When it comes to brakes, there's no bigger name than Brembo. The Italian company has made a reputation for itself building brakes for high-end carmakers like Ferrari and motorsport applications from IndyCar to Formula One.

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This video explains the entire Brembo F1 braking system, from pedal to caliper. At first glance, it may resemble what one would find in a normal car, but every component is beefed up and specialized for this high-performance task. Highlights include aluminum monoblock calipers, carbon rotors and pads, and a brake-by-wire system with redundancy in case of an electronics failure.

The increased importance of kinetic energy recovery has also affected the design of F1 brakes. The current Energy Recovery System--Kinetic (ERS-K) allows for smaller rear calipers than before, for example.

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The additional use of energy-recovery systems is part of sweeping rule changes implemented for the 2014 F1 season. Under the new regime, the gasoline engine (now a turbocharged V-6) and energy-recovery system are considered one single "power unit."

This makes the current F1 car more of a genuine hybrid than previous designs, which used electric energy to a more limited extent.

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