The sweeping Formula 1 regulation changes ahead of the 2026 season have driven innovation across almost every technical aspect of car design.
With a stated ambition to improve racing and increase overtaking, braking systems might not be the first element to spring to mind.
Yet as cars have grown more reliant on electrification, hybrid systems have become more integrated and aerodynamic sensitivity more acute, the demands placed on one of the sport’s most critical components have intensified.
For Mauro Piccoli, Brembo’s Chief Marketing Officer and a long-time engineer within the championship, the modern era has fundamentally altered how braking systems must operate within the wider makeup of the car.
“The new regulations changed the way the cars behave,” he told Sector.
“You have different balance, you have energy recovery systems that are more integrated. The braking system has to work perfectly with all of that. There is no margin.”
Braking is no longer an isolated mechanical event and is now part of a hybrid system that must integrate seamlessly with energy recovery and electronic control, all while managing extreme thermal loads.
Brembo supplies brake calipers for nine of the 11 teams that will line up on the grid in Australia, with the other two supplied by AP Racing – which has been owned by Brembo since 2000.
“In Formula 1 you cannot wait,” Piccoli added.
“The turnaround is very tight. When the teams change something, you have to react immediately. It is continuous development.”
The F1 laboratory
If modern regulations have increased the complexity of braking systems, they have also reinforced why F1 remains central to Brembo’s long-term development strategy.
For Piccoli, the championship is not necessarily a commercial platform but a technical proving ground where materials, concepts and integration strategies are pushed to their limits under competitive pressure.
“Formula 1 is the laboratory,” he said.
“It is where you are exposed to the most extreme conditions in terms of temperature, in terms of performance, in terms of pressure. Everything happens faster here. The level of detail is different.”
Operating temperatures can exceed 1,000 degrees Celsius under peak load, and the window for optimal performance is measured in fractions rather than margins.
It is not something you finish in winter and then it stays the same. The teams are developing and you have to follow.
Mauro Piccoli
Aerodynamic updates alter airflow through brake ducts and even minor setup changes can affect thermal stability across a race distance. The result is an environment where development is continuous rather than annual.
“You develop during the season,” Piccoli explained.
“It is not something you finish in winter and then it stays the same. The teams are developing and you have to follow. The window is very narrow.”
That immediacy is what differentiates F1 from other categories. Solutions must not only perform at the limit, they must evolve at the same pace as the car itself.
For Brembo, the feedback loop between track and factory is constant, with data gathered under extreme conditions feeding directly into refinement and material innovation.
“When you work in these conditions, you improve everything,” Piccoli said.
“The knowledge, the materials, the process. Formula 1 gives you information that you cannot find anywhere else.”
Grid supply
While F1 serves as Brembo’s most extreme development environment, it is also one of its most complex commercial landscapes.
Unlike a works team operating in isolation, Brembo supplies multiple solutions to direct competitors across the grid, each with different design philosophies, packaging constraints and performance targets.
In a championship where hundredths of a second can separate rivals, the braking system must adapt to different design concepts without compromising consistency or reliability.
Piccoli is clear that supplying several teams does not dilute performance focus and – if anything – sharpens it.
“In Formula 1 you work with different teams, different engineers, different philosophies,” he said.
“Each team has its own approach to the car, its own way of managing balance, cooling and integration. You must understand all of that.”
Although the core materials and braking principles remain consistent, integration varies from team to team.
Airflow management, geometry and energy recovery influence how the braking system performs in race conditions. That requires collaboration without overstepping competitive boundaries.
“You are part of the team, but at the same time you are a supplier,” Piccoli added.
“You must be neutral. You give your best to everyone, because performance is the priority. Every year the level increases. The teams push more and more. You cannot stand still.”
Legacy and evolution
While Brembo today operates across the majority of the F1 grid, its entry into the sport was forged through a single relationship that helped define its early presence.
Piccoli is candid about the importance of a partnership that has been in place since 1975 and was recently extended into the future.
“We would not be in Formula 1 without Ferrari,” he said. “That relationship was fundamental for us.”
The collaboration established Brembo at the highest level of the sport and provided the platform from which it could expand its technical footprint.
Over time, however, the supplier’s role has broadened far beyond a single team.
As the championship evolved through V10s, V8s and now complex hybrid power units, braking systems have transformed alongside them.
Materials have become lighter and more resilient, cooling strategies more sophisticated and integration more tightly linked to overall vehicle performance.
“The sport changed a lot,” Piccoli said.
“The technology changed. The cars changed. We had to change with them. Sustainability is now part of the discussion as well.
“You cannot focus only on performance. You have to think about efficiency, about processes, about how you produce and how you innovate in a more responsible way.”
That evolution has been continuous, each regulation reset has demanded adaptation, but has also reinforced Brembo’s role as a long-term engineering partner rather than a component provider.
Today, the company’s F1 presence reflects decades of refinement, iteration and collaboration across the grid. History may have opened the door, but performance has kept it open.
