![]() ![]() ![]() This fundamental tyre trait impacted upon everything about Mercedes’ weekend. READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from Azerbaijan – Who shone on the streets of Baku? ![]() But it’s particularly acute on low-grip surfaces and circuit layouts with mainly low-speed, short-duration corners. Multiple factors determine why one car can easily generate tyre temperature and another can’t. 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. Struggles with front tyre temperature was absolutely the key to Mercedes’ struggles in Baku, at Monaco and, to a lesser extent, at Imola. 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.įront tyre temperatures are generally more difficult to generate than rears, which are, of course, on the driven wheels. That is purely a setting for generating heat in the wheel rims, which is then conducted to the tyres. It is not a race setting and is only used on warm-up laps or behind the Safety Car. Brake magic switches it instantly to whatever it’s been set for – in this case believed to be 86.5%. In normal running the front bias would be running at something like 52-53%. 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. READ MORE: Hamilton explains switch issue that led to him dropping from P2 to P15 at crucial Azerbaijan GP restart 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. Giorgio Piola provides technical illustrations. 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. ![]()
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