A brake check, also known as a brake test, occurs when a driver deliberately either taps on the brakes several times or slams hard on the pedal when moving in front of another vehicle, with the intention of causing the behind driver to either collide or take evasive action. [1] The term is often applied in the context of auto racing. [1]
In most jurisdictions of the world, brake checking is often considered a crime and falls under laws pertaining to reckless driving, aggressive driving, or stunt driving.[ citation needed ] The Washington State Department of Licensing includes brake checking as a symptom of aggressive driving. [2] Legal experts in Ontario consider it to fall under that province's stunt driving laws. [3] Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police charged a man in 2018 with the crime of Race a motor vehicle after being observed brake checking another driver on Highway 401. [4]
The concept of brake checking is often seen in auto racing, with several drivers being accused of, or admitting to, brake checking competitors for various reasons. At the 2006 Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NASCAR driver Robby Gordon brake checked Michael Waltrip during a caution period in what was seen as retaliation for contact both made earlier in the race and for an incident that occurred between the two the year prior at the same track. The stoppage caved in the nose and radiator of Waltrip's car, leaving him stranded in the middle of the backstretch with fluid leaking onto the track. [5]
An incident in the 2017 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel was attributed to Vettel's belief that he had been brake checked by Hamilton. [6]
In 2018, an on-track incident between NASCAR drivers Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin at the spring Martinsville Speedway race ended in what Autoweek's Matt Weaver described as, "Harvick...slamming on his brakes, the resulting contact severely damaging the nose on Hamlin’s Toyota." Hamlin would later comment, "I probably should have brake-checked him in the first place." [7]
In 2021, at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen brake checked Lewis Hamilton after Verstappen was asked to give a place back for previously overtaking Hamilton off track. Red Bull Racing’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey said "I think he got frustrated with Lewis not overtaking him but he still shouldn’t have brake-tested him." [8]
In the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, during the final lap of the race, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso brake tested Mercedes' George Russell at Turn Six of the circuit, which caused Russell to close distance unusually fast. This culminated in Russell losing control of the car, causing him to crash, with the car coming to rest upside-down in the middle of the track. This saw the race ending under a virtual safety car. Alonso received a 20 second penalty for erratic driving. Russell would later comment: "It caught me by surprise. I was half a second behind him and next thing he slams on the brakes, accelerates again and then slams on the brakes again." [9]
Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, racing under an Austrian licence and based in the United Kingdom. It is one of two Formula One teams owned by conglomerate Red Bull GmbH, the other being RB Formula One Team. The Red Bull Racing team has been managed by Christian Horner since its formation in 2005.
The Goody's 250 was a NASCAR Busch Series stock car race held at Martinsville Speedway, in Martinsville, Virginia. The race was only held once, on July 22, 2006, as a standalone event during the summer. It had been planned the race would be held at night, under a temporary lighting system to be installed at the track, instead it was held in the afternoon instead. The Goody's 250 replaced the ITT Industries & Goulds Pumps Salute to the Troops 250 on the Busch Series schedule. After a Busch Series Martinsville record high 19 cautions for 87 laps, the Goody's 250 was replaced in 2007 by the NAPA Auto Parts 200 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; second-division NASCAR racing would not return to the track until 2020. The race was the final start in NASCAR for Darrell Waltrip and Ricky Craven.
In motor racing, team orders is the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply by establishing a pecking order between the drivers within the team, or by instructing a driver to let their teammate overtake or to hold position without the risk of collision.
The 2015 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that took place on 25 October 2015. The race was contested over fifty-six laps and held at the Circuit of the Americas. It was the sixteenth round of the 2015 season and marked the thirty-seventh time that the United States Grand Prix was run as a round of the World Championship since its inception in 1950, and the fourth time that the event was hosted at this circuit.
The 2006 Subway 500 was the 32nd stock car race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and the sixth in the ten-race Chase for the Nextel Cup. It was held on October 22, 2006, before a crowd of 65,000, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, a short track that holds NASCAR races. Hendrick Motorsports driver Jimmie Johnson won the 500‑lap race starting from the ninth position; Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing finished second, and Petty Enterprises' Bobby Labonte was third.
The 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 24 May 2015 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the principality of Monaco. It was the sixty-second running of the race as a World Championship event, and seventy-third running overall.
The 2015 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 21 June 2015 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race was the eighth round of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 29th running of the Austrian Grand Prix and the 28th time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
The 2015 STP 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on March 29, 2015, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the 0.526 miles (0.847 km) paperclip shaped short track, it was the sixth race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Denny Hamlin won the race while Brad Keselowski finished runner-up. Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan rounded out the top five.
The 2016 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 20 March 2016 in Melbourne. The race was contested over fifty-seven laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race marked the 81st race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix – which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – and the 21st time the event was held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was the race winner.
The 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 November 2016 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The race was the twenty-first and final round of the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship and determined the 2016 World Drivers' Championship. It marked the eighth running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the eighth time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural race in 2009.
The 2017 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that took place on 11 June 2017 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The race was the seventh round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the fifty-fourth running of the Canadian Grand Prix, and the forty-eighth time the event had been included as a round of the Formula One World Championship since the inception of the series in 1950, and the thirty-eighth time that a World Championship round had been held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 25 June 2017 at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The race was the eighth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, and was the maiden running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. It was the second time that a race was held at the circuit and the second time that a Grand Prix was held in Azerbaijan.
The 2018 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2018 in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was contested at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race marked the 83rd race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix – which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – and the 23rd time the event was held at the Albert Park circuit.
The 2018 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One racing event held on 7 October 2018 at the Suzuka International Racing Course in Suzuka in the Mie Prefecture, Japan. The race was the seventeenth round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship and marked the 44th running of the Japanese Grand Prix. The 2018 event was the 34th time that the race had been run as a World Championship event since the inaugural season in 1950, and the 30th time that it had been held at Suzuka.
The 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that took place on 28 April 2019 at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The race was the 4th round of the 2019 Formula One World Championship, marked the 3rd time that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix had been run as a World Championship round, and the 4th time that the Baku circuit has been part of the Formula One World Championship.
The 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 6 June 2021 at the Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The race, the sixth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, marked the fourth running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and the fifth time the country had hosted a Grand Prix, having also held the 2016 European Grand Prix.
The 2021 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 July 2021 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It was the tenth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship and also featured the first ever "sprint qualifying" event in F1 - a new format run on the Saturday of the race weekend over a distance of 100 kilometres (62 mi). 3 points were awarded to the winner of the Sprint, 2 to 2nd place and 1 to 3rd place. The results of the sprint qualifying decided the grid for the race on Sunday.
The 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race which took place on 18 April 2021 at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy. The race, held in wet conditions, was the second round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship, and the second Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The 2022 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 July 2022 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was the second Grand Prix weekend of the 2022 season to utilise the Formula One sprint format.
The Red Bull Racing RB18 is a Formula One car designed and constructed by Red Bull Racing which competed in the 2022 Formula One World Championship. The RB18 was driven by defending world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez. Verstappen secured his second consecutive Drivers' Championship driving the RB18 and Red Bull secured their fifth Constructors' Championship, their first since 2013. The RB18 is one of Adrian Newey's most successful Formula One designs to date, behind its successor, the RB19, and also one of the most dominant Formula One cars ever built.