[Rules] DRS set to be limited for next season

[Marbot]

According to Mark Webber, there is unanimous agreement among the drivers for the DRS to be limited in free practice and qualifying just as it is in the race. This will mean that qualifying will only allow the use of DRS from the activation point used for the race itself.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2...be-restricted/

[bella]

has there been any accidents so far as a result of dodgy drs usage in fp or qualifying, or are they just applying common sense?

[Marbot]

Webber: “There have been a few incidents where people have gone off because they were pushing the boundaries of using DRS,”

Adrian Sutil/Melbourne springs to mind. But I think there were others, either in free practice or qualifying.

[crmalcolm]

The gpupdate story seems to be taken from Webber's own column with the BBC.
'Renault's Bruno Senna had a crash in Suzuka, I had one on Friday in Hungary, and one of my team-mate Sebastian Vettel's practice crashes was caused by that, too.
So the drivers are almost unanimous that they would prefer the use of DRS outside of a race to be limited'

I wonder if 'the drivers' he refers to are just the few who have pushed too hard, all with Renault power?
Surely the answer is don't push too hard?

[browney]

They could just get rid of it all together and keep the soft degrading tyres, that is enough of a spice up.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by browney

They could just get rid of it all together and keep the soft degrading tyres, that is enough of a spice up.

You say that, but I have the feeling that Pirelli are going a little bit conservative on us.

Also, people moan about things like tyre marbles and some drivers are being unfairly singled out for their ability to look after their tyres.

[Peat]

limiting in practice/qualy negates it's use in the race significantly. The cars would have to be forced to run a longer 6th/7th cog to make DRS work, otherwise they will just hit the limiter.

[Marbot]

Agreed. It will take that element of strategy away. Some drivers often opted for a longer gear in qualifying when the wing was used more often.

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by Mark "The Journeyman Driver's Journeyman Driver" Webber

“There have been a few incidents where people have gone off because they were pushing the boundaries of using DRS,”

erm, isn't that the point of FP, to explore the boundries? Or am I being stupid?

Personally I'd say let 'em use it wherever and whenever they want in FP / qually / race. Make it a testicular measuring contest which is really all that racing is anyway!

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Personally I'd say let 'em use it wherever and whenever they want in FP / qually / race. Make it a testicular measuring contest which is really all that racing is anyway!

By allowing DRS to be used everywhere in the race you then defeat the object of the excercise, which is to allow a car that has caught up to a slower car to be able to pass it without it being eternally stuck in its wake.

And if racing is all about testicular measurement, then F1 is most definitely not at the pinnacle of that particular department.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Agreed. It will take that element of strategy away. Some drivers often opted for a longer gear in qualifying when the wing was used more often.

You can't change the gears after qualifying because of Parc Fermé, so you have to go with a compromise.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by strider

You can't change the gears after qualifying because of Parc Fermé, so you have to go with a compromise.

I noted that just before the race, Button had told Martin Brundle that Hamilton had elected to run a higher gear than him in qualifying because it would help in qualifying, but he would be stuck with it for the race. Which, more than ever, leads me to believe that Vettel would have disappeared off into the distance had he managed to get beyond one second ahead of Hamilton in the first two laps. As it turned out.....

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

erm, isn't that the point of FP, to explore the boundries? Or am I being stupid?

What? You want driver to push? Explore boundaries? You can't have that. You just can't. It might make it a challenge.

So we've seen that we have had too many marbles OR too conservative tyres. Too much DRS OR boring races. F1 will always be pants.

[Richard C]

I would say...

* DRS without restriction during FP. Anywhere, anytime.
* DRS only in the DRS zones in qualifying. However there would be no requirement to be behind anyone before you can use DRS.
* Normal DRS rules during the race.

I am guessing that the accidents and offs are due to teams trying to push the envelope during FP and qualifying for purposes of optimizing free use of DRS "for qualifying". If there is no DRS outside of the DRS zones during qualifying, then there is no need to try to explore DRS at the extreme limits during FP.

But by allowing free usage of DRS in FP they still get to experiment and do normal setup tasks such as DRS specific gearing, etc. You would think this would lead to less accidents and offs due to DRS use outside of DRS zones. This would take away the DRS games/strategies that happen during qualifying due to their current free use.

Richard

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

I would say...

* DRS without restriction during FP. Anywhere, anytime.
* DRS only in the DRS zones in qualifying. However there would be no requirement to be behind anyone before you can use DRS.
* Normal DRS rules during the race.

I am guessing that the accidents and offs are due to teams trying to push the envelope during FP and qualifying for purposes of optimizing free use of DRS "for qualifying". If there is no DRS outside of the DRS zones during qualifying, then there is no need to try to explore DRS at the extreme limits during FP.

But by allowing free usage of DRS in FP they still get to experiment and do normal setup tasks such as DRS specific gearing, etc. You would think this would lead to less accidents and offs due to DRS use outside of DRS zones. This would take away the DRS games/strategies that happen during qualifying due to their current free use.

Richard

Why would they need to practice using DRS anywhere in FP if they can't use it freely in any session that counts?

[ECW Dan Selby]

Here's a really odd/random idea. I'm not sure if it really works, but..

Could they not use DRS anywhere on track during races, but say, instead of there being 1/2 designated straights, how about if a driver is within 1 second of another driver, for say, 3 seconds, he gets DRS? So it's kind of the slip stream effect (which was one of the main objects of DRS, to recreate that effect we've lost over time).

Selby

[Bononi]

What about no DRS at all in qualifying ?

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by Adam43

So we've seen that we have had too many marbles OR too conservative tyres. Too much DRS OR boring races. F1 will always be pants.

I've quite enjoyed this season, and last year! I must be a heathen or have to start my own F1 forum... oh... wait!!!

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Bononi

What about no DRS at all in qualifying ?

Good idea. At least you would see how fast a car is in 'normal' trim.

Unfortunately there would still be the issue of cars running a 7th gear that wouldn't be optimal when the DRS was being used in the race (if the car was geared for optimum performance in qualifying, it would immediately hit the rev limiter when the DRS was used in the race). But that's no different to the choice that drivers already have in qualifying.

[Dead-Eye]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

Here's a really odd/random idea. I'm not sure if it really works, but..

Could they not use DRS anywhere on track during races, but say, instead of there being 1/2 designated straights, how about if a driver is within 1 second of another driver, for say, 3 seconds, he gets DRS? So it's kind of the slip stream effect (which was one of the main objects of DRS, to recreate that effect we've lost over time).

Selby

I remember hearing that the reason why using DRS is allowed even behind lapped cars is because it would be too complicated to implement otherwise...allowing it to be used dynamically would be much more complicated.
I still say take it off or allow it to be used anywhere by anyone, and the advantage goes to the driver who is brave enough or has more grip, not to the one who happens to be behind.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

I still say take it off or allow it to be used anywhere by anyone, and the advantage goes to the driver who is brave enough or has more grip, not to the one who happens to be behind.

May as well get shut, because bravery will probably result in something that will end up getting it banned.

The main reason for its use was to improve overtaking, and not for increasing the chances of an accident.

[TrapezeArtist]

It ain't broke. Don't waste effort trying to fix it.

[luke g28]

People have gone off because they are pushing the limits of tire grip under cornering or braking etc. Dont think thats a good reason to ban it, its another differentiator a car that has spare grip can open the DRS for a better lap time. I wholly approve of the way it is used in qualy. What limiting would do would be to make the gear selection easier for the race (stop the RBRs bouncing off the limiter and being vulnerable..).

[raymondu999]

Is it really unanimous? I find that hard to believe. Maybe it was a motion brought forth by those who are less daring on DRS opening - those drivers who are constantly opening DRS later than their teammates. Schumacher and Webber come to mind.

[JamesH]

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

I remember hearing that the reason why using DRS is allowed even behind lapped cars is because it would be too complicated to implement otherwise...allowing it to be used dynamically would be much more complicated.

Pretty sure that excuse is nonsense. If the system at the DRS detection point knows there is a car within 1s, then it could also knows which car. All the cars have transponders which identify them, there is also computer that know where everything is on the track at any one time, and which lap the cars are on.

Not a difficult problem to solve with the money available.