DRS suggestion

[PeteJ]

Ok, I know that this will never be considered by the FIA, but thought it would be worth discussion.

I was watching the race the other day(I DVR them) and it occured to me that the DRS works backwards. The intent was to make for more passing and I suppose that works as an aid to facilitate the pass, but to me the excitement of racing in to watch two drivers jockeying for position to make a pass.

It occured to me that DRS makes passing less interesting by giving the trailing car an advantage. Why not allow the wing slot to open anywhere on the track until you get within 2 seconds of another car. This would allow someone to catch up and then fight for the pass on a level playing field.

To me that would be much more exciting than watch a slower car blow by with the aid of a cheat. What do you think?

[jaykay]

The reasoning behind DRS is the sensitive aero of the cars.
They have no problem catching up with a car, but when they get behind another one, the aero is messed up, they lose grip in the corners, can't follow and so can't set up a move for the following straight.
DRS in essence gives them the advantage they need to actually overtake.
It's of course a band aid for the underlying problem and not a real solution.
It would be best to take the aerodynamics away from the engineers, but that has been tried unsuccessfully for more than a decade now...

[willster127]

I'm one of the minority that thinks they shouldn't take the downforce away!!! It's what makes these cars so awesome IMO!!! However, they should take it from the top of the car and put it underneath, go back to ground effects, massive downforce, no sensitive aero parts up top, problem solved!!

I think in addition they should look at lengthening braking distances too, the brakes are so good that the distance to the corner is minimal to really make it stick in a pass, increase braking distance, get the drivers modulating the pedal again as the load transfers from front to back, the skilful guys will make passes all day long.

But please, keep the downforce, anyone that's seen these things go through fast corners would whole heartedly agree, It's mind blowing!!

[Indy1977TX]

Cool idea but not sure how it would work as the aero balance would be changed by the rear wing manipulation.

Jordan

[JamesB]

OK, a band aid, but after all altering the aerodynamics so a car with a 0.5 sec/lap advantage passes relatively easy when it "gets there", would also be.
They try to adjust DRS areas s the ease of overtaking s similar to that of ground effect cars, for instance.
I think is ne of the less bad things they have done.

[stubeck]

I think we'd still be in the same situation we are now as the cars hit the wall within 1.5-2 seconds and need to be 2 seconds a lap faster to have a chance.

Something big has to be done soon as interest in the series is dwindling I feel with the silly penalty rulings not helping a thing. Making it so the car following doesn't wash out on the front end and lose half a second on corner exit is the biggest thing they need to resolve. I was watching old races and its amazing seeing how close cars are in the late 80's early 90's on the exit of the last turn in Suzuka versus what they have now.

We also need tracks which have an actual penalty for going off track. That made old races interesting because you never knew when a slight mistake would force a retirement. Now you lose a few tenths and are back on the track.

[Joaquin]

I think in addition they should look at lengthening braking distances too, the brakes are so good that the distance to the corner is minimal to really make it stick in a pass, increase braking distance, get the drivers modulating the pedal again as the load transfers from front to back, the skilful guys will make passes all day long.

Exactly. We need only steel brakes, aero that doesn't disturbs too much the car behind and tyres not destroyng because of long time behind. That's all to get overtaking again.

And please, no more care of fuel compsumption. F1 are sprint races!!!

[indygp2001]

'Sounds to me like they should use DRS at Indianapolis - as this seems like it could eliminate the serious problems they have with turbulence causing crashes in the turns...perhaps a modified kind...hmm...

[cbk57]

Trying to solve passing reflects a fundamentle miss understanding of F1 by the FIA, the fans and everyone else. Traditional F-1 was about the raw speed to qualify on the front and drive flat out until the end of the race. Passing should not be the goal, the goal was to qualify upfront. Passing is difficult to on a road course anyway. If I could make rule changes, I would regulate safety, the fuel type and to a lesser degree than now limit engines. Open the rule book on aero, just dimensional limits on the size of the car. Give them more room on engine development than they have now. Maybe there would be no passing but make the cars fast and see what happens.

[PeteJ]

We also need tracks which have an actual penalty for going off track. That made old races interesting because you never knew when a slight mistake would force a retirement. Now you lose a few tenths and are back on the track.

I was noticing this at Paul Ricard this week end. Going off the track is no big deal. I understand safety and all, but the penalty for not staying between the line needs to be a significant. Gravel traps, really rough curbing, what ever. Mistakes need to have consequences.