The veteran Brazilian, who left Chip Ganassi Racing after four years and is now at AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet, said that testing at Sonoma Raceway today has highlighted the new universal aerokit’s characteristics, as discovered at Sebring.

“It’s not news to anybody that we’re a lot quicker in a straight line and we have much less downforce for the corners,” he told Motorsport.com, “so now a lot of work has to be done to find grip. That’s the biggest challenge.

“I mean, 2000lbs of downforce removed, and you feel it missing everywhere – from braking, to turn in, to power down. There’s less.”

As well as working harder at the wheel, Kanaan observed the tire degradation was now far higher than before.

“This track has always been really hard on tires, as you know, but with less downforce your problems are coming sooner,” he said. “The tires were sliding less when we had a lot of downforce with the aerokits we had the past three years.

“Now, you’ve got to really manage the tires, and that’s because of the downforce being reduced. I don’t want anyone to think it’s because Firestones aren’t good – the degradation occurs because you don’t have this aero grip pushing you into the track. You’re sliding across the surface more, and right away. So the tires start degrading sooner.”

Analyzing the #14 AJ Foyt Racing entry’s performance around the 12 turns of the 2.385-mile Sonoma Raceway, Kanaan said: “Turn 6 Carousel [downhill left-hander], the tight hairpin that comes afterward and the Turn 8/8A chicane. It’s hard to go flat through the chicane on worn tires, let me tell you – and it gets harder and harder each time through…

“But remember, the track is quite green, we only have half the usual number of cars here. It will improve.”

Kanaan emphasized that he wasn’t complaining about the new cars.

“Hey, this is how we wanted IndyCar to be,” he grinned. “Now it’s up to us to find the right grip level. We wanted to get more like the balance of CART Indy cars back when I came into the series, and for sure these remind me of the CART cars. Back then we had a little more downforce than this but also more power, but this car is a step in that direction.”