Hard and fast

Get to max desired brake pressure quickly. But in doing so, squeeze, don’t slam brake pedal down. The time it takes to quickly squeeze onto the brake pedal in a hard braking zone is the same time it takes for the nose of the car to pitch down, even if it only takes a fraction of a second.

Slow down as quickly as possible. In every hard braking zone, squeeze the brakes as hard as you can without locking up completely. Flirt with lockup, subtly modulating pressure around lockup limit so that you never fully lock any wheel.

Note that the maximum possible braking pressure with high-aero vehicles decreases as the car slows. Recall that vehicle aerodynamics produce more downforce at greater speeds, meaning that as a car’s speed reduces, so too does it’s downforce.

But not too much

Don’t over-slow the car for the corner. If you started braking too early and find yourself coming up on turn-in to slowly, ease off the brakes and still attempt to enter the corner with correct entry speed. Your natural racing intuition will help you brake later next time.

When to hold back

Don’t brake to threshold level if that would make car too pointy (oversteer) for a given corner entry. This phenomenon of braking increasing front grip (oversteer) mostly occurs when high-speed corners are taken with a high-downforce car. In such cases, the forward pitching under braking will push the front splitter/wing closer to the ground, usually increasing its downforce. This form of pitch sensitivity must be avoided in order to maintain high-speed balance, and so one must brake lighter, but for longer, in order to maintain a flatter vehicle posture for corner entry.

Don’t brake to threshold if you’re only braking for a fraction of a second. During these short-lived braking events, it can be too easy to overdo it and come into the corner too slowly. Instead, brake slightly lighter and earlier, and make sure you come in at the right speed for corner entry. The time lost not threshold braking is minimal, but the time gained from proper entry is not.