Last Friday we found out where the DRS zone will be for Silverstone. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92593 Wellington Straight is part of the new track right? Just before Brooklands? If so, I can't understand this decision. It doesn't look like a place that will offer much overtaking, and surely there are better places to put the DRS zone like hangar straight or the pit straight. A DRS zone along the old start-finish straight also sounds like a terrible idea. The FIA's decision to continue with double DRS zones don't make sense to me either, and it hasn't worked very well in the last two races. The DRS is supposed to increase overtaking, but the lack of a second activation zone makes it almost impossible for a driver overtaken in the first zone to keep up with the driver in front (see how Alonso pulled a huge gap in the second zone after passing Webber), and that defeats the purpose of the DRS being an overtaking aid. the fact that the FIA want these DRS zones to be close together means that even if there was a second activation zone, if one driver does the hard work and overtakes in the first zone, the driver behind can take back the position easily in the second zone.
I think the second DRS zone in Montreal was ok because it was small so did not matter much, and the one in Valencia still could not help make the race exciting but I think that if they have two big DRS zones with only one detection zone at any half decent track then it would be a bit disastrous. I think they should just stick with one and make sure they get the length and location of it right.
Doh! I'm on village corner so got my back to the DRS, was convinced it would be on Hangar so we could see it. I suppose Wellington is a fairly good length, and the old pit straight will mean the drivers have to choose between DRS and keeping some downforce for the bend.
It does lead into a corner that is a bit of a strange one, if I'm thinking of it properly. Theres only really one line into it so it could lead to some contact or flat spotting under braking. It is a corner where your still braking when you turn in isn't it? I'm having brain lapse.
DRS was introduced to improve the situation in which a much faster driver's progress was stopped by a slower driver because of the aerodynamic effect on his car. A second detection point would enable the slower driver to get back ahead of the faster driver he'd just been overtaken by. That would defeat the purpose of DRS.
DRS is a great idea if not restricted to a gimmick. If the driver was free to choose to deploy DRS anywhere on any circuit (provided that he/she is within 1 second of a car ahead), all of these headaches would vanish. DRS will remain a gimmick until it becomes more widely used and less regulated. Power to the driver!
**** the gap, whenever and wherever in any situation, but restricted to a certain number of times or a total time deployed per race, then it can be used as both attack and defence.
Surely Hanger Straight would be good for DRS? They can then go side by side into Stowe so long as the DRS is in teh right position that you don't get the shambles at Canada where cars were past some 50m before the braking zone. DRS should help the driver get alongside and then they can duke it out into the corner.
I think the Wellington Straight is the best option for DRS because the cars are coming off the slow Loop and building speed through Aintree, then activating DRS into a hard-braking zone at Brooklands. This means DRS should help the following driver get up alongside but the manoeuvre will have to be executed into Brooklands. Although a similar scenario prevails before the possible second DRS activation zone on the old start/finish straight (exiting the slow Luffield, building speed through Woodcote and then activating DRS) there's no braking zone through Copse and I'm not sure you'd want cars side-by-side going through there, especially when one has just been smacked in the face by the immediate drag increase caused by closing the rear wing. Also, the effects of dirty air on the following car will have been much greater before reaching the second DRS activation zone than when hitting the first (assuming both are soon after the preceding corners), which could make DRS ineffectual. Regarding Hangar Straight I wonder if the speed of exit from Chapel might make a DRS-assisted overtake too easy? I also wonder if the choice to put it on the new Wellington Straight might help show just how exciting and successful the remodelling has been, but perhaps I'm being cynical.
