Singapore’s second DRS zone ‘will have little effect’

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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The Marina Bay circuit in Singapore will have a second DRS zone for this year’s race but teams are doubtful how much of an effect it will have on racing.

The extra DRS zone will be on the pit straight with the detection point on the approach to turn 22. The original DRS zone at the exit of turn five leading to Memorial corner will remain.

However Lotus’s trackside operations director Alan Permane expects the extra DRS zone will do little to make it easier for drivers to pass each other.

“The additional DRS zone along the pit straight is very short so we wouldn’t expect that to have much of a bearing on overtaking,” said Permane.

“It may help a driver close up to the car in front through the opening sequence of corners, but even the original section from turn five to seven is quite a tricky place to make a move so it’s unlikely to have a major influence.”

The map below also gives an impression of how turn ten has been reshaped following the removal of the Singapore Sling chicane:

2013 Singapore Grand Prix

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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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...

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24 comments on “Singapore’s second DRS zone ‘will have little effect’”

  1. Michael Brown (@)
    18th September 2013, 16:04

    Well if it has a small effect then that’s good for the racing, so there won’t be lots of easy DRS passes but it can help during close battles.

  2. Yep – This is how it should be. Sticking them on tiny straights to try and open up another cheeky overtaking spot, not making great overtaking spots free passes!

    1. @ecwdanselby (and @lite992) – This. Exactly what DRS should be if it must be at all.

  3. This is how it should be. I still don’t understand why DRS is being used the way it has been?

    I don’t get it. Example:
    Canada – detection point right before the hairpin & then putting the DRS zone where there already is a ton of overtaking?

    Why can’t we send in our comments or opinions to the FIA?

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      18th September 2013, 18:57

      @keithcollantine Keith, you have gained a place in F1 comentators, you get some interviews with drivers, people in the paddock. Is there any way you can send the tons of comments about DRS you get and make the big people understand there’s something wrong with the way they handle it?

      1. @omarr-pepper Exactly ! @keithcollantine Is it plausible ? I know that the FIA may not listen to journalists that much but if you can somehow show them the stats of people , like a simple poll “do you like the way DRS is being used in F1” in F1F which would really shed some light about what we ,as spectators think , maybe it would make them contemplate a change of plans in the future ?

    2. Canada – detection point right before the hairpin

      Was actually a stupidly long way before the hairpin which led to this ridiculous display-
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXRbgnqIG_Q

      You see the DRS detection line just before they go under the advertising boards.

    3. Decrease downforce=decrease turbulent air. Easier overtaking and more edgy cornering. I miss the mid corner corrections and spins that close high pressure racing used to give us. Now it’s trains on rails. Increased driving and increased possibility for mistakes. That’s racing. It’s not all about cars overtaking on straights. Mid corner overtakes are much more exciting.

  4. Good. *grumpy cat face*

  5. *sigh*
    It’ll never happen with todays crazy health and safety rules, but I’d LOVE to see the activation point before the corner. It’ll be a real test of how early drivers can open up the DRS. I’d be fine with loads of DRS passes if they had to spend a few laps opening the DRS earlier and earlier to get more of an advantage. It’d be much more of a challenge, while still promoting overtaking.

    1. Why would someone open up DRS before a corner in which he wants as much downforce as possible? Any driver who needs more speed can brake later/lighter, but he certainly doesn’t want less downforce.

      1. Also the advantage of the lessened drag is much more prominent at high speed than at low speed (as it’s proportional to v^2).

  6. If they wanted it to be effective, wouldn’t it have been better to put the second zone after turn 13?

    It’d go from a slow corner and into a slow corner, instead of the very fast and difficult last corner where drivers have a hard time following each other.

    1. Not sure there is enough room in the braking area for turn 14 to catch them if something goes wrong (as it gets right next to turn 8 there). Also isn’t the track fairly narrow there with the part over the bridge?

    2. Exactly where I thought it should go.

      Not the longest straight, but with tyre degradation it becomes an option for overtaking and probably the point where it would be most effective.

  7. This new DRS zone was wrongly included by Codemasters in F1 2011.

    1. Thats because they had to guess where the DRS zones would be as the game was finished prior to this race. I cant remember if it was fixed by a patch or not.

  8. If the 2nd zone will have little effect why bother having a 2nd DRS zone?

    The ridiculous wahy the system is implemented & used is a big part of why I detest the whole DRS system.

    Just because they have DRS available on the cars does not mean DRS should be used on every circuit & just because ‘some’ circuits are seen to need a 2nd DRS zone does not mean that every circuit should have a 2nd DRS zone.

    Looking ahead to Interlagos & COTA, Both are getting a 2nd DRS zone along the pit straght into turn 1. Firstly neither circuit needs a 2nd DRS zone & certainly neither need a 2nd zone to be placed down the start straght into the 1st corner!

    Fortunately from my point of view I believe that the longer DRS is used in such a stupid way the more unpopular I feel it will become (Something I believe were already seeing happen) & the more likely it will be that it gets dropped for good.

  9. From turn seven to turn 21 it just doesn’t sit well with me. Disappointing racing track. I don’t know if any driver finds that fun to drive.

    1. Its a popular track amongst drivers as far as im aware so I guess they do find it fun to drive.
      Only complaint i’ve ever heard from drivers is the turn 10 chicane thats no longer there.

  10. I was quite dismissive of the new turn 10, but to be fair the re-profiling looks quite good. It’s more 45 rather than 90 degrees. Still, let’s see how it fairs in the race before I’m won over.
    I do like this week though, looking forward to seeing a race track all lit up like a shiny thing :)

  11. dumb FIA again! why not put it between 13 and 14???

    1. For trying to promote overtaking into T14? I’d say it were better acting as a device to close the gap to make the other zone a valid overtaking place. Singapore is one of thesis few tracks where I actually support the use of DRS, along with Hungary, Spain and possibly Suzuka.

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