In this video, Top Gear host Richard Hammond is somehow permitted to take a couple of hot laps in a retired F1 car. He is startled by the fact that he has virtually no brake authority, reportedly because the pads and rotors aren’t hot enough yet; they are made of exotic materials that just don’t provide much friction at low temperatures.
Question: you can put electric blankets on the tires to preheat them so you get decent traction as soon as you get out of the pits, but when it comes time to qualify or race, how do drivers get the brakes hot enough to provide effective braking?
Mostly by jabbing them on their initial lap out of the pits before they’re up to max speed, or on the recon lap before the start of the race. They’ll also drag the brakes slightly when coming down to the end of a long straight to a sharp turn to put heat back into the system before slamming on them completely at the last moment to make the corner.
Are there any series that allow systems to warm brakes other than applying the pedal? I don’t think so, maybe WRC though.