F1-Blog

The Canadian grand prix has become synonymous with brake troubles for the teams in the last few years. The problem is that the straights39;s are very fast immediatly followed by very slow corner sections.

Toyota chassis boss Pascal Vasselon says "The contrast between the high-speed sections and slow corner speeds means that the brakes have a very difficult time, It is simply the worst circuit of the season for brakes and so we pay special attention to brake ducts and cooling. I would say that the most important parameter is brake cooling and making sure that we stay precisely in the window, because we know precisely in which window we have to operate the disc. Then, after that, it’s all about wear estimation"

Wear estimation caught the Toyota team and Jarno Trulli short last year when the car very publicly lost all it's breaking ability. This was apparently due to a loss of telemetry from the brake systems, and the team could not advise Jarno of impending temperature issues.

The tyres however should help this years cars slightly, as the loss of V10 power, and the re-introduction of wheel changes will introduce both higher corner speeds (reducing braking input), and the ability to visually inspect and clean the cooling duct's during stops.