FIA announces one Drag Reduction System zone for 2011 Japanese Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has confirmed only one Drag Reduction System zone for the upcoming 2011 Japanese Grand Prix due to be held this weekend, October 7-9.
The announcement has been made keeping in view the high-speed corners at the Suzuka racetrack especially the super-fast 130R corner. Therefore, excessive overtaking in a circuit that has so many fast corners would not be a great idea which is why the initially
planned two DRS zones for the race have been changed to only one.
The DRS trigger zone lies at the apex of turn 15. The DRS activation zone starts at turn 18 right after the cars pass the Casio triangle, and runs straight into the start/finish lane - the longest straight of the Suzuka circuit.
“In the past, overtaking has been really difficult here, so it will be interesting to see how the new rules affect the racing,” Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP commented.
This year the FIA had allowed to increase the number of DRS zones from one if the layout of the circuit allowed it. There have been quite a few races which included two DRS zones in the ongoing 2011 season.
FIA had made a similar announcement in the recently held Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay circuit, where a single DRS zone was used. The Marina Bay circuit, a bumpy and high-downforce racetrack called for a DRS zone that makes overtaking as effective
as possible. The Monza track, on the contrary had two separate DRS zones with two separate activation points. Monza has many quick turns and many long straights as a result of which we saw a lot of overtaking during the race.
Pirelli, the official tyre suppliers for Formula 1 teams have announced a set of medium and soft tyres for the race in Japan.
Let’s see how the single DRS zone helps the teams and their performance during the race at Suzuka this weekend.
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