Lewis Hamilton says the Drag Reduction System will make for an “intense” qualifying session at Monza.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s race, Hamilton said: “With unlimited use in qualifying, and those four long straights, I think qualifying’s going to be pretty intense.
“We’ll be 20kph faster at four key points of the circuit, so our qualifying times are going to be much faster than in the race. That should be pretty exciting.”
Monza regularly sees the fastest straight-line speeds of the year. In qualifying last year Jaime Alguersuari hit 348.7kph (216.7mph).
Hamilton added: “For the race, you’ll also need the downforce, though, because you’ll want to be quick enough out of the second Lesmo and Parabolica to be in with a chance of challenging for position down the following straight.”
Jenson Button added: “It’s going to be the usual difficult trade-off between drag and downforce to find the ultimate package for the race.
“Last year, Lewis and I opted to follow two different paths – Lewis went for the low-downforce configuration and I went for more grip, at the expense of straight-line speed. That meant that, although I had the lap time, I didn’t quite have the opportunity to mount an attack for the lead, because I couldn’t get close enough along the straights to have a go into the braking areas.
“But I think things will be a little more mixed-up this year. For the second time this season, we’ll have two distinct DRS zones, with two potential passing opportunities.
“The first zone’s going to be interesting because it’s always been very tough to challenge for position under braking for Ascari – the track’s pretty narrow and it’s a fast entry – so I’ll be really interested to see how well DRS will work into that corner – we might see some pretty spectacular moves.
“I think the more conventional passing opportunity will come from the second DRS zone, getting as close as possible into Parabolica, holding on through the corner – which won’t be straightforward – and then deploying DRS down the start/finish straight before, hopefully, passing into turn one.”
2011 Italian Grand Prix
Image © McLaren
Magnificent Geoffrey (@magnificent-geoffrey)
2nd September 2011, 12:09
I’m amazed that the DRS boost will be as severe as Lewis believes it will be, considering that I imagined they’d be running minimal downforce to begin with.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
2nd September 2011, 12:12
Yeah, I agree, and I think that considering the big DRS zones, the FIA also don’t expect DRS to be a big aid.
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd September 2011, 22:00
I think its rather the other way around. By putting in place 2 DRS zones, the FIA tries to get teams to consider running more downforce to make it more variables in the race as well as giving the DRS more of a chance to be of use.
MuzzleFlash
2nd September 2011, 12:21
Likewise, though I suppose because drag squares with speed and the power required to overcome it is cubed, even the tiniest bit of wing they can take off at Monza speeds results in a decent advantage.
Still not convinced it’ll be as much as 20kph, unless they use it as an excuse to run more wing overall.
streetfightingman
2nd September 2011, 12:32
Well, we might see same top speeds as last year but with more DF. i.e faster laptimes. I don’t know if that will be a viable option though since they do have to get through the race and passing should be quite simple if you have 10-20 kph higher top speed without even deploying DRS…
andrewf1 (@andrewf1)
2nd September 2011, 13:59
Well he didn’t actually say it is going to be a huge boost with DRS, he only said ‘qualifying will be pretty intense’ because of all drivers being able to deploy DRS pretty much everywhere on track.
Lex
2nd September 2011, 14:10
i guess everybody is thinking the same thing except Hamilton. for watever reason hamilton is thinking that i cannot figure out…
Icthyes (@icthyes)
2nd September 2011, 14:27
It seems an odd number to pluck out of thin air, but I think MuzzleFlash’s comment could explain it.
Jaco
2nd September 2011, 12:09
“That meant that, although I had the lap time, I didn’t quite have the opportunity to mount an attack for the lead, because I couldn’t get close enough along the straights to have a go into the braking areas.”
Uhm… Button was leading the first 35 laps…
Kiril Varbanov
2nd September 2011, 12:35
Yeah, but he had Alonso all over him, less than second behind – probably Jenson doesn’t consider that as being in P1 :)
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
2nd September 2011, 13:04
I think he was referring to when he was trailing Alonso after the pit stops.
matt90 (@matt90)
2nd September 2011, 15:07
Exactly, as soon as he lost position he wasn’t going to recover it by overtaking.
Erik
3rd September 2011, 8:20
Actually he would have recovered it by overtaking, that’s how racing works XD
Joking aside, exactly, he couldn’t do anything after the pit-stops
TommyB (@tommyb89)
2nd September 2011, 12:11
*dreams of another Toro Rosso pole at Monza*
Alfie
2nd September 2011, 15:49
Yes, please! Considering Senna knocked Jaime out of 5th at Belgium :(
Becken
2nd September 2011, 16:22
How’s the weather forecast to Monza? Some rain could help like in 2008. ;)
Fixy (@)
2nd September 2011, 18:24
Rain = no DRS. True, performance in the rain is more levelled up, but the order wouldn’t change much.
Q85
3rd September 2011, 10:19
the order would throw the likes of michael in the mix.
lewymp4 (@lewymp4)
3rd September 2011, 22:37
Please no more rain!!!
Soumya
8th September 2011, 11:47
What about the prospective ‘artificial cloud’?
ob1 (@ob1)
2nd September 2011, 13:47
This will prove a bit of a headache for drivers and engineers as to how much rear wing they should start with, no point in having too much if you can’t get close enough to the guy in front to activate the DRS
KnottyBwoy
2nd September 2011, 14:46
I think, with redbull’s over-rated downforce, their rear wing will be as small as their side mirrors to reduce downforce for this circuit.hehehe.:-)
SupaSix-1
2nd September 2011, 15:02
2 DRS zones will make Monza into a farce.
F1 has become a joke with all these artificial gimmicks.
Mike
2nd September 2011, 15:39
… Or it might make for a very exciting race.
I’m honestly not that big a fan of the DRS, but I’d rather listen to you moan about F1 being a farce than everyone talking about passing being impossible.
I really wished they put the DRS zones on both the main straight and either the straight before or better yet, after it.
Pass and counter pass it would have been.
However it looks as if they have purposefully avoided that… Which leads me to ask… Why?
xxiinophobia (@xxiinophobia)
2nd September 2011, 18:37
Just speculating, but:
I think the reason for this is that with the plan for there to be two DRS zones, each with their own distinct detection and activation points, if you place them on adjacent straights, you pretty much force yourself to place the detection point in the middle of a corner sequence so that the detection point is far enough ahead of the activation point that the driver has time to learn the system can be activated and react accordingly.
Given that the driver is notified by a light on his dashboard, potentially that means the drivers are looking at their instruments when they should be watching the road.
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd September 2011, 22:03
I think you nailed it xxiinophobia (is that an existing phobia, or just made up, by the way?), they need to have a bit of space between DRS zones to fit in the 2nd detection point.
ob1kenobi.23 (@ob1kenobi23)
3rd September 2011, 0:11
Is it possible to use a heads up display in an F1 car or does this system require a surface of some kind to operate on. Please excuse my ignorance of this system.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd September 2011, 10:46
you would indeed need a place to project it on. In fighther jets its projected on a panel about the size of a 6″ diameter screen (although they are going bigger and bigger as well), so that might upset airflow.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
3rd September 2011, 12:52
Tired argument to be honest. F1 has always been one for innovation, usually they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong.
However, the fact that they responded to one of last years complaints (a lack of over-taking) they should at least be commended for trying.
Randy
3rd September 2011, 20:26
Funny how people like to form extreme opinions based on one tiny fact.
DRS is a facility available to everyone on the grid. It’s – for me at least – a joy to watch how the teams take a different approach of developing it (even if it’s McLaren v everyone else), look at it as another variable in a very strictly regulated sport. How doesn’t it add value to the show?
The second thing is that i’m very curious how DRS will alter the typically slightly boring processional Italian GP races, in fact i waited from the beginning of the season to see it in action at Monza, in my opinion it’s the last moment people should be hanging dogs on DRS.
Adrian J (@adrian-j)
2nd September 2011, 16:36
I think gearing, more than wing levels, will dictate their top speeds this year.
Think about it. Do you gear your car for qualifying when you’ll be able to use the DRS for the best grid slot, or do you gear it for maximum top speed in the race, knowing that when you use your DRS you’ll just bounce off the limiter and not get as much benefit from it?
I for one can’t wait.
Of course, no-one will follow Jenson’s lead from last year because he had the benefit of being able to use his F-Duct whenever he wanted…something that isn’t the case with the DRS…
sato113 (@sato113)
3rd September 2011, 2:01
avoid bouncing off the limiter at all costs! set gears for qualy :)
Alex W
4th September 2011, 13:01
They always gear the cars for raceday, lots of redlining in qualy….. If STR (or better) geared for Qualy they would get pole no problem, but demolished in the race.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
2nd September 2011, 21:46
As far as I can remember the rear wing is usually flat in Monza. So how is it going to the DRS work here? When DRS opens in another track, one section of the wing is flat “cutting the air like a knife” and so the speed increases for the loss of air friction… but in Monza, can it possibly be dangerous to lose so much grip?
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
3rd September 2011, 2:47
Will Button go for the same set up as he did last year,well if it rains like 2008 then that won’t be a bad idea.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
3rd September 2011, 12:53
Double DRS is going to be a lot of fun I think. You could see some great use of strategy.
I expect McLaren to do well but I think the RB7 sprung a surprise on them at Spa so it won’t be plain sailing.
Rob Wilson (@rob-wilson)
4th September 2011, 1:28
Yes there will be a lot of overtaking with 2 DRS zones on 2 massive straights but i can see the moves being done and dusted halfway down the straight, and thats not exciting at all. I would rather see a real battle for position and no actual overtake as oppose to this motorway style of overtaking which (on most circuits) DRS creates. The only way they can prevent this is to carefully balance how far down the straight they put the activation line so as to have cars side-by-side into the braking zone, perfect.
I’m not totally against DRS, in some races it does help to spice things up a bit and it does create a better form of entertainment for the casual fan, but as a fanatic I much prefer to see a “true” overtake as oppose to a gadget aided move.
Bäremans
6th September 2011, 10:01
We’ll have to wait and see. At Spa, DRS made overtaking too easy, so they need to look into that for next year.
But Monza is again a totally different circuit. Very low downforce, so rear wings will be set up almost flat. Meaning the gain from DRS will be limited. Perhaps they have 2 DRS zones because they expect one will not have sufficient effect to neutralise the dirty air. So one zone to close the gap, the second to make the pass.