Braking in the Wet: Harder, Not Softer

Everybody thinks that in the rain, you have to drive very carefully, and you have to brake very cautiously. But that couldn't be further from the truth.

In fact, in the rain, when you're driving in the wet, you need to definitely be even more aggressive on the brakes, even more skilled on the brakes, than in the dry. Let me explain.

The wet turns every corner into a braking corner

When you're driving in this wet condition, you have, for example, in a random track, an average track in Italy, you'll have two, three maximum, major braking spots, because most of the corners will be medium speed or high speed, where braking will not be required, or just a tap on the brakes, in the slicks conditions. But the thing is that in the wet, all those medium speed corners become real heavy braking corners, because you have to think about it: in the wet, yes, the approaching speed might be lower, because you arrive with lower speed from the previous corner, because you can't carry the same speed obviously as in the dry. That's why you drive 12, 15, or even 20 seconds lower in the wet compared to the dry, in some cases even more than 20 seconds, depends on the track and also the asphalt conditions and the grip level on the track, based on the amount of rubber being layered on.

But anyways, the thing is that in the wet, yes, you arrive with a lower speed, but you also have much less minimum speed than in a dry lap. Why? Well, because think about it, you have way less grip. So on average, between wet and slicks, in a track like Lonato you'll have about 15 to 20 km/h difference, less, in terms of minimum speed at the apex. And that's why you end up losing a lot of time, about 15 seconds or so, between wet and dry lap times, because of course you're carrying about 15, 20 km/h less at the apex.

And you have to think about it: in order to arrive at that minimum speed, you're not going to definitely coast and just roll the speed into the corner by lifting off the gas super early on the straight. No, you will have to use the brakes, and you will have to use the brakes more, for longer, than in the dry. Therefore, that's why in the wet you need to be... the braking skills. And you will see yourself, with your own eyes, that it's going to make a huge difference whether you are an efficient late braker or an inefficient early braker, because...

Efficiency, not peak force

The thing about it, it's all about braking efficiency. It's not how hard you brake, it's how efficient you brake. Because you can just stab the brakes once, hard, stopping them and then coming off right away, but you won't be efficient. You'd probably be better off in that case to brake 20% less in terms of peak braking, but then holding it for longer and stopping the car more efficiently.

So it's not about the peak braking, so the maximum braking force you can put, and it's not even about how late you can brake. It's about how efficient you brake. So how hard you brake, yes, the intensity plays a factor, but it's more about how long you hold the brakes, or how long you trail them into the apex. That's really the thing.

Trailing the brakes into the apex is really the way to go. And you can't expect to be a fast racing driver in the wet without trailing the brakes, holding them. Not only tapping them and coming off. It's really all about smashing them and holding them deeply into the apex, so that you can really stop the car.

Rotation is the real prize

And you have to remember that in the wet, when you're driving with those wet tires on and the grip level is super low, you are searching for grip at any time. You are searching for grip on the braking, you're searching for grip in mid-corner, so you want to get the car to rotate, and then on traction too, you want to search for grip. But the main thing that most drivers forget is that in the wet, the time you're spending the most is in the mid-corner, as well as on the brakes. But again, the mid-corner is mostly going to be understeery, if and only if you are not using the brakes properly in the entries.

So remember what we said already in other guides: you have to use the brakes not only because you can gain time on the entries, because you can overtake easily, because you can, you know, get a fastest lap, and also you can defend from somebody behind you, even like effortlessly, because you can brake super late. But it's not just about all these three things we just said. It's also because, by braking really deep and hard and holding the brakes, you're actually generating more rotation, because you're keeping the front loaded.

And therefore there's a lot of weight transfer from the back to the front. You know, literally there's a so-called pitch. There's a pitch to the front. And then on the exits, the opposite, it's the squat. I mean, you can call it pitch when it goes to the front, or you can even call it dive. All right, but it's the same. Basically, you're diving to the front, you're pitching forward. The whole weight is moving forward, and there's a lot of weight transfer, and that's good or bad? My question to you. Well, in the wet it's really good, because you need to get that transition forward, you need to get that rotation. Because remember, when you move weight forward, okay, it's not just about that, it's also because the front lowers down, the rear kind of lifts up, it creates some sort of rake. And in formula cars, that's super important, to have that, like, a sort of asymmetry in terms of front being low and rear being high. So that rake creates the load forward, and it creates the rotation. So it really goes to help you massively, with, you know, it's not only stopping the car, but also getting a rotation, which is what you need.

Everybody is looking for rotation at any given time when they're on their karts. I mean, the rotation is everything in the wet, especially because you're all the time struggling for front, especially in the mid-corner, because again, you know, you see how much steering wheel you gotta use in the wet, it's way more than in the dry. There's a reason: because you're riding with less speed, and so the weight transfer is less, and of course you can't carry the same amount of speed because the track is wet and it's just slippery. Because of that, you arrive with very little momentum into the corners. When you don't have momentum, the car does not rotate. And so, yeah, it's just detrimental for the rotation and the car dynamics of your car. So the only way I can help you, since the momentum is not by your side, is to use the brakes and hold them properly until the apex, trailing, keeping the front loaded. So that's really the thing, you know. In the way, you got to master this technique. You got to be pushing yourself to brake as late as possible, but as efficiently as possible, because just braking the latest isn't the way to go. You need to match it with braking the most efficient. I mean, that is the only way to go. And I'm sure you can extrapolate a lot of lap time if you learn how to do this technique.

I know most coaches and mechanics, and whoever you're going to talk to in the paddock, you're going to hear, oh, in a way, you got to be careful on the brakes. You got to brake a bit earlier. You got to brake a bit softer. You're gonna brake cautiously. And I keep hearing this sort of feedback, and yeah, it just cringes me. Because, of course, that is the way to be mediocre. If you want to be outstanding, and win not only club races or national races, but international, world class, and become the number one driver in your age in the world, the only way for that to happen is through repetition, repetition, repetition. By pushing yourself beyond your limits, braking as late as you humanly can.

Cold discs, and a cheap fix

And remember, in the wet, the brakes are gonna be cold, unless you use them properly. So one suggestion I have, by the way — this is a bit of a setup suggestion, I didn't mean to talk to you about this today — is you should kind of have a brake duct covering the brake disc. It should be like a protection, you can just make it yourself with number plates, you know, the old number plates, you can just have some plastic going around that disc. So the goal is, especially in heavy rain conditions, you want to cover that disc, because you don't want it to cool down too much. Because if the disc is cold, then obviously the pads are cold, and everything is cold, then it won't have as much braking efficiency as when the disc is hot.

I do really feel the difference. I'm not joking. When the disc is cold, it's a nightmare. Like, I also feel it in the slicks: you go out of the pit lane, and even if it's a summer day, it may still take one, two laps to get the brakes to optimal temperature, and so you will not have as much braking efficiency in the first laps. It's quite interesting, you should notice that too.

Imagine that in the wet, even though yes you do brake more, and you spend more time braking than in the dry — if you think about the percentage of braking in the wet, it's actually longer than the percentage of braking across a lap in the dry — but it's still not going to heat up the disc so much, because the disc is going to cool down much more down the straight, especially with lots of standing water. And even, you know, if there's a lot of aquaplaning, it's going to cool down quite a bit down the straight. So the only way to avoid that cooling is to put a brake cover on the disc, made out of plastic, so that you don't cool down the brakes, and it's gonna make a big difference. You'll see.

But anyways, now that you have sorted out your brakes, and everything's fine on the chassis side, and from your tires as well, you need to make sure you go out there and do it. Of course, the tires and the chassis are playing a big effect, but it's more about your driving, honestly. The core thing that you have to remember, though, is that you shouldn't be braking on the rubber. I mean, you cannot brake on the rubber.

The mistake the "brake softly" advice is hiding

If you brake on the rubber, where everybody's basically braking on the slicks, well, you're going to go straight. You won't be able to brake hard — I mean, if you do brake hard, you're gonna spin, right? So that's the reason, by the way, I hear all this advice, the bad advice, about braking in the wet: it's because they keep getting told, the drivers, they need to brake soft, because the drivers make the first mistake of braking on the rubber. But, you know, braking soft on the rubber is just putting a bandage. It's not fixing the core problem. The core problem is the actual driver not braking on the right piece of the track, on the right line. And in that case, the right line is the middle of the track, or even on a tighter end, just so that you avoid the rubber.

Is that clear? I hope it's very important because there's no way for you to brake late and hard and efficiently, holding the brakes till the apex, unless you're braking outside of the rubber. I mean, if you're braking on the rubber, you're shooting yourself in the foot, you won't be able to brake hard. If you try to brake hard on the rubber, you'll be... oh, but Alessio, you told me to brake hard, lock up the tires, but I keep spinning when I do that. And of course, I mean, there's nothing that surprises me. You're applying the right technique, which is braking hard and locking the tires, but in the wrong place, you know. It's not going to work.

It's like if you're trying to ski in an ocean, it doesn't really work. You want to ski on the mountains. You can't ski in the ocean, as well as you can't surf in the mountains. Yes, yes, you can snowboard, but you can't surf.

So it's really like that. You need to apply the right technique in the right place. And the right place is outside of that rubber line. And since everybody's opening up the corner as much as possible, that rubber line is going to be to the edge of the track, to the edge, the outside of the track. So your goal would be to stay towards the middle of the track, or even to the inside. Depends where the rubber is layered, but just pay attention to that.

Of course, with different categories, you may be doing different lines.

Lines by class, and the distance equation

Of course, with 60 Mini karts, you will have to probably, most of the times, open up the lines in the mid-corner, to keep up the RPMs and the momentum. Whereas with the single-speed juniors and seniors, like X30 juniors or X30 seniors, or even Rotax juniors and seniors, you may have to cut over the kerbs and make tighter lines, so that even though you may lose a little bit of minimum speed, you make so much less distance that it pays the price to make it tight over the kerb. Because remember, the equation of time is distance divided by speed, so the goal is to have, obviously, the highest amount of speed, but also the least amount of distance.

By the way, if you notice that you're doing too much distance, and you're not really gaining anything in terms of speed — your speed is the same, but you just end up making too many meters — well, it's a no-brainer for you to try a different line, go tighter, because that's not the right thing to do, what you're doing most of the times. It pays off to make shorter distance, especially in sequences of corners of opposite directions, like in chicanes, or hairpins with different directions, so one is a right-hander then the next one is a left-hander, almost like a chicane, but, you know, more spread out, like a chicane, and you don't really have long straights. So in that case it really pays off to make more of a tighter line versus a wider line, even though that may cause you less speed. So you gotta be clever with all these things.

But yeah, the goal of today was really to talk about the braking, and of course with shifter karts, like KZs, you can really smash it onto the brakes and lock the tires. You need to arrive in a state of locking, in a constant state of sliding — that's the only way to drive fast — if you're constantly driving outside of your friction circle, okay, just like outside of the slip angle. You have to drive all the time like that, so that you can also warm up the tires, because in the wet, tires normally are very hard, and it takes a lot of time to warm them up. So you're gonna warm them up by just driving really aggressively. That's the only kind of way to get any temperature. And so, yeah, but it's also the fastest way, because you get a car to twist, to rotate, and that's the only way to get fast in the wet.

So, I mean, in the shifter you can brake into the apex, holding the brakes into the apex, trailing the brakes, because you have gears, so you can stop a bit more. While with juniors and seniors, you'll probably be coming off a bit early off the brakes, so you can roll a tiny bit of speed onto the apex.

Hooking the kerb

Which, in the wet, I mean, the apex is either the kerb, if you're jumping through that to make less distance, and hook the kerb — you know, in a way that once you hook the kerb, it gets more rotation, and you make less distance too. But you gotta hook in the right way. If you hook it too early, you're gonna get pushed out wide. If you miss the hook, you're gonna lose so much time, because you're gonna go on the rubber. So if you're gonna make that tight line, you're gonna hook that kerb very well, and hold the brakes until there. That's pretty much the case. If you're coming off the brakes too early, you're gonna overshoot that kerb that's supposed to hook you, and you're gonna miss a ton of time. So you gotta hold the brakes until that kerb. That's my way of saying that.

Go and do it

Make sure next time you go out in the wet, you apply that technique. I mean, generally, driving in the wet is my favorite thing to do. It's just such a creative thing to do, and I just love it. I mean, sign me up. I mean, any day I can go out and drive in the wet is just a day of pure pleasure, and I just can really experience driving the car on the limit. And yeah, it's just such a fun thing to do.

But also, when I was fast in my career, I won so many races in the wet, even with 15, 20 seconds of advantage, such as the WSK race I drove once in KZ, to the final lap at Adria. But also I won one in Trofeo Margutti, in the wet, at Lonato. And I also won, yeah, a few Italian championship rounds, one including a Lonato, with almost like 15-16 seconds on the driver in P2. So I know a thing or two about driving in the wet, and I did it at the highest level in the world. And I still do it sometimes, whenever I have the chance. But yeah, it's just such an enjoyable thing to do.

Remember, though, that if you want to win, you gotta be the latest braker on the grid. You gotta learn that skill, train that skill. And you're gonna start by doing that: staying away from the rubber on the braking. If you're driving on the rubber, you're gonna go straight, you're gonna spin, you're gonna say that the mistake was in the braking hard phase. But that's not the mistake. The mistake will be because you're braking on the rubber. So stay away from the rubber line on the braking.

I know, at some point, you will have to go over that rubber line. But ideally you'll be already rotated, and mostly into the mid-corner phase, when you're going to join the rubber, and not really on the brakes. Because if, again, you're driving onto the rubber line on the brakes, it's not going to help you. It's going to be very slippery, and you won't have the confidence. I mean, if you apply — remember — the wrong technique in the wrong place, you're not gonna manage to successfully apply that technique. And then you will blame the technique. But it's not the technique, it's the place you apply it.

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