A difference in driving style is allowing Kevin Magnussen to better overcome the ongoing brake issues at Haas compared to Romain Grosjean, according to team principal Guenther Steiner.
For over a year now the American team has struggled to overcome the problems. For a while, Haas tried different materials before ultimately staying with Brembo, but now attention seems to be on whether the brake-by-wire system itself could be responsible for the inconsistencies the drivers are facing
In Baku, the difference between the two drivers was the biggest all year with Magnussen able to make the use of the many incidents to claim seventh, compared to Grosjean who was consistently wary of a failure and finished last of the classified runners in 13th.
“It’s not that Kevin didn’t have the problems with the brakes, with his driving style – for him it’s easier to drive around it, or make it less evident,” Steiner said offering an explanation.
“He was not happy with the brakes in FP2. For the race, he had to lift and coast, as well, because we had some issues.
“But with Romain’s driving style, the brakes need to be perfect or as close to perfect as can be. At the moment, we are not there.”
The reason why Steiner can draw that conclusion is: “The cars as a setup – suspension-wise and aero-wise – are pretty similar all the time,” Steiner added.
“But their driving styles – how they go into a corner – that’s a little bit different. In the end, the cars are not far apart. The drivers work with their race engineer, but the cars, in principle, are very similar.”
The impact of brake problems also goes beyond just slowing the cars down, as Grosjean revealed, the braking profile of a car is as important as aerodynamics and other mechanics, such as the suspension, to help optimise cornering speed.
“You cannot take one apart. Aero and mechanical balance go together and the brake balance fine-tunes the car,” the 10-time F1 podium scorer commented.
“It’s very difficult to remove one. You work with your philosophy and you set up from there.
“It’s definitely a snowball effect when you lose, let’s say the aero balance, then you try to compensate with the brake balance going rearward, then the mechanical balance going rearward,” he added.
“Nothing is then putting a load on the front tyres and, therefore, you’ve got front-locking. It’s about finding the right balance, not putting too much on things, but finding the right compromise because you’re never going to get a full, perfect lap with the car balance.”