Brembo on F1 brake technology development in 2026

The material story in F1 braking is largely settled — carbon-carbon stays for the foreseeable future because carbon-ceramic cannot yet match the friction and thermal demands. What Brembo's chief officer is pointing to instead is simulation as the real competitive frontier: being able to predict brake behaviour before a component ever touches a car, which he says put them 99% accurate at the first 2026 test. The deeper shift is integration — braking becoming less a standalone system and more a continuous conversation with the car's dynamics, regenerative systems, and software. That framing matters because it means the gains teams chase from their brake supplier increasingly live in code and modelling, not just in the disc itself.