Mercedes W17's Clever F1 Brake Trick Leaked!

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]The car that's taken Formula 1 by storm in 2026 is the W17. It's so far got five wins in five races, leads the Constructors' Championship, obviously.

[00:00:10]The car's got multitude of advantages like its class-leading power unit and its compliant mechanical platform. But the W17 is excellent when it comes to managing its tires and nobody outside of Mercedes knows for definite how exactly they are achieving this. But at last week's Canadian Grand Prix, Mercedes made some changes to the W17 that revealed some intriguing elements in its braking system and the contribution this is making to keeping its tire temperatures under control. So, let's take a look at how it works, why it was perfect for Canada, and why it gave them a massive edge. Canada can be tricky for tires. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is smooth, low grip in cold weather, and this weekend the temperatures were low.

[00:00:51]Bringing tires, especially the fronts, into their optimal temperature window quickly was very crucial. If the tires are too cold, you get graining, poor grip, and the car feels like it's on ice. Many teams, including Ferrari and Red Bull, struggled with front tire warm-up, but Mercedes, they looked dialed in from the start. Both George and Kimi had pace and consistency that stood out. So, what did they do?

[00:01:15]According to an article from Auto Motor und Sport, Mercedes modified their brake shrouds or the kickstand section to direct more hot air from the brakes inside the wheels. This cleverly transfers waste brake heat straight to the rims, heating the tire carcass from the inside out. Normally, teams focus on cooling or external heating via tire blankets, but Mercedes flipped the system in the W17. They used the massive heat generated by the brakes to gradually heat the tires, essentially designing a built-in tire warmer. Wheel rim design is more open under current regulations, giving teams freedom to optimize this heat transfer. The result, smoother, more efficient control of tire temperatures, especially the fronts, which are critical for turning and rotation in Montreal's twisty layout.

[00:02:00]Think of it like this. Instead of waiting for the tires to generate heat through friction, which takes time on cold conditions, Mercedes are preheating the inside of the tires using the energy that's already there, the heat generated by the brakes. This gives better carcass temperature right from the out lap or restart, reducing graining and improving grip and consistency. In the cold Canadian conditions we had last week, this trick sacrificed a bit in qualifying but paid off massively in the race. Mercedes could maintain better tire performance over stints while others fought temperature drops. Biggest example of this was Red Bull and Max Verstappen. Exploiting this clever trick helped Mercedes manage the balance, defend positions and push harder when it counted. AMuS report suggested that this was a key factor in Mercedes dominant pace at Canada and it was a big helping factor in getting better race starts in those tricky low temperature scenarios.

[00:02:54]Now you guys might remember last year this was a key talking point when McLaren had this very complicated brake duct system, which it felt like they developed more than anybody else, which was able to keep the internal temperature of the tire in an optimal window and basically allowed the tires to last longer than others. And that was a technique that other teams struggled to adapt. What Mercedes are doing is something similar. But McLaren's system was to cool down its tires while the clever trick Mercedes are using is to heat its tires up. Reports about Mercedes exploiting this clever tire heating trick has gained massive traction among rival teams. So is the question about its legality. Formula 1 loves clever engineering and Mercedes has a history of exploiting the regulations in different ways and this clever trick that they exploited at Canada is within the regulations.

[00:03:42]They're just optimizing heat management with the freedom in wheel or brake duct design. Last year this would not be possible, but for 2016 teams have been given the freedom to design their own wheel rims, which has made this Mercedes trick possible. And Pirelli say this is better for racing really, being able to better control tire temperatures. So, I don't think this is something the FIA will jump right after and ban. If anything, it has contributed to better, closer, and sustained racing so far this year. So, I expect other teams to get on top of this, replicate this trick with a unique touch probably. Mercedes are finding a way to control their tire temperatures with these clever mechanisms. They have turned a potential weakness into a weapon with smart thinking and execution. I'm sure that McLaren have some similar ideas keeping in mind what they did over the last 2 years. Maybe they're not executing it quite as well right now. And while teams do know now some details of why the Mercedes is so fast, it's pretty much impossible to copy stuff like this because there's so much going on the inside of the car that we'll truly never know. But, drop your thoughts in the comments down below. What's your impression on this clever piece of engineering Mercedes have started to exploit? Who benefits next from copying this idea? Please leave a like and share this video. Over 95% of you out there who haven't subscribed to the channel yet, hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications so you get pinged whenever I happen to upload my next video. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next one.