Red Bull's mechanic denies any trickery with asymmetrical braking

Red Bull's F1 mechanic Calum Nicholas, who has been working on reigning champion Max Verstappen's cars since 2015 denies that the Milton Keynes-based outfit used an asymmetrical brake system.

The FIA has introduced a raft of tweaks to the sporting and technical rules to address possible loopholes in the regulation. One of the tweaks sees the Paris-based governing body introduce a ban on asymmetrical braking with the new rule set to come into force at next weekend's Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Teams could use an asymmetric braking system to address the conflict between the low-speed understeer and high-speed oversteer as having greater braking force on the outside rear than on the inside would help control the car, reducing the understeer.

It is not known whether any teams have been using this, but the clarification has been made to close off its possible future developments.

The modification in question concerns Art. 11.1.2 (“Brake System”), which now states (modification in bold): “The braking system must be designed so that, within each circuit, the forces applied to the brake pads are of the same magnitude and act as opposing pairs on a given brake disc.

Commenting on the matter, F1 reporter Peter Windsor has suggested that Red Bull were the team which forced the FIA to address the issue before it escalates. Windsor has indicated that the Milton Keynes-based team were ordered to remove the asymmetrical braking assembly before the Florida race.

On X, he said: "Looks as though RBR [Red Bull Racing] might have been running a clever rear cross-brake inertia valve before they were obliged to remove it before Miami.

"This could explain Max's RR [rear right] brake drama in MEL [Melbourne, where he retired with his rear right brake smoking] and his turn-in grief since China."

Calum Nicholas, a mechanic who has been with Red Bull since 2015, disputed the claim that the team had been ordered to remove any such valve that would operate a potential asymmetrical braking system.

Responding to Windsor’s post on Twitter, Nicholas wrote with an accompanying rolling-eye emoji: “Yea [sic]… this is bull***… unsurprisingly. I’ve been building the car for the last 14 races, he hasn’t.”