On Monday, September 7, 2020 at 1:36:16 AM UTC-4, JF Mezei wrote:

For conventional shaped rockets, I have no explanation. Accelerating
the light carbon fairing doesn't involve a lot of energy compared to
acceleratibg the fuel laden ET. So aerodynamic drag would by far be the
largest force acting on it so reducing acceleration would be a small
reduction on total force.

According to this, the Saturn V did not throttle down for Max Q.

'The Saturn V's first-stage engines don't throttle, so there's no "throttle bucket" and no "go at throttle-up" call. One of the first-stage engines is shut down late in the burn, but that's to limit maximum g-force for crew comfort, not for Q limiting.'

https://space.stackexchange.com/ques...at-throttle-up