IndyCar teams differ on brake overheating issues

To the delight of everyone in the Verizon IndyCar Series, there were no show-stopping brake issues encountered Friday at St. Petersburg. But don't mistake the lack of calamity for peace and contentment throughout the paddock.

Although IndyCar approved Honda's request on Thursday to increase brake cooling for the overheating Brembo calipers and new carbon fiber discs and pads from Performance Friction Corporation, high ambient temperatures at St. Pete ensured pit lane was busy as teams tried different cooling options to keep the brakes from boiling. Based on feedback, a perfect solution continues to elude a significant portion of the 21 cars in the field.

While some drivers reported no issues, others took a moment to compose themselves before delivering calmer quotes to describe the heat-based problems that impacted both practice sessions.

"It's still early," Scott Dixon told RACER after setting the fastest lap of the day. "You're doing short runs now, but [Chip Ganassi Racing teammate] Max [Chilton] did some long runs to get a feel for the changes. I'm definitely happy with PFC and they delivered the changes we were asking for."

Down at the other four-car Honda-powered team, its leader sang a different tune.

"Just struggling with brakes, trying so sort them out," said Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay. "It's just an inconsistent shutdown; the car's not stopping. When you apply a lot of pressure to get the car stopped, you lock a front or a rear [tire]."

Back at Ganassi, Charlie Kimball split the difference.

"The braking bite's not quite as good but the rest of the pedal is really nice; the pedal release is really solid," he said.

At the defending series champions, three of the four Team Penske Chevy drivers spanned the same scattershot spectrum.

"Ours are good," said Will Power, who ended the day with the second-fastest lap. "It looks like others are having troubles."

New Penske driver Josef Newgarden channeled his inner Kimball by taking the middle of the road.

"We're working on our own package and it seems like everyone is dealing with the intricacies of the PFCs," he said. "It's not that bad; we're getting there. We're here, and we have to get it done."

2016 title winner Simon Pagenaud was an uncharacteristic ninth-fastest on Friday, and counter to his teammate Power, brakes were the greatest source of displeasure.

"Dealing with the same problem as everybody with the brakes," he said. "I don't think we'll get to where we want to get [very] soon. My issue is the pedal is very pressure dependent. It's not linear in the way the friction is applied. Low pressure gives very aggressive braking, and high pressure does not. It's very difficult."

New Andretti Autosport technical director Eric Bretzman says the one good thing to come from Friday was the testing that took place with the various brake cooling options now allowed.

"They're going to be hot, but at least we know what we have now," he acknowledged. "We worked through trying all of our options, so we will have to manage them wisely now."

With rain in the forecast for Sunday's race, overheating brakes could become a non-issue at St. Pete. The next race, however, Round 2 at Long Beach, won't be as kind.