slow down

So, I'm having an ongoing issue where my game gets slow and laggy in combat. Specifically, after I successfully damage an enemy ship. I think the problem is related to block destruction, or the block destruction animation (where each destroyed block breaks into a bunch of little orange wedges...

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere before, I couldn't find it.. Was wondering if there is a config setting to make the shift brake slow down my ship faster? or can someone explain how the shift brake works? I seem to need a lot of time to brake and I'd rather be able to stop faster than...