The main talking point from the Turkish Grand Prix was the Drag Reduction System (DRS) and whether it was making overtaking too easy and artificial. Here's my thoughts on it...
Let's start by saying why the DRS system was introduced in the first place. A main objective of the teams and the sport was to create more overtaking after a survey a few years back seen more than 80% of fans who answered saying more overtaking was the number one thing they wanted to see. A high figure indeed. Changes would come, the main things were in 2009 with the overhaul of the cars (front and rear wings, bodywork, adjustable front wing) We seen some good action initially but the very clever people of F1 were soon finding new ways of adding downforce and again the problem of cars following closely was occurring with regular ease. So the idea was developed of a rear wing which could be adjusted to reduce drag so a car could increase straight line speed behind another car and make up for the loss which you suffer in the dirty air. So the principle of the adjustable rear wing was to allow cars to have a better chance of overtaking when close to another.
A fair enough principle and when you look at the extra speed it gives a driver it would have probably helped cars get closer in the 2010 season but without too many passes where it was done before the braking zone. So i think it would have really helped things, especially on circuits like Valencia, Barcelona and Budapest where overtaking is very difficult. However this season has seen Pirelli come back to the sport and their tyres are much less durable than the Bridgestones of the past seasons. This has been a massive change in the dynamic of the racing. We've rarely seen this rate of degradation in recent years (Australia 2009 and Canada 2010). The problem of close racing has been fixed by this because there are more variable strategies and people with different levels of grip throughout the race. The DRS 'oversolves the problem' because when you have it coupled with better tyres it is easy to overtake
In the first stints of races this season we have seen good racing and barely any easy overtakes because the tyre wear between cars is relatively equal. So what the DRS has been brought in to do has actually worked well because we've had loads of close battles but never too easy. Come the pitstops and we get the split in strategies and then the chaos really begins as we get people on old tyres attacked by new tyres. So because of this cars are getting close, overtakes happen in unusual places and if they reach the DRS zone then it's just a slam dunk.
I agree that the DRS was too powerful at times in Turkey. A tail wind on race day seem to make the DRS an even stronger weapon than usual. What we should remember is that against the negative of some of these easy passes was a massive amount of battles into turn 12 as well as other duels around the track. There was loads of action and way more than in races of previous seasons. It's not a perfected thing yet but it is an improvement. Fans have spent years frustrated at the processional nature of Sunday afternoons and living in hope of some rain during a race just to make it interesting. This is now gone. The opening 4 races of the season have been 'normal' races. No rain, no safety cars, just a proper grand prix and 3 out of 4 have been crackers in my opinion.
It's important that the FIA continue to analyse the affect the DRS has. Personally i'd like to see the DRS zone reduced slightly. Doing this or moving it to a part of the track which isn't such an obvious overtaking spot would help spread things about a bit. Another option would be having 2 really short zones so a driver would get more regular but smaller 'boosts' so that the disadvantage of the dirty air is combated. Yet another option would be allowing each driver a certain amount of times to use the rear wing during a race. That would make it more strategic and less gimmicky. I still think the 1 second zone idea was a necessary one because that's how bad things had become regarding overtaking but now that we may have improved things it is less needed. The DRS is still a very clever device and has a place in Formula 1. It just isn't needed as prominently now we have the changes to the tyres. Another tweak could be to reduce the gap in the rear wing when the DRS is activated, hence reducing the extra speed gained.
There are other factors in the racing. I've mentioned the tyres and hailed them as a success. 4 stops was probably one too many in Turkey but China showed how the split between 2 and 3 kept the race in suspense until the end. Pirelli are learning all the time. Track design is also key. Just look at those brilliant final corners in Istanbul. Yet some circuits seem unable to simply stick a tight corner at the end of a long straight. It isn't that difficult for most places!
So lets be positive about the fact F1 is actually tackling the on track issues and have tried to improve things. There are still areas to work on but the sport is heading in a good direction. There's been a great buzz about the season so far, people are enjoying it and there is plenty of enthusiasm for what lies ahead in 2011.
So in conclusion, the fundamental issue of the cars being so aerodynamically good and the cars being so grippy remains. This growing issue triggered the creation of the DRS to help cars get close and produce more on track racing. The new tyres have given the teams a strategic and racing headache and allowed more variance in the tactics. Most of the simple passes have come when cars have had major differences in tyre compounds/wear. The DRS alone has helped create lots of action but coupled with other factors can become too powerful at times. However there have been lots of great battles this year to outweigh these negatives. It still needs more analysis and tweaking but the ingredients are there to create a new era of Formula One which delights old and new fans alike
Showing posts with label DRS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DRS. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Thursday, 21 April 2011
Hamilton supreme in Chinese classic
Another thrilling race in Shanghai as Lewis Hamilton ended Sebastian Vettel's winning run with a late race charge...
Hamilton soars as Button loses out: Jenson Button had a good start and was holding the lead ok in the first stint. Of course with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel close behind the timing of the first pitstop was key. McLaren ended up running a 3 stop strategy on both cars but the initial plan was to 2 stop. The team came out for Button on lap 14 but he didn't come in until the next lap. He then made a terrible error by pulling into the Red Bull box. That cost both him and Vettel time. One possible theory (and this is simply guesswork!) is that Button was trying to stay out for as long as possible to make a 2 stop work better but that the team, having seen others behind pit, were reacting to the pace of the likes of Rosberg and changing to a 3 stopper because of the speed of other cars. So perhaps there was quite a bit of radio conversation and who knows amidst the busy nature of racing in 2011 maybe Jenson got distracted at the key moment in the pitlane. His pace was subdued after that and he would eventually get outdone by Hamilton.
Indeed Hamilton had been compromised because he had to wait an extra lap to pit and fell back on worn tyres, being overtaken by Vettel and Felipe Massa in consecutive laps. However his second stint was better, aided by a fresh set of options he had saved. It was interesting that a week on from Malaysia he had made such an effort to do so and it was clear after qualifying that tyres were on his mind and that he had deliberately plotted a strategy designed to maximise his race performance. Going for the extra stop really played better into his more attacking style and into the final stint he was back in the hunt and did a clean job of taking the cars ahead for a great victory.
Vettel's streak broken as Webber fights back: Red Bull ended up with 2 cars on the podium yet the fact that disappointment was felt by the team shows how far they've come. Vettel got a poor start but recovered positions at the first stop to find himself behind Nico Rosberg. Red Bull went for a 2 stop strategy and although it turned out to be the wrong decision there wasn't much in it. Having done 15 laps in the race in his qualifying tyres, he only managed a 17 lap stint in the middle of the race. That left him 24 laps on the primes and it proved to be slightly too much to hold off Hamilton. One mistake i did feel Red Bull made was sending the German out for a second run in Q3 when it was pretty clear that pole position was in the bag. Easy to say with hindsight but Vettel's first run was a good one and he would have not eeked out much more time even if it had been needed. In previous seasons this would not have been a big deal but it seems that putting a heat cycle into these Pirelli tyres really does take some life out of them if they are then reused. Expect quieter qualifying sessions with the current circumstances.
On Saturday evening i was pondering the future of Mark Webber. Out in Q1, the 2 junior Red Bull drivers doing brilliantly in making the top 10 and a bit of pressure was building even at this early stage of 2011. Would he let his head drop or fight back? Sunday showed it was the latter as he come from 18th to take a superb podium. Qualifying was a poor show, he only used the prime tyres and the car seem fine. If it had not been surely they would have given him some options. Why they didn't give him more laps at least was bizarre from the team. Anyway his pace on Sunday was mighty and showed that the RB7 is still the quickest out there. There were some conflicting reports about whether he had his KERS working or not. The actual details were that it worked until lap 24. He actually could have remarkably beaten Vettel because he had an off early in the race which cost him around 4 seconds so without that he probably would have caught his team mate late on. We also seen from his race that using the prime tyre early could be a good tactic this year. If we get an early safety car at some races i can envisage drivers pitting to get rid of it or even pitting for it and pitting again a lap later just so they can get it out of the way.
Felipe finds some form: Felipe Massa was unhappy after the race. This is good though because rather than the mentality of "i beat Fernando, that'll do" it was a case of him wanting more from the afternoon. His pace was good for a 2 stopper and i felt that was the right approach from Ferrari because they didn't have the pace to the teams in front so it was worthwhile trying something different. Unfortunately for the Brazilian track position is not as important this year and he was caught by a few drivers late on. Still it was nice to see him in the mix and battling with the drivers at the front Not much to say on Alonso's race, the Spaniard didn't seem quick throughout and limped home a frustrated 7th.
F1 changes a roaring success: It really was a tremendous race and credit to Pirelli who seem have got it right with the tyres. The DRS system is making for much more close action. Some say it has made passing too easy. My response to that is that some of the overtakes are indeed 'simple' but for those few easy passes you get lots of good one's and good battles. It also created moves in other places. For example Hamilton was able to get close to Button with DRS which allowed him a chance of passing into turn 1. In my opinion we are much better with racing like this than than what we have witnessed in some other seasons. Remember we were at a circuit which has seen little overtaking in dry races. It also helps more variable strategies become viable. On Sunday we got over 80 overtakes and the whole race was absorbing and thrilling. A peak audience of 5 million in the UK says a lot as well.
There is some talk that in Turkey we could have 2 DRS zones, perhaps with just 1 activation zone. So say we had zone's on the back and pit straights. There would be an activation point before the first one and if you are within a second of another car you can then use your DRS in the 2 zones for that particular lap. Now i think that would be too much and is unneeded unless it is a case of having the zones made shorter. So rather than one big (800 metre) gain in the lap you could make two smaller (400 metre) gains. This could eliminate the 'easy' overtakes but still allow cars to get close. The FIA may trial this in Istanbul. Another way could be giving the drivers a finite amount to use it during the race but this doesn't seem to be in the pipeline for now anyway. i think it is feasible and certainly feel it would be a great way to make the KERS more tactical at least.
Hamilton soars as Button loses out: Jenson Button had a good start and was holding the lead ok in the first stint. Of course with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel close behind the timing of the first pitstop was key. McLaren ended up running a 3 stop strategy on both cars but the initial plan was to 2 stop. The team came out for Button on lap 14 but he didn't come in until the next lap. He then made a terrible error by pulling into the Red Bull box. That cost both him and Vettel time. One possible theory (and this is simply guesswork!) is that Button was trying to stay out for as long as possible to make a 2 stop work better but that the team, having seen others behind pit, were reacting to the pace of the likes of Rosberg and changing to a 3 stopper because of the speed of other cars. So perhaps there was quite a bit of radio conversation and who knows amidst the busy nature of racing in 2011 maybe Jenson got distracted at the key moment in the pitlane. His pace was subdued after that and he would eventually get outdone by Hamilton.
Indeed Hamilton had been compromised because he had to wait an extra lap to pit and fell back on worn tyres, being overtaken by Vettel and Felipe Massa in consecutive laps. However his second stint was better, aided by a fresh set of options he had saved. It was interesting that a week on from Malaysia he had made such an effort to do so and it was clear after qualifying that tyres were on his mind and that he had deliberately plotted a strategy designed to maximise his race performance. Going for the extra stop really played better into his more attacking style and into the final stint he was back in the hunt and did a clean job of taking the cars ahead for a great victory.
Vettel's streak broken as Webber fights back: Red Bull ended up with 2 cars on the podium yet the fact that disappointment was felt by the team shows how far they've come. Vettel got a poor start but recovered positions at the first stop to find himself behind Nico Rosberg. Red Bull went for a 2 stop strategy and although it turned out to be the wrong decision there wasn't much in it. Having done 15 laps in the race in his qualifying tyres, he only managed a 17 lap stint in the middle of the race. That left him 24 laps on the primes and it proved to be slightly too much to hold off Hamilton. One mistake i did feel Red Bull made was sending the German out for a second run in Q3 when it was pretty clear that pole position was in the bag. Easy to say with hindsight but Vettel's first run was a good one and he would have not eeked out much more time even if it had been needed. In previous seasons this would not have been a big deal but it seems that putting a heat cycle into these Pirelli tyres really does take some life out of them if they are then reused. Expect quieter qualifying sessions with the current circumstances.
On Saturday evening i was pondering the future of Mark Webber. Out in Q1, the 2 junior Red Bull drivers doing brilliantly in making the top 10 and a bit of pressure was building even at this early stage of 2011. Would he let his head drop or fight back? Sunday showed it was the latter as he come from 18th to take a superb podium. Qualifying was a poor show, he only used the prime tyres and the car seem fine. If it had not been surely they would have given him some options. Why they didn't give him more laps at least was bizarre from the team. Anyway his pace on Sunday was mighty and showed that the RB7 is still the quickest out there. There were some conflicting reports about whether he had his KERS working or not. The actual details were that it worked until lap 24. He actually could have remarkably beaten Vettel because he had an off early in the race which cost him around 4 seconds so without that he probably would have caught his team mate late on. We also seen from his race that using the prime tyre early could be a good tactic this year. If we get an early safety car at some races i can envisage drivers pitting to get rid of it or even pitting for it and pitting again a lap later just so they can get it out of the way.
Felipe finds some form: Felipe Massa was unhappy after the race. This is good though because rather than the mentality of "i beat Fernando, that'll do" it was a case of him wanting more from the afternoon. His pace was good for a 2 stopper and i felt that was the right approach from Ferrari because they didn't have the pace to the teams in front so it was worthwhile trying something different. Unfortunately for the Brazilian track position is not as important this year and he was caught by a few drivers late on. Still it was nice to see him in the mix and battling with the drivers at the front Not much to say on Alonso's race, the Spaniard didn't seem quick throughout and limped home a frustrated 7th.
F1 changes a roaring success: It really was a tremendous race and credit to Pirelli who seem have got it right with the tyres. The DRS system is making for much more close action. Some say it has made passing too easy. My response to that is that some of the overtakes are indeed 'simple' but for those few easy passes you get lots of good one's and good battles. It also created moves in other places. For example Hamilton was able to get close to Button with DRS which allowed him a chance of passing into turn 1. In my opinion we are much better with racing like this than than what we have witnessed in some other seasons. Remember we were at a circuit which has seen little overtaking in dry races. It also helps more variable strategies become viable. On Sunday we got over 80 overtakes and the whole race was absorbing and thrilling. A peak audience of 5 million in the UK says a lot as well.
There is some talk that in Turkey we could have 2 DRS zones, perhaps with just 1 activation zone. So say we had zone's on the back and pit straights. There would be an activation point before the first one and if you are within a second of another car you can then use your DRS in the 2 zones for that particular lap. Now i think that would be too much and is unneeded unless it is a case of having the zones made shorter. So rather than one big (800 metre) gain in the lap you could make two smaller (400 metre) gains. This could eliminate the 'easy' overtakes but still allow cars to get close. The FIA may trial this in Istanbul. Another way could be giving the drivers a finite amount to use it during the race but this doesn't seem to be in the pipeline for now anyway. i think it is feasible and certainly feel it would be a great way to make the KERS more tactical at least.
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