DRS (Drag Reduction System) - Aye or nay?

[Ardius]

So with 2 different Grand Prix finished with completely different results, what does everyone think of this controversial system? Do you like what it has done to F1? Do you think its too artificial and unnecessary?
We have seen several overtakes resulting from the system but also several failed overtakes.

Its important to point out that DRS was never designed to be an automatic passing system. Its designed to help the driver behind put his car in a better position to overtake, to make the overtake slightly easier..but not easy.
What we saw at Malaysia was exactly as the system was designed - it created overtaking opportunities and it actually had the side effect of creating longer battles that lived on past turn 4.

However, there is already some concern that there are drivers taking advantage of the rules and attempting to slow and allow the driver behind to take the position before the detection line just so they benefit from the added boost in laptime.

Personally I enjoyed the Malaysian Grand Prix a lot but I don't feel it was because of the DRS. While it did provide some entertainment, I don't feel its completely necessary. I didn't feel the overtakes it creates are artificial or easy, usually they appear to have been inevitable overtakes that would have happened without it. So with that in mind, I vote nay, as what Pirelli and KERS have done is enough to improve F1. Whether Pirelli purposefully producing terrible tyres is a good thing is a different topic for a different thread.
I also still don't like the idea of forcefully disadvantaging the driver in front, the whole point of overtaking is that the driver behind already has an advantage either from tyres, brakes, engine power, simple driver ability, whatever. But DRS feels too orderely, too predictable.

 

[juniordee]

Your last paragraph sums up my point of view on it. As much as it is fun seeing overtakes on the straights, I prefer to see them in more complex sections of the circuits.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I like it so far. I think it does exactly why it was intended to do. When it was first announced, a lot of people assumed that it guaranteed a pass; a driver pressed a button and the car in front would not stand a chance. This was mostly because people were trying to justify their dislike of it. While the system was handled in completely the wrong way to begin with - the Powers That Be should have disclosed everything about it from the moment it was announced so as to avoid confusion - Malaysia has shown that it does exactly what it was designed to do. It certainly does not guarantee a pass; as David Coulthard rightly pointed out, it does just enough to let an attacking driver get his front wing alongside the rear wheel of the car in front. It's still a braking duel into the first turn.

I also still don't like the idea of forcefully disadvantaging the driver in front

Because giving the driver in front the DRS would negate whatever opportunity the driver behind had, thus making the entire system completely pointless.

 

[lukecfc]

Ardius, remember the F duct last year? It stalled the rear wing so the car would have more straight line speed. The DRS does pretty much the same thing this year in a different way, except you have to be within one second of the car in front of you. If anything, this makes the race fairer as not all the cars had F ducts last year, while also assisting overtaking.

I don't think we've actually seen a driver give away his position before the straight. Even with the DRS, this would serve no purpose. During a race, lap times don't matter, positions do. In qualifying the reduction in lap time would be completely unimportant, because not only do you risk being stuck behind that car, overtaking him would slow down your lap time and you run in his dirty air.

 

[Ardius]

Because giving the driver in front the DRS would negate whatever opportunity the driver behind had, thus making the entire system completely pointless.

Then, as I suggested, ditch the system entirely. It wouldn't be pointless, it would be as pointless as KERS is.
Its really a much "greener" way of giving the cars more power.

Ardius, remember the F duct last year? It stalled the rear wing so the car would have more straight line speed. The DRS does pretty much the same thing this year in a different way, except you have to be within one second of the car in front of you. If anything, this makes the race fairer as not all the cars had F ducts last year, while also assisting overtaking.

I don't think we've actually seen a driver give away his position before the straight. Even with the DRS, this would serve no purpose. During a race, lap times don't matter, positions do. In qualifying the reduction in lap time would be completely unimportant, because not only do you risk being stuck behind that car, overtaking him would slow down your lap time and you run in his dirty air.

The difference between the DRS and the f-duct is that the f-duct was not restricted by a rule stating only the driver behind can use it in a specific place. It wasn't as predictable.
The f-duct is what DRS should be like, unlimited use and a nice, cheap, way of producing faster cars.

As for giving positions away, we saw Rosberg give away his position to Di Resta and we also heard from Jenson that he saw Petrov give his position away.
The laptime does matter when you are in a race situation involving so many pit stops and varying strategies, better to put in the laps while the tyres are fresh in the hope of jumping cars ahead. Battling for position slows you down, if two cars are on different strategies, it makes more sense not to put up too much of fight in the long-run.
Obviously, this isn't always the case, but its a possible situation.

 

[Tired Tyres]

I don't like and I don't think it's needed either. The tyres are helping out with overtaking enough for me.

 

[Stevisiov]

I was kind of hoping there was a bit more of a 'sit-on-the-fence' option. Initially I didn't like the idea at all, I thought it was very contrived and artificial. Seeing of the reality of it though, it seems like its doing its job well, not well enough in Melborne, perhaps a little too well in Sepang. Ultimately its going to be a very difficult technology to get right for every track, so I'm not expecting it to do its job every race. Sepang was a fantastic race though, no significant amount of rain, but it still had a lot going on. The tyres were the biggest factor, but the DRS helped produce some on track passes. It wasn't too easy though, I didn't see Hamilton cruising past Heidfeld at the start of the race.

[edit]

Then, as I suggested, ditch the system entirely. It wouldn't be pointless, it would be as pointless as KERS is.
Its really a much "greener" way of giving the cars more power.

Perhaps more importantly, a much cheaper way.

That said I like KERS, and I think DRS works well too.

 

[Stevisiov]

Edit fail.

 

[Lizard]

I like the idea of having a DRS however the driver should be able to use it like he can in qualifying whenever he wants rather than it being used to give a chasing car an advantage.

 

[Grayfox]

I really don't like it.

Making the car faster with KERS and flaps that reduce downforce.

Take F1 back to its roots where pure driver skill wins.

Ayrton Senna is the best example, he was a god in F1.

 

[Clark]

I say nay purely because I never had a problem with the overtaking or percieved lack of overtaking in F1. I think it was better with the old (98-2008) cars and I just think it's the tracks and other factors.

F1 hasn't never had overtaking as the defining feature, although I'm not saying races like Dijon '79 wouldn't be awesome nowadays. Just make sensible changes to the cars, smaller wings and much fatter tyres.

There plenty of great races before 2009, and I can't think of one from 2009-2011 so far that I'd call great, I don't think KERS/DRS would be needed with the old cars.

 

[Submerged]

Personally, I believe that overtaking in the past, before semi-automatic gearboxes were all the rage, was higher as you had a higher change of a guy missing a gear change and also potentially damaging the engine later on in the race due to a mis-handled gear change or other factors linked to that.

If there was a factor that would increase (slightly) the opportunity for driver errors, this would make overtaking happen more. But it would still be unpredictable when and if it would happen. Plus, it would increase the skill of the drivers themselves as they would have to be more mentally attuned to the car to prevent themselves from making mistakes/errors.

DRS, in Sepang was an interesting evolution to the system. You had to be within a second of the driver in front after the last corner. This could potentially lead (later on in the season) for drivers to simply over-drive the last corner to get within this one-second gap to activate the "GO FAST" button. But they also had to balance it with the tyres.

Personally, this year looks more interesting with the newer tyres being deliberately slippery and harder to look after. I mean, we're now seeing more flat-spots! We are seeing drivers lock up! This is driver error. This is what will make overtaking happen. With the Bridgestones, this hardly ever happened.

Slightly long winded (coffee binge here!) but I hope you understand what I meant.

 

[Stevisiov]

I really don't like it.

Making the car faster with KERS and flaps that reduce downforce.

Take F1 back to its roots where pure driver skill wins.

Ayrton Senna is the best example, he was a god in F1.

Utter nonsense.

Back to F1's roots? F1's roots have as much to do with technology as it does with driver skills. Take those rose tinted specs off.

Sure Ayrton was exciting to watch, but we are talking different cars, different eras.

I'm perfectly happy with the way F1 is now. There are a lot of bad things about F1 when Ayrton used to drive, its just they are just largely forgotten now, particularly by those who look at it in pink.

Does F1 still features amongst the best drivers in the world? does driver skill matter? Does the best car usually win?

Try answering those 3 questions in just about any era, I bet you will get the same results.

 

[zedextreme8177]

I will give a yay, but the usage needs to be unrestricted.

 

[BlacqueJacques]

Yay!

I like how they use it freely in practice and qualifying even more. 👍

KERS on the other hand (it's not helping Werbber any so far!)

 

[NFSCARBON1]

I like it,but I think it should be available all the time. With the FIA trying to cut costs why did they implement a new technology that is only effective at specific times?

 

[F1Addict]

Yay, but needs adjusting.

The DRS should be allowed to be used at any point on a lap. However, you can only use it once per lap, for a maximum of 10s. The duration might need adjusting though.

 

[Robin]

I like it but think the DRS system needs serious refinement with regards to reliability, there have been so many instances of it not working correctly and its probably to do with the wireless detection. I also think like many other commentators that it should be allowed all race (like in qualifying).

Robin.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Its really a much "greener" way of giving the cars more power.

The DRS was never developed as a green technology.

 

[Lizard]

I think it would make F1 much more entertaining if it was allowed to be used like in qualifying I mean people spinning out because they were too eager on the DRS would be fun. Also it would be another way to gain time by having the DRS open a fraction before your opponent in each corner and gaining a place over a few laps from it.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Well, the DRS zone for Shangahi has been confirmed: it's the last 904 metres of the long back straight.

 

[zedextreme8177]

What I'm wondering is why the FIA are placing only one DRS zone per track? For example, take Silverstone which has 3 potential overtaking opportunities. Same with Malaysia which also has 2 long straight-hairpin sequences

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Because the original plan only ever called for one DRS zone. They don't want to make it too easy to pass.

 

[Furinkazen]

Why could F1 not have an A1GP Powerboost button? Less complicated, can be used wherever needed.... just give them say 15 power boosts during the race, only allowed to use 1 per lap...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

That's pretty much what KERS is.

 

[Furinkazen]

F1 sometimes tries too hard with fancy tech. How is a new fan supposed to understand what DRS and KERS are immediatly?

 

[Wiegert]

It's not really that important for someone who's only just started watching F1 to understand what DRS or KERS is. They explain what these systems do during the F1 coverage anyway (well on the BBC at least), but if someone really wanted to further their understanding of DRS or KERS then they can just look for more information about them online, simple.

I voted 'Yay' by the way.

 

[Matti_Dude]

It's not as artificial as I thought it would be. But I think getting rid of the double diffusers and changing to Pirelli's has created more overtaking than the DRS and KERS combined. I voted nay purely because I don't think DRS is needed.

 

[Hun200kmh]

I voted "Yay" although I don't like the over-regulating of this. If a device is allowed, then it should be up to the driver, in his best judgement, when and where to use it.

 

[UK-Gamer]

F1 sometimes tries too hard with fancy tech. How is a new fan supposed to understand what DRS and KERS are immediatly?

I am a new fan (Watched F1 abit but now really started to wake up early to watch races)

With info off teams sites:

KERS: A 'boost' button, gives cars 80(?) more HP. Can only be used for 6.6secs per lap, is charged under braking and is restored after every lap.

DRS: An adjustable rear wing that opens around 20° to reduce drag and give cars a speed boost. There is a certain point to activatte and have to be at most 1sec behind car at activation zone (Hard to explain for me)

Hows that for a new fan?