St. Petersburg Grand Prix<\/a>, forcing teams, officials and fans to prepare for rapidly changing conditions on the downtown street circuit.<\/p>\nWith practice, qualifying and multiple races scheduled over two days, wet weather has the potential to alter race strategy and even determine whether events can safely continue.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest factors in wet conditions is tire selection.<\/p>\n
Gerald Baker, a tire technician, said teams must make quick decisions based on track conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, there are two types. These are dries. Those are wet,\u201d Baker said. \u201cIf it\u2019s raining or standing water, you go to the wets. If it\u2019s dry conditions and you want to go fast, you put the dry tires on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using the wrong tire in the rain can quickly end a driver\u2019s day.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the car needs to grip the track and if you don\u2019t have the proper tire on you\u2019re going to slide off or have a bad day,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n
Baker added that tire choice is part of a larger strategy discussion that includes weather, track conditions and driver feedback.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strategist monitors the weather conditions, the track conditions, all of that,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then you get driver input. If he doesn\u2019t like what he has under him at the moment, he\u2019ll say, \u2018Hey, this is what\u2019s going on,\u2019 and then the engineer strategies can make a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
From a driver\u2019s perspective, rain on a street circuit presents unique challenges. Driver Jordan Missig said wet conditions can sometimes help performance \u2014 but they also increase risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to rain, driving on street circuits, I think kind of plays a little bit more into the effect that it could actually help the car,\u201d Missig said. \u201cBut you also have to take it very carefully because now there\u2019s a lot more paint that\u2019s on the track so a lot more chance of hydroplaning and slippage that can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
With concrete walls lining the course, Missig said mistakes can be costly.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially with the walls being so close to you, it just ups the risk factor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Missig added that rain can place more emphasis on driver skill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think now that the driver skill comes into play a little bit more and you start to see some of the better drivers move up toward the front,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom my standpoint, I kind of like to run in the rain. It\u2019s actually one of my favorite things to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Decisions about whether to delay, pause or stop racing are made by race control officials on site, who closely monitor conditions and remain in communication with officials in Indianapolis to determine whether it is safe to continue.<\/p>\n
The weather-sensitive schedule includes IndyCar practice and qualifying, races for the Indy NXT developmental series, and \u2014 for the first time \u2014 a truck series on Saturday. NASCAR races are also scheduled for Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
Rain doesn\u2019t necessarily mean races will be canceled, but fans are being encouraged to prepare.<\/p>\n
Most grandstands are uncovered, and staying dry can make a big difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to get soaked,\u201d race fan Matt Park said. \u201cAnd it will get really cold as you\u2019re wet and the wind hits. So obviously you\u2019re looking into getting some rain gear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Park said comfort is key to enjoying the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to be uncomfortable,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking into getting umbrellas, obviously the ponchos, maybe some pads that you can put on top of the seat so that your clothes aren\u2019t getting wet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with the threat of rain, Park said the excitement of race weekend makes it worth it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, you\u2019re going to have so much action there,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t wanna miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As race week continues, teams and fans alike will be keeping a close eye on the forecast \u2014 knowing that rain could quickly shake up strategy, schedules and the competition itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With rain potentially falling in St. Pete, drivers and race strategists prepare to adapt to the weekend’s weather…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-169227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}