FIA decides to restrict the use of DRS from 2013 – Formula 1 news
The FIA has decided to restrict the use of DRS during the practice sessions and the qualifying rounds from the next F1 season.
Previously, the technology was only restricted for use during the actual races, allowed only around the overtaking zones of the track so as to help the drivers. The restriction is being extended now, as explained by Charlie Whiting, the race director for
FIA.
“We are going to prohibit the use of DRS in qualifying and practice, except at the places it is going to be used in the race,” Whiting explained. “That's something we told the teams about the other day and it's something we are going to do for safety reasons.”
Whiting also insisted that the use of DRS is not similar to the use of throttle.
“We believe that there have been a number of incidents, of course one could argue that early deployment of DRS is not that different to throttle, for example, but the DRS is a sort of on-off switch and the throttle can be modulated so it's not quite the
same thing,” he said.
The exact reason for which the governing body introduced the DRS technology was to help the drivers overtake for positions during the races rather than the practice sessions and qualifiers. They only allowed it because at that time they were not sure how
much effective DRS will be. Now that they have the required information, they do not think that their decision will reduce the power of DRS. He believes that the teams are still at advantage and it will work the same way as before.
In the beginning, the FIA had not anticipated the technology to have such a massive impact on lap times. The engineers have told them to expect a difference of at most 0.4 seconds while the end result had reached 1.5 seconds, also depending on the type of
the circuit.
The FIA is of the opinion that even if the restriction has an adverse effect, then they always have the option of lengthening the DRS zones. They say it was necessary to take the decision to reduce the racing incidents reported to them by the drivers.
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