Why do my tires overheat in the rain?
Hi everyone. I need your help understanding something. I recently had a race at Silverstone in what you could call "unpredictable" conditions. About ten laps on a dry track, then a very light rain which, after about 20 laps, forced all the drivers to pit for intermediate tires. (The rain was supposed to stop, and the softs were doing a remarkable job in those conditions, but they still had their limits.) My problem is this: after three laps, I realized my rear tires were starting to overheat slightly, so I slowed down. Despite driving as gently as possible, my intermediate tires quickly exceeded 105°C all around, even though I was being as gentle as I could be. (Norris was catching me by two seconds per lap, so I had to let him pass, the battle was pointless.)
I've always struggled with managing the temperature of intermediate/wet tires, but this time it was raining and I was ending up with severely overheated tires, no grip whatsoever, watching my tires completely lose traction even though the track was far from dry. Could someone shed some light on this?
What do you do to keep your intermediate/rain tires in the correct temperature zone?