To fill in the gap before the next race on the calender in Sepang I thought I do a little piece on the new DRS system for this year, but is surrounded a series of odd and unusual rules and regulations determining when where and for how long the system can be used.
But because there is no button in the simulator to raise the rear wing here is a shot of a Williams with the system activated.
(source - http://ppf1.blog.hu/)
The rules
Of course things wouldn't be as simple as just pressing a button and powering past anyone and anything in your way, there are limitations on how it can be used and where depending on the session and track position. So I'm going to break things down into a session be session basis.
First Practice - Free usage, in the first session of the weekend the system can be applied whenever the driver wishes. but this cannot be throughout the duration of the lap because during activation the rear of the car will be unstable if cornering and the car will likely spin - as demonstrated by Sutil in Australia.
Second Practice - For the first hour of the session the rules match that of practice one where the DRS can be applied at any time round the track. But for the final half hour the operation switches to 'Race Mode' where it will only be accessible in the required conditions set for the race. As will be listed in the secion aptly entitled - Race.
Final Practice/Qualifying - As with First practice complete free operation of the device.
The Race Itself - Now this is where things get a little daft, where the FIA seem have gone a little mad, clearly when this section of the regulations was dreamt up there was a significant shortage of coffee in the building (they're not quite normal enough to be tea drinkers). It all starts off all sensible and orderly where every car has it's DRS remotely disabled for the first two complete laps of the race, this is to prevent early lap madness and lower the chances of collisions.
After these DRS free laps then the regular mad race rules come into play, where there are three important zones to take into consideration.
- DRS Detection line - This is a line on the track which determines if a car can use the DRS, under the consideration that the driver is one second behind the car in front. Which is the required range an attacking driver needs to be in to be eligible to run the system. In Australia the DRS detection line was before turn 14 - as demonstrated by the second outing for the blogmobile opposite.
- DRS Activation line - This marks the beginning of the zone at which the system becomes available to the driver - at this point it doesn't matter how close he is the car in front, so if any time is lost between the two lines it will not affect availability. In Australia this second line was positioned prior to the entrance to the pit lane on the entry to the final corner. of course a driver cannot press the button until the exit of the corner because the car will not make it through the bend with the lower rear down force. And yes I am pursuing a different car in this second shot because I hit the first car and parted company with my wheels.
- DRS Zone - This is the stretch from the DRS activation line up until the next breaking zone, it is in this zone where the driver once fulfilling the one second rule at the detection line - can press the button on the steering wheel and draft up behind the car in front to open a passing opportunity. The effectiveness of the zone depends on the development the teams have placed in their implementation of DRS, some teams will gain a better speed boost then others. And yes I managed to crash after this shot too - spinning into the pit wall, at least I am consistent.
The problems
As I see it from my often very cynical point of view the current system is rather flawed and could - should adjustments be made - be a better. Firstly the concept of a strict DRS zone is a little bit mad because that way the defending driver will know precisely where he may be attacked by a pursuing rival and will be able to defend accordingly. Ideally the system should be available to all areas of the track to give the drivers more freedom and room for ingenuity, and of course space for some Kobayashi magic moves where no car realistically should fit.
The evidence in Australia showed that the DRS was not able to complete all passes or even in some cases close the gap to a vehicle in front. This seemed to depend on the car in question, some teams have a more effective unit and can use it to a greater advantage, practice data showed that the Mercedes team were generating the highest top speeds with McLaren not too far behind. Racing conditions showed that McLaren's system works rather well as Button demonstrated on Massa (the second time round).
DRS In Malaysia
Looking ahead to the upcoming track where do I think the relevant zones will be placed, well the DRS zone (provided the FIA have not changed the rules by then which is not unlikely) will likely encompass the main straight as this is the most obvious passing opportunity. Based on this and how things were laid out in Albert Park the DRS activation line will be on the entrance to the final turn and drivers will be pressing the button on the exit as soon as they have enough grip. As for the detection line that could be placed on the exit of turn 14 which leads on to the back straight.
The effectiveness of the system may prove greater in Malaysia as the zone would be longer giving more time for drivers to draft the car in front and improve chances of a overtaking manoeuvre down into turn one. This is made more plausible by the nature of the opening corner which is much tighter than the one at Australia making it more accessible for passing rival vehicles.
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