FIA opens F1 tenders for brake systems and wheel rims

The FIA has opened tenders for standard brake systems and wheel rims that are due to be included in Formula 1 from the 2021 season onwards.

In two years time, Formula 1 cars will face a major overhaul as the FIA aims to cut down on areas that teams spend a lot of money on for minimal performance gains.

A way to acheive this is to introduce 'standard parts', which are parts of the car that are the same for each team. Earlier in the year, a tender for standard gearboxes was launched. Now, two more have been launched for brake systems and wheel rims.

The wheel rim tender has been opened for 18-inch rims, with a precaution that the width of the rims may change slightly for 2021. For this, each team will be supplied with a minimum amount of 60 sets per year.

The braking system is split up into two parts, and these are:

- Brake pads and friction discs. A current provider of these parts is Brembo, who supply an average of 140 to 240 disks to each team per year.

- Brake hydraulics, the master cylinder and brake-by-wire components. Brembo supply 10 calipers to each team per year currently.

All of the tenders must make sure that the parts are suitable for use in Formula 1, and that they live up to the performance demands of the sport. They all must be equal specifications so that they comply with the idea that they are 'standard parts'.

Formula 1 managing director, Ross Brawn, says that the scope of the standard parts in Formula 1 will be much greater than what has currently been tendered.

"There is a lot of stuff we have common ground on. There is some stuff we all agree shouldn't change and there's stuff in the middle being argued about. Everyone makes their own fire extinguishers. It's a nice technical challenge, but it doesn't add performance. We can standardise those and help reduce the costs."

The FIA currently has a deadline of the end of June to finalise the 2021 regulations with the teams. However, there has been talk around the paddock that this could potentially be delayed until later in the year.