Six weeks after hosting Formula 1, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg (Austria) will host the 11th meeting of the MotoGP season.
Located near the Zeltweg military airport, the circuit was recently renovated under the leadership of Dietrich Mateschitz. The bikes will take to the track from August 9 to 11, just 7 days after the Czech Republic GP.
The MotoGP riders were welcomed to the new circuit for the first time in 2016, and they immediately showed their speed, lapping the track at an average of 186 km/h during the qualifying session.
The track has few turns, just 10, with many straights concentrated near the finish line. Brakes are not needed at every turn.
The numerous slopes of the track complicate the pilots' choice of braking: there is a difference of 65 meters between the highest point and the lowest point, and the steepest slope has an inclination of 9,3 %.
According to Brembo technicians, who supply 100% of the 2019 MotoGP riders, the Red Bull Ring is very demanding on the brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it scored a 5 on the difficulty index, the same score as the tracks at Barcelona, Motegi and Sepang.
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The demand on the brakes during the GP
Over a full lap, MotoGP riders use their brakes 7 times for a total of 28 seconds. Formula 1 cars also brake 7 times each lap, but for a total of only 9,8 seconds.
Over the 28 laps of racing at Spielberg, each MotoGP bike uses its brakes for around 800 seconds, or just over 13 minutes.
Last month, by contrast, the Formula 1 GP winner completed all 71 laps of the Austrian GP with Brembo calipers, braking for just 10 and a half minutes.
The average deceleration per lap in MotoGP is 1,23 g, which is the second highest value in the championship.
If we add up all the forces applied by a rider to the Brembo brake lever from the start line to the checkered flag, the result is approximately 0,9 tonnes.
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The most demanding braking sections
Of the 7 braking zones at the Red Bull Ring, the first 3 are very hard on the brakes, as well as the penultimate, while the other 3 are of low difficulty.
The most difficult area is Castrol Edge (curve 1) because it is located after the fastest point of the track, although it is slightly uphill: the MotoGP riders reach the corner at 312 km/h and then brake for 4,4 seconds to slow down to 99 km/h.
Riders exert 5,9 kg of pressure on the brake lever and are subject to a deceleration of 1,5 g. Formula 1 single-seaters reach this same section at a slightly higher speed (331 km/h), but are capable of entering the curve at 158 km/h and, above all, can brake without fear of rolling over: braking does not lasts only 1,57 seconds and 99 meters, less than the half distance (229 meters) required by MotoGP.
Braking time and distance are even greater for Rauch (curve 4), partly because of the downward slope: 274 meters and 5,7 seconds to go down from 292 km/h to 85 km/h.
Here the deceleration is 1,4 g, while for Formula 1 drivers it reaches 5,2 g.
The Brembo HTC 64T brake fluid pressure in MotoGP goes up to 11,9 bar, while it reaches 12,6 bar for Castrol Edge.
Remus (curve 3) is the slowest corner on the circuit with a speed of 64 km/h at the entrance. Motorcyclists apply the brakes for 5,5 seconds by applying a load of 5,1 kg to the lever. The comparison with four wheels is less striking since the F1 brakes are used for 2,59 seconds to drop to 84 km/h after braking.
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Brembo Performance
Motorcycles equipped with Brembo brakes have won 11 editions of the Austrian GP: the first 4 victories were taken by Yamaha (3 with Eddie Lawson), followed by Honda with an equal number of victories (3 by Michael Doohan).
During the last 3 years, the only winner has been Ducati with Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.
Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez have never won in Austria.
