Double DRS detection and activation points at Monza

2011 Italian Grand Prix

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Webber passes Schumacher during last year's race

The Italian Grand Prix will be the first race with two DRS detection and activation zones per lap.

The drivers will reach a detection point between the two Lesmo bends which will then allow them to activate DRS on the straight leading to Ascari.

Further around the lap another detection point at the exit of Parabolica will allow drivers to use DRS on the start/finish straight.

Two DRS activation zones were used in Montreal and Valencia, but they were activated based on the a single detection point.

Here is the arrangement of the DRS detection and activation areas which will be used in the race this weekend:

2011 Italian Grand Prix DRS activation and detection areas

As usual, drivers will have free use of DRS in qualifying and practice.

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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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    33 comments on “Double DRS detection and activation points at Monza”

    1. Having the two DRS zones will ensure the top teams RBR , McL & SF will play a tug of war for the lead. Even if they get overtaken in the mainstraight, with the help of KERS they can go right back at them in the next zone. Guess how this will help the Mercedes boyz.

      1. Not just Button and Alonso this time?

        Hopefully 4 or more which would be very cool and partially make up for Vettel’s points dominance.

    2. I was disappointed with KERS at Spa. I felt it really took away too much emphasis on the skill of the driver to overtake using simply slipstreaming. It slightly spoiled the race for me.

      1. I don’t think it spoiled it, but I agree it was placed in the wrong part of the circuit. I’ll be very interested to see how the double activation system works. I imagine the FIA want to try and recreate another 1971 situation.

        1. what happened in 1971?

          1. 5 drivers in a very tight final.
            Slipstreaming for all the race.

            Another circuit, another F1, at all. I don’t believe you recreate that condition today. Having some genuine overtakes would be nice enough.

            1. great article.. thanks Keith.

        2. Let us hope so!

        3. Looking at how it panned about with the Hamilton vs. Schumacher battle, it was not that far off. Shame it was not for the lead though.

      2. I think the same.
        Furthermore look at how short they designed 1st DRS zone…looks like an attempt of making it but not too long…
        In my opinion it is a clear example of how DRS is artificial and doesn’t fit with sport spirit.
        I think at Monza you don’t need all of this stuff to see a great race. On the contrary dozens of overtakes on the straight will make the race somehow “trivial”.

        1. +1

          @Keith, looks like we have an idea for the end of the year poll: DRS – Ye or Nay?

    3. I think this is a good thing. Two DRS zones with one detection point was wrong as Driver A would pass Driver B in the first one and then use the second to pull away. This gives Driver B a chance to get back at Driver A on the same lap.

    4. I do wish that the FIA would put some measurements on the track maps, for those of us that don’t know the tracks inside out it would be nice to have a distance between corners or even just a scale measure somewhere.
      It’s all very well them saying DRS activation point is x metres after a corner but that doesn’t give any clue as to how long the active zone is.
      That leads to another idea for making DRS a bit better implemented why not have a maximum distance for DRS that makes passing possible but not quite as easy (sort of following on to David B’s comment earlier). It makes me wonder how and why they are choosing the places and distances.

    5. Very Short zone 1 compared to other circuits..

    6. I thought the FiA had used the excuse that this technology wasn’t available earlier in the year!

      Double DRS activation points are a great idea. It means that the car who gets passed has the option to realistically get it back. It levels the field a bit more and makes the race exciting. I’m hoping for a classic, closely fought battle like last year.

      1. What’s the point of being helpless to defend a position. Some of us remember some great defensive driving in F1, resisting 20 laps of pressure. No what’s the point, you can just pass the guy in the next DRS zone. I detest DRS to the point of needing some anger management therapy!

        1. Some of us remember some great defensive driving in F1, resisting 20 laps of pressure

          Yeah, and most of us remember when cars would follow each other for half a race waiting for a pit stop to overtake. If anything we’ve seen better defensive driving this year, since the cars behind actually have a hope of getting past.

          1. Good point. DRS is just so blatantly manufactured though. I promise I won’t moan about again from this day forward. Enjoy your ‘overtakes’ at Monza.

        2. The point with 2 activation zones though is that it should mean that if you are helpless to defend your position, you at least have the chance to gain it back on that same lap.

          The 1 activation zone meant that a driver would get past and be off (usually because their car was fundamentally faster to have got past the other car anyway). There was no opportunity to re-pass and little opportunity to defend the position.

          2 zones should remedy some of the issues created by 1 zone I feel.

          1. Yep. It could make for some fantastic strategy. Drivers may willingly lose position, only to take it back half a lap later…gambling they won’t then lose it again!

      2. I thought the FiA had used the excuse that this technology wasn’t available earlier in the year!

        It wasn’t an excuse. They just weren’t confident that the software would work back in June. In the time since, they’ve had the chance to refine it.

        1. And source for that?

          All I read was they didn’t have the technology available at the time.

    7. Overtaking in that straight (before Ascari) will be pretty dangerous. The track don’t have any run off area and is very tight…

    8. you guys think soome one will crack the lap record, with DRS?

    9. I really wish they would just remove this ridiculous system already, Over the 45 years i have followed f1 i have never loathed anything as much as i do this ridiculous system.

      If 2 zones works like some above hope it will make the race a joke. Watching 2 cars trading places lap after lap due to DRS would be nothing but artificial & if that does start happening i’ll simply turn off the tv.

      I know that the people who love DRS will come back & say ‘But thats what happened at monza way back when & it was great’, Big difference.
      The Slipstreaming battles of old required skill, You had to time when you pulled out the slipstream to make the pass & also the way slipstreaming works when you do pull out you get slowed down by the airflow so actually completing the pass (often under braking) also required skill.

      With DRS all you need do is push & button & unlike slipstreaming you don’t begin to lose speed when you pull out from behind the car your passing & continue to have an advantage even when you have completed the pass untill you get to the end of the DRS zone.

      Watching cars simply cruising past in a straght line hasn’t been fun to watch all year so why would watching it happen twice a lap through the race be any better?

      1. So you’d rather we see something like the 1999 Spanish Grand Prix – where there was just one recorded overtake – on a regular basis?

        1. Of cource not, Just because someone is against DRS does not mean they don’t want to see any passing.

          I’d just rather see something that isn’t an artificial push of a button device which makes passing too easy & rather dull. I don’t see the sort of strght line passing DRS creates as been that exciting to watch.

      2. You’ve never loathed anything as much?! I’ve thought it’s livened up the most boring circuits rather nicely and as a friend remarked the other day it’s been a really good season even without a tight battle for the championship. Perhaps it will work at Monza, perhaps it won’t. It not they’ll correct it next year. Sure we’ll all survive.

        1. I think more of that livening up has been down to the tyres though.

          If you look at Barcelona as an example, The DRS didn’t really do anything to provide passing & pretty much all the passes were done outside the DRS zone.

          Im also Anti-DRS & have been getting more against it as the season has gone on.

          All of the best racing & best overtaking moves have been outside of the DRS zone, All the DRS related passing has been dull, boring, unexciting & a bit too easy in most cases.

          Thing I love about MotorSport is the racing, I love watching a good scrap for position between 2 or more cars & I love watching good, hard fought & exciting overtaking & I feel DRS provides none of that.

      3. With you there Dave, too bad no-one listens to us oldfarts.

    10. It will be interesting to see which team-mates circulate nose to tail without using DRS and which dutifully swap places twice a lap.

      1. Come to think of it by swapping places they would be lapping slightly faster as each in turn used DRS, so maintaining the gap would assist a following driver to catch up. Could provide some fascinating inter team disputes.

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