Prior to Lewis Hamilton claiming his 90th Formula 1 Grand Prix victory at the Tuscan Grand Prix, there was much speculation over the condition of his brakes. The front brake fire experienced by Hamilton as he waited for the race to restart, as a result of the first red flag, has now been explained by the Mercedes Formula One team as a consequence of limited cooling.  

The Tuscan Grand Prix was an eventful occasion to say the least. However, in recent seasons, the main cause for excitement for a neutral fan has been seeing unreliability befall Lewis Hamilton – such is the dominance of the 6-time F1 champion. Already at Silverstone we saw tyre problems experienced by the reigning Champion – yet Hamilton still won. Then this past weekend, following the second standing start of the day due to a red flag, Lewis Hamilton’s brakes were seen smoking as the race restart awaited - yet Hamilton still won. 

Even though this incident did not hinder Lewis Hamilton’s chance of success, Mercedes would obviously have been keen to learn the reason why such a front brake fire occurred. The reason comes down to the layout of Mugello, a circuit which featured its first Formula One Grand Prix and more and more we are learning reasons why the pinnacle of motorsport had not raced there before.  

Mugello is a spectacular circuit albeit a narrow one at times – hence its better suitability to motorbike races. Due to the fast corners, lack of heavy braking zones and a 1 km long straight, the cars that navigate this unique tarmac require less brake cooling to do so. Motorsport.com queried the Mercedes team on why the brake fire incident occurred and the response from the team showed that the W11 was running smaller brake duct openings than they would at other circuits on the F1 calendar.  

However, the Mercedes team would not have expected a red flag and such a lengthy delay and all of this resulted in the W11 running at a much slower pace than expected at the start of the race. In an attempt to counter the slow running, Lewis Hamilton would have to try to balance his brake temperature, as he explained: 

“I had a separation of my front brake temperatures by nearly two hundred degrees,...So I was pushing them very hard to bring the one that was down equal, and I got them up to a thousand degrees, and I tried to cool them through the last corner and all the way to the start.” 

It is little wonder that brakes of 1000 degrees started to smoke and this understandably concerned Lewis Hamilton: 

“And I got to the grid and there was a lot of smoke coming, and I was definitely worried as I think I saw a flame at one stage, which is not good, because that burns all the interior of what is in the upright. 

Obviously, the sight looked intriguing to race fans and many were speculating that this could lead to a rare DNF for Lewis Hamilton. However, as soon as the race restarted the brake fire was soon extinguished and it was clear there was no panic in the garage although of course they would rather have it not happen in the first place. 

Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes head of race engineering, explained to the media:  

“The brake cooling is relatively closed up here, you don’t do a lot of braking, so you need to close the ducts to actually get the temperature. And the problem is if they’re working, there’s not a lot of air going through. As soon as you get going, it’ll go out. The worry is only whether you burn some of the carbon work, the cake tins, all the carbon work round the upright. And that can cause a bit of grief. It didn’t look particularly bad, but saying that we’d rather not have it than have it. But it wasn’t causing a great deal of panic, to be honest.” 

The Tuscan Grand Prix was not just a challenge for the cars but also the racers themselves seeing how Valtteri Bottas told Mercedesamgf1.com that  

“It feels like we had three races today and it was really tough out there.” 

Race victor Lewis Hamilton shared a similar sentiment with the official website of the 6-time consecutive Constructors’ winners: 

“Today was one of the most challenging days, physically and mentally, I’ve experienced. I’m pretty exhausted to be honest, but it feels fantastic to win such a crazy race. It’s all a bit of a daze and felt like three races in one day. It was incredibly tough out there, this track is phenomenal and Valtteri was pushing me hard, so it wasn’t easy at all. With all the restarts and the focus that was required, it was really hard.” 

For an ardent race fan this should be the comments after every F1 Grand Prix. Such is the nature of the design of many circuits, to an onlooker, a driver exits a car looking like they have barely broken a sweat – despite having completed a distance of 200 miles. 

Obviously, Formula One drivers are at their peak physical fitness but it was very refreshing to see the intense nature of their performance in Mugello as it reaffirmed to us why these are the best racing drivers in the world. Clearly Lewis Hamilton would also love to return to Mugello: 

“A huge thank you to the team here at the track and back at the factories for all their hard work to make this result possible, and this is a brilliant circuit, so I’d love to come back in the future." 

It would be brilliant to see F1 return to Mugello and the drivers clearly relish the challenge but sadly I feel it will be many years before the pinnacle motorsport does so. 

https://www.motorlat.com/notas/f1/17131/f1-tuscan-gp-stewards-hand-12-drivers-a-warning

Red flags, wheel to wheel racing, battles for points throughout the field and smoking brakes – an unexpected recipe for a superb Formula One Grand Prix.  

Thank you Mugello!