Two DRS zones and detection points again in Bahrain

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

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F1 will continue to use two DRS zones with separate detections points in Bahrain this weekend.

The Bahrain International Circuit will retain the same zone used on the pit straight for this weekend’s race. It will be augmented by a second zone covering most of the third straight on the track which runs parallel to it. Each will have their own detection points.

Sergio Perez expects the zones will provide “some decent racing”.

“The two best overtaking opportunities are into the turn one and turn four hairpins,” he said. “They’re both good places to attack – you can force another driver onto the inside line and then attack on the exit, when they’re more vulnerable.”

“The second DRS zone will mainly be used to close the gap down to the car in front, before attacking again along the pits straight.”

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
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41 comments on “Two DRS zones and detection points again in Bahrain”

  1. I was expecting it to be on the run into turn 4… But I prefer it like this, half way round a lap.

  2. Motorway procession…

    1. I’m getting so tired of people on here complaining about the current f1 with drs etc. Did you really need to comment if thats all you had to say? I’ve got a solution for everyone who agrees with this guy – Don’t watch f1 then!!! If you dont like it, don’t watch it, the sport and all its true fans won’t miss people like you complaining about everything. I bet you would have complained about the racing being boring before kers, drs, and pirelli tyres. Now there’s a lot more overtaking, people find something else to moan about. I love f1, I loved the old re fuelling ‘boring’ formula just as much as the current one, but for different reasons, because they are so different, but that’s f1, different formulas come and go, but one thing that never changes is people complaining its not what they want. Well guess what, if you dislike the current formula so much, don’t follow it, simple. And better yet, don’t go on f1 forums where fans want to talk to one another, just to bad mouth the sport.

      1. COTD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      2. VERy VERy Well said Mate…

      3. my words exactly

      4. @fangio85 Fine. We’ll see who is right after the race.

        1. I don’t even think we need to wait that long…

    2. Before you jump on it, I support his original comment, and here’s why:

      Last race, we saw no defending for positions, which HASN’T happened (to that extreme) before.

      Perhaps he was referring to the motorway style overtakes of China, which were really quite appalling.

      I don’t mind the DRS (especially on that back straight!), as long as it’s not too long, and as long as the tyres are durable enough to come across the racing line and defend.

  3. DRS Detection 2 is miles away from the activation! It’s unlikely, but overtakes are possible at T8

    1. In fact ignore this, got the S2 line mixed with it :P

    2. There could theoretically be 5 overtaking positions – Turn 1, Turn 4, Turn 8, Turn 11, Turn 14. Most likely 3-4 though.

  4. Not a bad setup, although I reckon DRS Detection point 1 should have been after the exit ot Turn 15. DRS overtakes could be too easy again this weekend.

  5. Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve seen the DRS plans and thought they look good ! I do hate DRS but it’s here so we just have to “make the most of it”. The detection and activation points both look pretty good to me.

    1. Indeed, if it turns out the way Perez mentions (and it looks like it could) that would (finally) be a race where they found a good place to put it.

      1. Yeah, and Perez will get a front row seat to watch all the decent racing happen around him.

    2. Agreed. Prefer no DRS, but this is the best possible setup; two detection points and two non-sequential track points.

  6. Finally the two zones are quite a way apart from each other. Interesting to see how it effects the racing.

    1. +1 @kaiie

      This is a first, isn’t it? it’ll be interesting to see it !

      1. Last two Monza races had quite similar setup with DRS zones, but for this season it really is the first one.

  7. Why do they put the detection points so far away from the activation zones?

    We have seen a few times since 2011 that a car sometimes passes after the detection point & then just uses DRS to extend the gap preventing any sort of battling.

    They should have the detection point in the same place as the activation point.

    1. The activation zone ends when the driver brakes.
      The activation zone can’t be too long so they often don’t start it at the very start of the straight.
      The detection zone probably needs to be a few seconds down the road so the computers can do the communicating.
      They choose the first bit of straight track, usually the entry to the corner before the activation straight.

    2. “Preventing any sort of battling” should you be happy that a car passed without drs? Now people are complaining that its possible to pass BEFORE a drs zone??? The fact that drs in this respect is bot aiding overtaking, shows to me that it can be much more of a strategic tool than I first thought, Alonso used the drs very effectively in China I thought. Now people complain about that too… Oh dear

  8. 1st zone shoudl be shorter, It made passing too easy in a lot of cases last year.

    72 passes last year, Naerly all DRS & nearly all of those were far too easy.

    1. According to Mercedes, There were 14 DRS overtakes vs 44 non DRS overtakes last year.. As i remember the overtaking corner of choice was going into or coming out of T4

  9. I would prefer the zones to be between t3 and t4 then t13 and t14. Then we would get overtaking in 3 different spots as I’m sure there would still be overtaking into t1

    1. yeah that would be the perfect option for the set up

  10. I’d put DRS activation zone 1 on the back straight as there isn’t much overtaking into turn 14 in comparison to turns 1 and 4.

    1. JP (@jonathanproc)
      17th April 2013, 18:19

      @slr

      That’s because if you overtake into turn 14 you’d probably just be re-passed at turn 1. You need to get the perfect line through 14 onto 15 or else you’ll lose acceleration and top speed. Going up the inside would put you off the best line and then you’d get poor traction into the pit-straight.

  11. Zantkiller (@)
    17th April 2013, 20:39

    I’ve been wondering, why do they not have DRS de-activation points instead of having it run to the breaking zone?

    Would it be unsafe? Also how big would the drop in speed be?

    1. @zantkiller That’ll probably be unsafe. When the driver hits the brakes, he knows that DRS will be disengaged and will expect to have more downforce, less drag. With all the drivers have to do as it is, it would be dangerous in my opinion. If a driver is racing/overtaking another, I can see there being crashes by people being caught unaware.

    2. Because then they would be running the DRS open through corners, increasing the corner speeds. Increased corner speeds is what the FIA is always against on grounds of safety.

  12. This track is the worst. Not helped by the camera angles placed at the end of the long straights which make it seem like the cars are travelling at a snails pace.

    1. I really dont know why we still have those low front-on shots, they do nothing for f1, as u say for showing off speeds, and, for the distances between cars fighting for position.

  13. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    18th April 2013, 0:00

    Probably it is, after all, a good idea to have the “sandwich” of Detection – Slow Turn – Activation. Of course you can say that the DRS can cancel a “traditional” overtake, but it can also provide more battles in a deffensive way. Let’s see if this new DRS setting works for the sake of good drivers and not just as a “push to pass”

  14. Defending with KERS will be tough :)

  15. I’m not joking: I just read that title as, “Two DRS zones and detention points again in Bahrain”.

    1. detention lol

  16. Why are the marshal posts numbered in such a strange way?

    1. They are numbered by the corner and then the .7 etc denote how far to the next corner.

  17. Big test for Pirelli & DRS at this race. If people complain about even the Bahrain Grand Prix being too hectic we will know for sure that it’s gone too far!

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