Why Aren’t Formula 1 Wheels Made Out of Carbon Fiber?

Have you ever wondered why Formula 1 cars don't use carbon fiber wheels? After all, carbon fiber wheels hold loads of benefits, so why don't we see them in the pinnacle of motorsport when almost the entire car is made out of carbon fiber? Let's find out.

[@angrychicken3890]

I think something else to raise is that metal is a really good conductor and drivers use the brakes to help warm them up the tires. It would be counterintuitive to not insulate the tires from the heat of the brakes. Though there's a part of me that remembers F1's purpose is supposed to be for innovation too and having carbon fiber wheels that can do what the current wheels can will help carbon fiber tech advanced. Great video! Just subbed.

[@bocahdongo7769]

Because unsurprisingly surprised, 70% of the case you do need more cooling. And you can do less cooling by.... Just blocking the brake duct with heavy duty tape. And that's what they did on certain case that brake duct isn't feasibly good to install

[@BLKBRDD]

carbon fibre isn't an ideal material for mass manufacture, its expensive to manufacture and fabricate. it's also very difficult to recycle and it will never be as strong. The benefits of research and development is not really necessary nor sustainable.

[@olivialambert4124]

The answer should really be immediately obvious. Pretty much all forms of motorbike racing explicitly ban carbon fiber rims and have been very public in explaining exactly why. It's especially notable given that you can buy a bike with carbon fiber rims as standard, and they've also become relatively popular aftermarket options as they offer huge benefits over even what cars might see (less gyroscopic mass = far more agility). The problem is purely that of unpredictability (safety). Not only is carbon fiber brittle and prone to devastating damage with the wrong unexpected bump, but they're also incredibly hard to test and love to hide their internal damage. Without something big and expensive like xray testing, the wheels could be hiding internal damage like delamination yet presenting perfectly. Then normal stresses well within their design intent will cause a catastrophic failure (as caused the famous Titan submarine failure due to delamination from earlier dives - they also didn't bother with xray scanning). This damage could even happen mid race such as taking a kerb roughly, and after enough real world failures the motorbike world rejected the idea. Carbon fiber will always degrade under repeated stress loading so a wheel is pretty much the worst option for it. The heat issue could easily be designed out. It's more a benefit of metal wheels to utilise brake heating rather than a detriment of carbon wheels. But modified braking system to avoid heating the rims would be childs play to design. The weight issue is already solved and most carbon wheels will be not only a fraction of the weight but far stronger at that low weight. But even the strongest wheels will develop flaws with perfect driving and no impacts, and as mentioned impacts and damage affects carbon far worse. Either way catastrophic damage is inevitable and heavier wheels won't make much difference.

[@dontworryabit]

I’ve never thought of this before. Perfectly explained in a concise and thorough manor. Great vid keep it up!

[@MrLion1]

Another highly entertaining, informative, well-edited video. Thanks Jonny!

[@Alex.The.Lionnnnn]

For the same reason you don't make submarines out of carbon fibre. Also, the wheels are so insanely light. I picked one up at Aus GP a few years back. Easily hold it one hand.

[@user-io4sr7vg1v]

My father does research for the government and one of his projects was exploring using carbon fiber and other composites for submarines and ship bodies. It can be done they just have to decide when they want to build one.

[@ExSheriffFattyBoySkinnyArms]

Great explanation, keep up the good work!

[@ShittyUserName]

Carbon fiber can sometimes take hits better than for example aluminium and don't necessarily crack from the same forces as alu. There are videos by Koenigsegg that show this. Also heat isn't a problem because heat shielding can negate any problems from heat plus they already have the sort of drum over the brakes in F1 which is carbon and can already withstand the heat. As for cost now with the cost cap that makes sense, but before that the only reason for F1 not using carbon wheels is regulation

[@Phantom096]

There is a lot of videos with expensive cars and carbon fiber wheel damage. The roads are a problem in most places. Carbon wheels are not worth it if you ask me.

[@ShittyUserName]

@@Phantom096 I agree they are not worth it because the weight saving over magnesium is very small but the cost is very high. I was just listing some points that aren't really any reason not to use them

[@Phantom096]

@@ShittyUserName Same with carbon fiber driveshafts vs Aluminum. A lot more failures with carbon fiber. In certain applications it’s just not going to beat a metal.

[@ShittyUserName]

@@Phantom096 that's because (depending on many factors like how it's made) carbon will have a more sudden failure where alu and other metals will have a more gradual as in carbon will simply snap and metals will stretch until failure. But yeah depending on application and other requiremwnts like cost carbon isn't that often the best option

[@jameschessa3265]

this man always putting out quality content

[@zukacs]

Nicely explained!

[@bowieinc]

Well done. Very interesting point at the end about standardization so no advantage given.

[@Phantom096]

If Formula 1 is not using them I would not put my life on the line with a carbon wheel that could fail at high speeds. Not worth the price and weight savings. Excellent video 👏👏👍

[@saikalyan99]

I wish they would actually implement carbon fiber wheels for F1 too. Firstly, the reasons you mentioned are genuine and true, but F1 is a sport known for its cutting-edge research and development, pioneering innovations like no other. These challenges could easily be solved by those brilliant minds. For instance, I myself just came up with an idea like a magnesium structure reinforced by a carbon fiber outer structure, could reduce weight and effectively handle vibrations and forces. Once these issues are addressed, as you mentioned, there are race advantages, but beyond that, there's also the potential to save a significant amount of cargo weight. With 13 sets of dry tires and 4 sets of wet tires per car, totaling 20 sets per weekend, that's 400 sets of tires. Just imagine the reduction in cargo weight and fuel consumption, both contributing to environmental benefits and also long-term cost savings, once manufacturing costs are factored in.

[@VWT3SyncroDoka5E]

also (as far as I understand) the brake temperatures are used to heat up the tires and I don't think carbon fiber rims transfers heat as well (or not at all) compared to "metal" rims. Just my two cents... Anyway, thanks for this interesting video 👍🏻 edit: oops, was already mentioned in another comment 🫣

[@reinier123]

Very interesting topic and extremely well explained. Great stuff 👍🏻

[@CreamAle]

Got unsubscribed by KZbin itself.. well glad I refound the channel through another video's autoplay

[@GhostIsBad]

I like how you said agera but show the wheels of the regera first

[@cor8388]

Heat I would imagine would be a problem

[@hypnotico7051]

So is McLaren at a disadvantage by running chrome wheels?

[@Robert-mn8gc]

CARBON REVOLUTION are an Australian Company. There approx 140 ks from me .

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

0:05 - No, I haven't wondered, because the material used for the wheels in F1 is governed by the sports rule book and the FIA.

[@alexortner2982]

Lots of false information.

[@CarbonKevin]

Carbon fiber doesn't explode, and you're ignoring a lot of actual failure modes in this argument.

[@bocahdongo7769]

High tensile brittle failure is basically an explosion. Yeah, not technically the same if you really picky, but not the topic of video anyway

[@LeeMooEez]

He try to explain it as simple and as easy as he can for normal people to understand the context..

[@nicholasz3127]

🌹 'Promo sm'