Shortened single DRS zone for Canadian GP

2012 Canadian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

The FIA have confirmed details of the DRS zone for the Canadian Grand Prix. As well as reducing the number of DRS zones at Montreal from two to one, the single zone used will be shorter than last year.

During the race drivers will only be able to use DRS on the final straight but not on the pit straight, as they could last year (pictured).

In addition to tis, the DRS zone on the back straight has been shortened by over 100 metres. The activation point has been moved from 168m before the turn 12 (a kink in the straight taken flat-out) to 60m before it.

The detection point remains at the exit of the turn ten hairpin, as was the case last year.

Here’s the position of the DRS zone for this weekend’s race:

2012 Canadian Grand Prix

    Browse all 2012 Canadian Grand Prix articles

    Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    39 comments on “Shortened single DRS zone for Canadian GP”

    1. Isnt that straight an easy tow and pass anyway?

      1. Yep. It is completely illogical.

        1. Agreed! The cars need no assistance in overtaking there! Down the main straight would make more sense, but still ruin quite a few duels of acceleration out of the T14/15 chicane.
          Something like between T7 and T8 would be a lot more interesting and provide some opportunities that would not otherwise be present without making it an overtaking blood bath.
          Of cause the best solution would of cause be no DRS. This track just don’t need it.

          1. Couldn’t agree more, between T7 & T8 would be a perfect spot to have DSR. Surely they can see that, do they all have the blinkers on or is there a bigger agenda? I wish the drivers & teams would voice up a little more and take control of there sport. It was always exciting to see who was brave enough to make the move into T13 chicane and now DSR has made that move non creditable. Drivers will always sit and wait for that opportunity instead of taking a risk at any other corner. I am still on on the fence when it comes to DSR however I am finding myself moving more towards the negative side. This decision is a real shame. Some of the historic greats have every right to laugh at this manufactured soap show…

      2. @ivz Yep! it is… it’s been a great overtaking spot since ever…

        I don’t understand why they chose easy places to overtake and make them… err… easier still! They should put it at an improbable place. Maybe between turn 7 and 8. That way they’d give two overtaking spots per lap…!

      3. While I dont think this circuit needs DRS, if we have a dry race, this activation zone could be interesting. It might make the pass easier in a netural place, but it gives a bit of technical challenge for the teams. Setting up the 7th gear is now tricky, with DRS on the back straight you could reach 310-320 kph without DRS about 300-310, thats a huge difference, but if you put the zone between T7 and T8, you cannot reach top end with DRS, so teams could set up their car like if they dont have DRS at all. This zone gives the teams a choice, and depending on every teams decision we could se many overtakes, not just before T13, but also T1,T6,T8 (Especially if we dont have the marbles everywhere).

    2. still looks very long. i thought it was that length last year too! good change anyway

    3. I’d have actually put it on the start/finish straight.

      1. I think given that they’re experimenting with it it would make sense to put it on the pit straight too. We could then make comparison to a long straight without DRS vs. a short straight with it.

        1. Someone is going to misjudge braking under DRS and smack into the wall of champions for sure!

          1. Unlikely as they would just go on straight. To hit it they would have to misjudge the exit out of the last chicane. Taking too much speed and an unstable rear are the most common methods of making the list on the wall :) !

          2. The DRS zone ends way before they get near the braking point.

        2. Were making progress…

          From two ridiculous DRS zones last year, to now just one and knowing it is shorter makes me wonder if next year we might have NONE…..which would be best for Formula One.

          The power of momentum…..

    4. DRS, a system designed to counteract the inability of F1 cars to get close through corners, has its detection point on the exit from a hairpin.

      OK.

      1. Makes no sense whatsoever. Especially as the hairpin is itself preceded by a series of straights and other slow corners. I don’t think there’s a single justified place for DRS based on their explanation of why DRS was introduced in F1.

      2. To be fair, driving through the hairpin has probably less aerodynamic influence on the car behind than let’s say having the DRS detection point after the 130R in Suzuka.

        I still agree and think the placement would be better off in or before the corner.

      3. It’s nonsensical. I had a long debate with someone last week who didn’t seem to get that DRS doesn’t actually do anything about the turbulent/dirty air when following another car through corners. Often, all it does is make passing too easy on straights.

        Well, at least they’re reducing the number of zones. Hopefully soon it will be zero.

    5. So how many push of a button boringly dull passes will we see this year?

      I bet we don’t see a single intresting pass down that straght all thanks to this silly sysyem.

      I still see no reason as to why they always put DRS in the place where we see overtaking anyway, That just ensures that DRS will work too well & create the sort of easy/boring passes which gets the system more disliked.

      1. Keith ran an article a few weeks ago describing how the number of DRS-assisted passes in 2012 has actually come down from 2011 at almost every circuit on the calendar.

        1. Total number of DRS passes may be down on 2011 but it doesn’t mean that the passes DRS is producing are any less boring to watch than in 2011.

          I like to see & enjoy to watch good, competitive & exciting overtaking & DRS simply does not produce this.

          I went into 2011 totally open on DRS, I didn’t like or dislike it & wanted to wait & see what the effect it had was. As 2011 went on I ended up disliking DRS for reasons above & have only found myself disliking it more & more through 2012.
          every time i see a DRS pass I feel robbed of a good fight & potentially great overtake.

    6. I hoped it was shortened to zero.

      I know I’ve got to accept it, but I can’t on tracks like this.
      It adds nothing, it’s really unnecessary.

      The underlying aero problem hasn’t been fixed. Maybe F1 does need homologated chassis’ and free engines and drivetrains. I don’t know, it’s nice they try, but the solution is not final for me.

    7. I don’t think this track really needs DRS, It produced great races anyway. But since they are using DRS here why on the main overtaking spot? Start/Finish straght or the run down the straght to the hairpin would be better places.

      I still think F1 is using DRS completely the wrong way as far as creating better racing goes, Most of the DRS passing is too easy & extremely unexciting to watch. I want to see some good battles & some exciting overtaking rather than the sort of easy looking passing DRS produces.

      I’ve been watching the Renault World Series this year & they have introduced DRS this year but its a different system to F1 & I think it works far better.

      Rather than the main element of the rear wing opening to drop a lot of drag, They have a flap that opens on the lower element which acts like the F-Duct did, Reducing drag by stalling the rear wing. This system generates a lower speed gain & only gives enough to pull you alongside rather than drive you all the way past.

      Also there is no 1 second gap, detection point or activation zone. Instead drivers are given 900 seconds (15 Minutes) of DRS useage time which can be used anywhere around the circuit & also be used to attack or defend.

      This not only introduces some strategy regarding when/where you use your DRS but because it can be used by the defending driver as well as the attacking driver its also produced some good battles into the braking zones & some good side-by-side racing down the straghts. Also even when the defending driver is also using DRS the car behind still seems to get a good tow so its not as if both using it prevents the attacking car from been able to have a go.

      I think WSBR is using DRS like Formula 1 should be if there going to keep it around!

      1. That is much better system. 1000% more logical than what we currently have.

      2. Can i ask how does it work in Qualifying in this formula? Everyone having unrestricted DSR kind of almost negates the situation in terms of lap time. A time allowance may work nicely however I am not 100% for Q3 as I like to see the best drivers going head to head without any DSR consideration.

        1. I actually like the idea of DRS in quali…courageous drivers can open it earlier out of corner and post better lap times!

      3. that’s a great system! but current F1’s DRS system can be somehow saved if the defending car is also allowed to have DRS while the gap behind is less than a second…this way both cars (for example P2 and P3) will get closer to P1 which will be a little compensation for their tyre wear in dirty air.

    8. It’s difficult to draw judgment really on how necessary DRS is. I think that unless you can put the same cars on the same track both with and without DRS it’s all too easy to look back with the benefit of hindsight. It’s alright saying that this track produces decent races without DRS but I honestly think that most race excitement is just down to a particular day. There are too many variables to attribute a good or bad race to just DRS.

      That said however, I’m glad we’ve got a relatively radical change to one of the races from last year. It might help give us an idea of how useful DRS is though I suspect it will be near impossible to draw many definite conclusions.

      1. How about an entire season without DRS to make a truely fair comparrion to the actual benefits of this pretty unpopular form of technology. If the 2013 season was to not use DRS at all and at seasons end a committee of current, former drivers along with track owners, FIA officials and some media reps were to have an open discussion whose purpose was to completely analize the all sides of the DRS debate in hopes that a true and realistic fact based decision about its merits could be determined. That way all of us could really see if racing is affected both positively or negatively by continued use of DRS. I believe that proceeding in this manner would ultimately create a baseline of facts that would make a true measure of the use of DRS…

    9. I think they should be encouraging non-DRS overtakes more. At Gilles Villeneuve, the best way to do this would be to have the DRS zone between turn 9 and the hairpin, then cars could get close together out of the hairpin and pull exciting, skillful overtakes without DRS down the long strait.
      Only at circuits where it’s difficult to overtake, such as Catalunya, should DRS be used down the longest strait, otherwise it should be used to increase the potential for a pass, not as a free overtake.

    10. I too remain puzzled that they don’t use DRS to create a new overtaking opportunity when a track already has a place where overtakes are possible, like here with that straight. It seems very limited thinking. Still, I think with this placement of the zone, it is at least a good idea to shorten it a bit, as not much seems needed here to make an overtake work.

      I agree with @andrewtanner that we’ll just have to see how the race works, and even then won’t be able to judge accurately how DRS affected it (but many will of course be judging nevertheless :)

    11. Go away DRS. Go away Bernie. Go away endurance ‘racing.’
      I’m on the brink of giving up on F1 here, sorry for my negative comments but just got to get it out of my system.

    12. i still think the zone is the same length as last year. i was playing f12011 and the DRS activation is at the same point as on that map.

    13. i love DSR.

    14. Stupid positioning of the DRS on the back straight. it should be on the start-finish straight, between 7-8 or before the hairpin. In short, anywhere but where it is now.

    15. i agree that DRS passing is generally dull, but surely all the nay-sayers are forgetting the race last year. without DRS, Button would have been unable to clear drivers like schumacher and webber as quickly as he did, and we wouldn’t have had the last lap decider that we did.

      My point is that all exciting races are circumstantial. another example is the 2003 canadian gp (i think) in which ralf schumacher was much faster than michael, but the Williams was geared too short so he couldn’t get past on the back straight. lap after lap, he would get right into the slipstream but was unable to make the pass stick (michael was very good on the brakes, if i remember correctly).

      This was exciting but entirely dependent on circumstance: if the Williams was geared longer, ralf would have breezed past at the first opportunity.

      Another example is barcelona last year – hamilton could close right up to vettel with his DRS, but not quite close enough to pass. this made for a very tense last few laps. again, pure circumstance: without DRS he would never have got close on the straight.

      1. i agree that DRS passing is generally dull, but surely all the nay-sayers are forgetting the race last year. without DRS, Button would have been unable to clear drivers like schumacher and webber as quickly as he did, and we wouldn’t have had the last lap decider that we did.

        So what?
        I’d have much rather seen Button having to really fight his way past other drivers rather than just have to push a button & cruise easily & boringly past.

        DRS may well have helped Button win last year’s race, However it also robbed Schumacher of a well deserved & hard fought podium after he had driven a brilliant race.
        Watching him totally defenceless as Button & Webber easily breezed by him was embarrassing to watch.

        DRS has no place in F1 in its current form.

    Comments are closed.