Haas Finds Problem with Grosjean's Brakes

[cosworth151]

Haas says it has found the cause of Romain Grosjean's braking woes at Singapore. A plug in the brake-by-wire system came unplugged.

"It was a connector that fell off," said team principal Gunther Steiner. "To get to the connector you have to take the gearbox off and, obviously, there was no time to do that. Sunday night after the race in Singapore, we took the gearbox off and it was as simple as reconnecting it.

"We'll manufacture a device in Europe to be sent via air freight to Malaysia to ensure the connector doesn't fall off again. It will be fitted on the car before we get on track in Malaysia."

It must have been one of those Lucas connectors.

http://www.racer.com/f1/item/134765-haas-designs-fix-for-grosjean-s-brake-issue

[lkjohnson1950]

Joseph Lucas, Prince of Darkness!

[Irisado]

I'm sure Grosjean will still find plenty of time to complain about the brakes in forthcoming practice sessions at all races though.  He seems a bit obsessed with the issue this year.

[lkjohnson1950]

Like most things F1, brakes have gotten much more complex in recent years. You have energy recovery from the standard discs, plus dynamic braking from the ERS itself. All of this has to interact properly for the brakes to work. ERS braking only acts on the rear axle and varies with the amount of current being generated. This makes front/rear balance much more difficult to achieve. Even with Ferrari technical help HAAS has much less experience than other teams.