Romain Grosjean, Haas, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

DRS effect is much more powerful now – Grosjean

2019 F1 season

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The larger rear wings introduced for the 2019 F1 season have made the DRS effect much stronger, according to Romain Grosjean.

“Definitely when you don’t use your DRS you feel like a sitting duck on the straight,” said Grosjean when asked by RaceFans about the effect this year’s new rules have had on the cars.

“You’ve got a parachute on your back. So it will be interesting to see how into racing with it, and what’s happening. But the DRS effect is big now.”

The aerodynamic changes to the cars this year are intended to aid overtaking. But Grosjean says F1 should not over-react if it doesn’t see the desired results from the start of the season.

“I think we need to not overreact to the first race of this season,” he said. “Melbourne, there is not going to be a lot happening. I think we should see and then adjust depending on the time.”

While his team mate Kevin Magnussen believes the new front wings have made it easier to follow other cars more closely, Grosjean is still unsure.

“I haven’t really followed in a car yet to find out if that’s changed a lot or not,” he said.

“I was hoping when we were doing long runs that I could find someone and see how it would go.”

Grosjean added he isn’t concerned that the new front wings, which are now as wide as the entire car, will be more susceptible to damage at the start of the race.

“It was the case in 2012, 2013,” he said. “So I think yes they’re wider but should be alright.”

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12 comments on “DRS effect is much more powerful now – Grosjean”

  1. So on the one hand, cars can follow easier (in theory), which would make for more *real* overtaking and competitive racing.

    On the other hand, DRS is now even more powerful, which makes for even more *synthetic* overtaking.

    The sport can never make up its mind, can it.

    1. A stronger DRS *could* lead to shorter DRS zones at tracks where overtaking is already possible, leaving DRS as a small help instead of a guaranteed pass, while maybe allowing the rare overtake at tracks where it’s often nearly impossible (like Hungary, Monaco or even Melbourne).

      But that’s probably not gonna happen, and well have double DRS zones at tracks where overtakes are already common.

    2. As Brawn has said he would like to get rid of DRS eventually, but for now it is the method that has already been chosen to help and it has been proven to work. This change is to help it work better at more places until the problems causing cars being unable to follow closely can be properly fixed.

      The intent isn’t for the aero changes to fix cars being unable to follow this year. Just to see if reducing the outwash helps at all and is a design decision that heads in the right direction for the future.

      Some have said it’s a knee-jerk but it’s really not. It’s a controlled experiment with a very simple measurable change.

      1. My thoughts too. A controlled experiment with the intent to phase DRS out if the proposed changes work as intended. That is a big IF of course, but as opposed to the BE era, simply knowing that there are people like Ross Brawn behind this makes me quietly confident.

  2. Of course, this is exactly the plan. To increase the effect of DRS on tracks with short straights.

    What will be interesting to see is how quickly the DRS zones can be tuned correctly to make them powerful yet not overpowering.

    1. very true.. i think with fp1/2 data they should be able to make an overnight call. They might already have some reductions planned for longer straights. I hope so.

    2. @skipgamer Knowing FOM/FIA it’s virtually guaranteed nothing will be changed this season. They will ‘look into’ it next year.

    3. @skipgamer @ming-mong They will never be able to tune the DRS zones to work as intended on a consistent basis because how powerful DRS is at any time isn’t just down to the length of the zone.

      Wind direction, Wind speed, How close a car is entering the zone, Downforce levels & gear ratios on individual cars as well as how a driver gets out of the previous corner are all just as, If not actually more important than the length of the zones.

      There have been occasions where short zones have produced passes that are too easy & where long zones havn’t done much at all due to all these variables & even during the same race where it’s been too easy one moment & not effective enough a little later if wind speed/direction changes.

  3. @skipgamer I can’t stand the fact that they just don’t reduce the zone length. It should help get the car closer not make them fly past before they even hit the brakes.

  4. I’ve always wanted a DRS time allocation system both for attack & defense. More strategy would come into play and it would be a fairer system.

  5. Ah yes, DRS. My one true hope is that the 2021 regs are built on the foundations laid this year and we finally see the back of DRS (pun unintended) then.

  6. If the cars can follow more closely then nothing good can come from having a more powerful DRS. I honestly can’t understand their logic with this one. They have proven their inability to adjust DRS zones correctly in the past so where does that leave us? The season hasn’t even started and i’m already fearing the worst.

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