Red Bull driver Mark Webber wants DRS usage restricted outside of race Sundays – Formula 1 news
Red Bull driver Mark Webber said that almost all of the drivers feel that DRS usage should not be allowed during the practice and qualifiers.
Earlier in the season, Webber crashed his car during a practice run at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He activated the DRS too early on his RB7 and damaged the nose of it. Later in the season, Bruno Senna had similar fate at Suzuka. Other drivers have also faced
this problem.
Webber used his column on BBC to express his opinion on the issue.
“There's plenty to go into over the winter and part of the discussion will be a change the drivers would like to see,” he said. “At the moment, in the race you can only use the DRS in the designated zones - and then only if you are within a second of the
car in front at the 'detection point'. But in practice and qualifying you can use it whenever you like.”
“That has led to a few incidents this year where people have gone off because they were pushing the boundaries of using the DRS. Renault's Bruno Senna had a crash in Suzuka,” he further added.
He also mentioned his crash in Hungary and his teammate Sebastian Vettel’s as well, which the Aussie said was also a cause of improper usage of DRS.
Webber also suggested that the system should be restricted to pre-designated straights much like it is during races, which will stop drivers from using it when exiting corners in order to save time.
The Red Bull driver also said that the drivers are unanimous in their preference of restricting the DRS usage at designated parts even outside of the races. He did admit though it is a successful device when it came to the purpose of it, but explained that
it is only necessary during races.
There have been a few changes in recent years more notably the blown diffusers for the 2012 season. Whether the FIA will look into the DRS issue or not remains to be seen, although FIA has been very focused on the safety issues regarding Formula 1 and if
a tweak to the DRS rule can avoid crashes then it may as well get their nod.
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