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The demand for high-temperature materials is booming thanks to the continued quest for increased efficiency in energy/power generation, industrial processes and aviation/space. Besting metals at temperatures above 700°C, ceramic matrix composites (CMC) that use carbon fiber to reinforce a carbon matrix (carbon/carbon or C/C) or a silicon carbide matrix (C/SiC or C/C-SiC) can cut the weight of rocket nozzles and thermal protection systems (TPS) by 50%.

The largest market for CMC today, however, is automotive brakes, where the weight savings can be much higher — 1.2 kilograms for a C/C disc versus 14 kilograms for cast iron, and 200 grams for a C/C brake pad used in Formula 1 (F1) versus 800 grams for a sports car brake pad made from organic materials. But it’s CMC’s performance at up to 1200°C that makes the difference — withstanding up to 5 Gs of deceleration force in an F1 race, dropping from 300 to zero kilometers/hour in less than 3 seconds and reducing stopping distance by at least 20%.

Celebrating its 50^th anniversary in racing, (Bergamo, Italy) began supplying C/C discs and pads to F1 teams in the 1990s. It now produces these for a wide range of racing series including Formula E, WEC and MotoGP motorcycles plus many others. In 2002, the company developed a C/SiC solution for road cars and in 2009, expanded that technology via a joint venture with SGL Carbon (Wiesbaden, Germany), increasing production via facilities in Meitingen, Germany and Stezzano, Italy near Bergamo, with another 50% expansion from 2023-2025.

This tour focuses on Brembo’s serial production of C/C discs and pads for racing. The company supplied 140-240 C/C discs and 280-480 C/C pads per team for nearly half the F1 grid in 2025, while its C/C pads and front discs are used by all 10 Formula E teams. Brembo is also the sole supplier for the 11 MotoGP teams and equipped half the 2025 Hypercar class for the 24 Hour of Le Mans race with complete braking systems, while 100% of the Le Mans grid in 2025 had at least one of its components when including Brembo subsidiary (Coventry, U.K.).

But this production is also highly specialized. Disc diameter, thickness and machined cooling holes vary per each series’ regulations — F1 discs feature 900 to 1,100 cooling holes, drilled with a tolerance of less than 0.2 millimeter — while designs are tailored not only to each racing team but also to each racetrack.

As explained in my Aug. 2025 feature, “… Faster, cheaper, higher temperature,” companies across industries are exploring new CMC technologies, with aerospace focusing especially on C/C and C/SiC. Brembo offers insight into the serial production of such parts that indeed rival aerospace in precision, quality and performance. And the company continues to invest in advancing this technology while pioneering digital products.

History and relationship with BSCCB

Brembo began as a small machining company in Paladina near Bergamo. Asked to repair a shipment of damaged brake discs for Alfa Romeo in 1964, it saw an opportunity and began producing its own higher-quality metal discs for the car OEM. In 1975, Ferrari asked Brembo to supply the entire braking system for its F1 cars.

During that time, C/C brakes were migrating from the Concorde supersonic aircraft to the Brabham F1 team, as explained by Chris Perkins in a. By the late 80s, they had become the norm for F1. Brembo developed its own technology and established itself as a trusted supplier.

Brembo also sought to bring this high-performance technology to road cars, but this was a challenge, as C/C brake discs and pads do not perform well until they reach high temperatures. The company also needed materials that could resist high wear over much longer periods of use.

Brembo identified C/SiC using chopped carbon fiber as the solution and patented its Ceramic Composite Material (CCM) and manufacturing process, which reduced cycle time to just a few days compared to the months required for C/C racing discs.

In 2004, it won its first Compasso d’Oro award for excellence in industrial design for its CCM disc braking system. It then formed the joint venture Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes (BSCCB) in 2009 and now offers three CMC disc options for road cars, including CCM and Carbon Ceramic Brake (CCB) products, as well as DYATOM discs and pads with five CCB layers.

Although not used for racing series, BSCCB products are also tailored, developed with each OEM for high performance in sports and luxury cars, supercars and hypercars as well as high-load SUVs. 

Curno campus

The campus that CW toured is in Curno, just south of where Brembo began in Paladina and west of its Stezzano production facility and nearby “Kilometro Rosso” headquarters/R&D campus. Our tour is led by Monica Michelini, product media relations for Brembo, and Stefano Pavan, Brembo Racing track engineer for F1 competitions.

The building that houses C/C brake production is at the rear of this campus. Walking from the front gate, we enter a large building on the left where complete brake systems are being assembled. Michelini notes this includes some BSCCB systems for road car applications using C/SiC pads and discs from Stezzano. We briefly tour the front lobby which displays an array of metallic, CCM and CCB components supplied to companies like Ferrari and Porsche as well as for the Chevrolet Corvette, among many others.

R&D for these road applications is performed at the Kilometro Rosso campus, notes Pavan, “while all racing operations — R&D, testing and production — are located here so we can exchange information after each race. We must be fast in meeting the needs of each team throughout the racing season.”

We next head to the building that houses C/C production, where roughly 40 people produce, machine, assemble and perform quality control (QC) using automated processes for the numerous Brembo Racing products.

C/C production hall, carbon fiber preforms

We enter the building into a large open production hall. Beyond a small display area are different sets of ovens and thermal processing equipment. At the far left and rear of this open hall are machining stations and directly to our left are enclosed cells where carbon fiber preforms are prepared.

“Here, you can see the stages of the different C/C products,” says Pavan, walking us through the product display area. Although each disc and brake pad has a different design, they all begin with PAN-based carbon fiber sourced from multiple suppliers that is synthesized into a felt. “This felt has a random fiber orientation,” he notes, “but we also design discs with fibers oriented in the radial and cordal directions. We do this because the fiber delivers strength along its axis, so we arrange and layer the fibers according to the properties we need in the final C/C product.”

We turn left from the display area and enter an enclosed room where carbon fiber preforms are assembled. “Racing brake discs for Formula 1 and WEC are a ring made using a material we call TNT,” says Pavan, “where each layer of felt is stitched to the next, so that all layers are attached. This provides the high shear resistance that we need for high-performance braking and also gives heat transfer in the Z-direction.”

A robot picks up a ring-shaped piece of carbon fiber felt and places it on a stack of such layers within a jig. Then a machine lowers a set of sewing needles that stitch the felt piece to the layer below. Once complete, the robot places another piece of felt and the machine stitches that layer. This is repeated until the C/C brake product design is completed. “Each layer is 1-2 millimeters thick, and the number of layers depends on each product,” notes Pavan. “Some are 50 millimeters thick.”

Occasionally, the pick-and-place robot discards a piece of felt and picks up a new one. “It detected some type of anomaly or defect,” he explains.

There is also a product variation where the disc preforms are made with segmented layers. “When we use segmented designs, for example with other championships products, we rotate the placement for every layer so that the joints do not align. We end up with a quasi-isotropic composite material that can have 20-30 layers.”

He notes that discs made from TNT material are higher performing than the designs that use segments. “The vibrations measured during braking for those materials are almost zero, while with the segmented materials, the vibrations are a little higher. Each material used depends on the regulations for each racing series and specific application.” At the front of this room, closest to the open production area, a large door opens and new carts of precut felt layers are brought in, waiting to be moved into the stitching cell.

Graphitization, densification

As we move back into the open production area, we walk past the products display into an area between two sections of thermal processing equipment. Here, the stitched carbon fiber preforms will be placed into a first set of ovens for carbonization at more than 1600°C in an inert atmosphere. “This removes any external elements and creates a fragile preform,” says Pavan.

Next, the preforms will be processed in vacuum furnaces at 1500°C, which Brembo describes as the first graphitization step. Pavan explains this process breaks apart the crystal lattices that hold the carbon atoms together. “As they cool down, the atoms arrange themselves into regular lamellar structures of graphite. At the end of this phase, the preform becomes extremely porous.

“During subsequent densification,” he continues, “the raw part is immersed in an environment rich in methane [CH₄] at a controlled temperature. Under specific conditions, the methane decomposes and carbon deposits onto the graphite, while hydrogen is released into the atmosphere and burned. To ensure that carbon also deposits internally, the process is repeated several times, alternating with grinding of the raw part to remove the compact crust that forms on the surface.”

A second graphitization cycle repeats this process at temperatures above 1500°C to increase the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of what is now a C/C CMC. It also imparts the final performance. “This second graphitization temperature and process time is set by us, depending on the product,” explains Pavan. “For example, F1 products demand the highest thermal conductivity, which is possible to achieve at temperatures above 2000°C, but also lowers the material strength. Other brake discs may need higher strength but that will mean lower thermal conductivity. There is always a trade-off.”

He notes there are also other factors involved in brake disc performance, such as the number and size of ventilation holes drilled into the discs, and how the discs are attached to the wheel hub. “But we use the same steps for the brake pads as we do for the discs, and all of the C/C products we make are near-net shape. In the past, we used to make the pads also from rings, but now we use pad-shaped blanks which reduces waste. We then machine everything to final geometries and tolerances.”

Complex machining

We exit the open production hall into a corridor, passing racks of C/C discs. “The machining we perform on these is very intricate, due to the air flow channels required for their performance and tolerances that must be maintained,” explains Pavan. “We drill the air flow channels from the edge perimeter, and we must control the movement of the piece during machining because the tolerance for these holes is less than 0.2 millimeter.”

The shape and number of holes are determined using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), tailored both for each vehicle and often for each racetrack, as described below. Twenty years ago, Brembo C/C discs for F1 had a maximum of 72 holes arranged in a single line, each with a diameter of more than 1 centimeter. This has changed with nearly every F1 season, reaching a peak of 1,470 in 2019. The number has since decreased to around 1,000 as the minimum hole diameter allowed by the regulations has increased.

A row of CNC machining cells includes a Doosan Puma system and two DMG Mori (Bielefeld, Germany) Ultrasonic 65 cells. While the Doosan Puma is described as specialized for precise machining of complex parts made from tough-to-machine materials, Pavan notes the ultrasonic systems are better at extreme tolerances. “Each cell is currently configured for a different type of disc, but all cells are interchangeable,” he adds.

At the end of this room is a cell that marks each component with its serial number. Component marking is always carried out at the end of the process, meaning after both the thermal treatments and the machining phase. Traceability is ensured through the first phases via codes for preform material batches and also for batches of preforms during thermal processing.

“We have complete traceability, which is very important for the racing teams,” notes Pavan. “We collect all of the data from each machine for each part, including the code of the operator if there are any manual steps.”

At the end of this machining area is a QC area where technicians check the dimensions of the pads and discs and perform some quick assessments of properties. After parts are cleared, they are prepared for shipping. “We also have a larger testing area in the adjacent building where we can do more in-depth analysis,” says Pavan. “R&D and engineering are also located there.”

Specialized serial production, digital future

It can take 4 months to make these C/C brake discs and pads for Brembo’s racing championship products. And though the company does not disclose the number of parts produced annually, Pavan notes this number is always increasing. Indeed, even though Brembo’s H1 2025 results show OEM and aftermarket sales down 6-15% thanks to Trump’s tariff turbulence, racing grew by 43%.

“And we have a lot of part numbers,” he continues, “roughly 200-300 depending on several variables, because every team requires a different design in discs and pads, and the front and rear are also different.” For example, F1 cars in 2025 have front discs with a diameter of 328 millimeters and 1,000 to 1,100 holes while rear discs are 280 millimeters with up to 900 holes.

“Some teams also have multiple designs,” notes Pavan. “This helps them to achieve a more optimized setup for their cars depending on the different temperatures reached on racetracks and braking required. For example, demand for cooling is low in Suzuka because you cannot go as fast on this circuit and the braking is minor, but the Mexican Grand Prix is an open track with high altitude and low air density, while Silverstone in the U.K. is a track where it can be difficult to maintain the minimum 200°C the carbon brakes need to perform well.”

Brembo’s ability to master such a complex mix of high-precision, performance C/C parts, day-in and day-out, testifies to its expertise. And its success is clearly evidenced by more than 700 world championships won with its braking systems since 1975 — 69 of those in 2024, when all 24 F1 races were won by vehicles using Brembo brakes.

The company continues to invest in its core technologies, including a 20% stake in the CMC specialist  (Stezzano, Italy), which moved to Kilometro Rosso in 2009, and has collaborated on R&D programs for brakes. But Brembo is also looking at other materials, such as technopolymers and reinforced light metal alloys, to further reduce weight in structural components and improve sustainability and circularity.

Through , it has also invested in a wide range of startups, including (Pisa, Italy) and (Milan, Italy) which are advancing sensors that will speed new solutions for the digitalization of braking systems including the virtualization of tests to reduce the number of physical tests performed on actual vehicles.

Part of a wide-ranging strategy developed by CEO Daniele Schillaci in 2020, this path began with the 2021 launch of , an intelligent braking system that integrates Brembo calipers, discs and pads with software, data and predictive algorithms to control braking on each wheel independently. SENSIFY uses in-house software to continuously collect braking data in a reliable and anonymous way, then applies AI to optimize braking. It can also customize performance according to the driver’s driving style, preferences and habits.

Brembo further advanced the system in 2024 by to integrate its Embedded Tire Digital Twin. This provides SENSIFY with real-time data on tire grip, enabling even faster response and better control, reducing emergency braking distance by up to 4 meters.

Part of the company’s vision for a zero-accidents future, Brembo has also acquired a stake in Spoke Safety, a U.S. startup in digital communication technologies, with the goal, says Schillaci, “to enable the braking system to communicate and interact not only with the equipped vehicle [and road] but with the entire road ecosystem, including other vehicles, infrastructures and communication networks, to enhance the driving experience and safety.”

The company opened its first in late 2021 — adding the Brembo Coding Hub there in January 2025 — and its second in April 2025. Its strategy is to accelerate new digital technologies by leveraging a diversity of mind and approach to challenge its Italy-based corporate core on new ideas.

And these new technologies are also becoming products, as Brembo reinvents itself as not just a systems supplier but a solutions leader who anticipates future needs and opportunities. was established in 2023 to provide companies in different sectors with digital solutions derived from Brembo’s direct experience with applying AI. Products so far include Quetal for identifying defects in textiles, Vibes for detecting anomalies when products are vibrating or moving, and  for speeding new material formulations.

What will Brembo brakes look like in 20 years? At the current rate of change, it’s hard to say. But for sure, they will be meticulously and digitally designed and produced with the highest quality for unparalleled performance.