIMIZED COOLING
In an exclusive interview with Brembo’s Car Racing Market Manager, Andrea Algeri, we tried to understand more about what drove the three-time world champion to switch to Brembo carbon.
“Our material has advantages compared to that produced by other suppliers because it is more consistent, that is, it has a very low consumption per kilometre, and the teams really appreciate this characteristic because they are able to use it for longer,” the engineer of the Italian giant had made it known.
This feature, under the Budget Cap, is even more important.
However, the economic one is not the only advantage, given that the Brembo carbon, after the necessary tests by the Racing Bulls drivers, has shown superior performance to the old product, even though the four discs weigh a few hundred grams more than the previous ones. Not only in terms of pure performance but also with regards to better control of the geometry, as well as greater choice in terms of cooling, all technical aspects that convinced the Faenza team to become even more Italian.
Meanwhile, in Monaco, we shouldn’t expect any technical innovations on the VCARB01 – other than the classic circuit-specific changes to Principality, i.e. a modification to the front suspension necessary to travel, with an extra steering angle, the Grand Hotel Hairpin.
