Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, have promised to provide two DRS zones at the majority of the next year’s races, after it was confirmed last weekend that the DRS device would only be available to the drivers through the designated zones on the track. During the race, the device can only be activated if a driver is within a second another competitor.
However, during the three practice sessions and qualifying throughout a Grand Prix weekend, the DRS device can be deployed on any part of the track. This particular rule has been in place since the device’s introduction to the sport last season, however the use of the DRS will be limited from 2013 onwards. It’s unquestionable that the device has seen a huge increase in overtaking during a race, and to make sure the amount of overtaking is not affected by this rule change, the FIA have promised to make sure two DRS zones are provided for each of next year’s 19 races.
Some races on the calendar already provide two DRS zones, such as Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit and India’s Buddh International Circuit. However the majority of the races on the calendar only consist of one DRS overtaking zone, either down the main start/finish straight or the back straight. The Monaco Grand Prix for example features no true straights, therefore making the only viable location for the DRS zone down the start/finish straight, with the use of the device through the tunnel still prohibited.
Lotus’s technical director James Allison believes this new change of the rules pertaining to the DRS will still see many overtaking maneuvers during the race, as the teams up and down the grid will gear their cars accordingly so as to benefit from deploying the device throughout the various zones during both qualifying and the race. Currently the DRS device is deployed during the vast majority of the lap throughout practice and qualifying, as the drivers strive to squeeze as much pace as possible out of their cars. This has led to some hairy moments for the drivers, as activating the device too soon through a corner can lead to the drivers loosing rear downforce almost instantly.
"Rather than it being free in qualifying and practice, you’re not only allowed to use it on the DRS straight itself, but in order to make sure there’s still a high incentive to optimize the car in qualifying, there’ll be more than one DRS straight at each track," explained James Allison to Sky Sports. “So it’s more of the lap. If you can imagine a qualifying lap being pretty much the whole lap that the DRS was on, it moves away from that - but it doesn’t move to just one DRS straight. So there’s still a fair chunk of the lap where DRS is still useable. But it’s useable on the straights, so it’s not stressful for the drivers. And there’s still sufficient of the DRS being used in qualifying to give a good incentive to gear the car for it, which means there’ll still be a reasonable overtaking power when it comes to the race."
The DRS device was the main instigator in Lewis Hamilton’s race-winning maneuver on Sebastian Vettel during last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, after the Briton managed to get within one second of the reigning World Champion. Some overtaking maneuvers with the assistance of the device have, however, been criticized as too easy, with Jacques Villeneuve in particular unhappy with the introduction of the device. Either way, it has produced some superlative overtaking maneuvers, despite some of them admittedly being way too easy.
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