Second DRS zone on pit straight at COTA

2013 United States Grand Prix

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Drivers will be able to use DRS for almost the full length of the pit straight in addition to the zone used during last year’s United States Grand Prix.

A second DRS zone has been added in line with the practice at most other races this year. The detection point for the extra zone will be located before the penultimate corner.

The original DRS zone remains on the main straight as per last year’s arrangement.

2013 United States Grand Prix

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Image © COTA/LAT

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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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25 comments on “Second DRS zone on pit straight at COTA”

  1. Stupid decision yet again by the “Fun Is Abjuratory”.

    1. Thank evans they wont be totally concentrating on saving the tyres as well or we would only see DRS passing and a procession around the rest of the track, as it is we will likely see car A pass car B on the 1st DRS section only for car B to pass car A back on the 2nd DRS section.
      Maybe it is because US sporting commentators love statistics so much, running yards, passing yards etc. ” more passes in F1 than NASCAR, wow “

      1. @keithcollantine, please can we have this diagram on top of every “lap ananysis” article ?. Thanks.

    2. FIA: “Last year we had some genuine, exciting overtaking/racing/defending in to Turn 1. We cant allow that! Lets put another DRS zone in.” Utterly stupid.

  2. I don’t understand why they keep putting 2 DRS zones on tracks like these and then make them so long. Do they see something or know something we don’t?

    1. @tmf42 Nope but this is a nice track, so let’s destroy the racing there, like at Spa, to level the tracks down to Yas Marina … Next step, find incompetent marshals to put everywhere, maybe those indians one will fit. And then races will be intertaining with lots of cars in addition to F1. Don’t know where the FIA pull all this out.

      1. From a neutral standpoint, that comment might be a tad racist, might it not?

        1. Nope @wpinrui, inexperience. European marshal’s are generally more experienced and more able to make good, fast decisions under pressure.

          1. Although personally I think the idiotic Korean marshals would be a better example.

          2. I can understand that then, since F1 has been in Europe since forever, but not in India.

        2. No, it would be racist to say that that Indians are incapable of being good marshals (not true). In this case, the marshals who happened to be Indian because the race was in India didn’t have the experience/training to do a good job.

  3. You can’t please anyone!!
    It seems to me people basically want to remove the dependance of aerodynamics in modern Formula 1.
    If this was done, Formula 1 would no longer be the pinnacle of motor racing; if you want pure racing, watch karting.
    To be honest, people shouldn’t have complained so much during the seasons when there was very little overtaking. Is it our right to have lots of overtaking? No. people should have learned that before DRS was introduced.
    There is SO much more to F1 than overtaking, and people should learn to appreciate the skills of defensive driving and under severe pressure. For me, I enjoy the tension in a motor race; the anticipation

    1. @xjr15jaaag – Wonderful post, +1

    2. It’s stupid the design direction, though @xjr15jaaag. The solution is obvious: ground effect, no front wing – I’ve said this time and time again. Then there’d be no need for DRS at all, and there’d still be overtaking.

    3. Great way to discourage overtaking in turns 19 and 20…

      1. Didn’t mean to post it here… but just to make it relevant to your comment: I don’t think that aero dependence is what makes F1 the pinnacle of motor racing. There are many areas of technological advancement which are unfortunately blocked by regulations. F1 could have much tighter aerodynamic regs, and relax the rules in other areas to still be relevant, to still be at the forefront and push the envelope of engineering achievement.

  4. In the game “F1 2013” by Codemaster there were already two DRS zones (second one’s activation is on the start\finish line). Did they know something FIA didn’t? :)
    Sorry for bad English.

    1. Did they know something FIA didn’t?

      They probably made an educated guess. Most other circuits have had a second DRS zone added and there was only one logical place for it.

      1. I think all the DRS zones were announced earlier. I remember reading an article here about it

  5. Completely unnecisary & ridiculous placement.

    There was plenty of good racing & a lot of good overtaking into turn 1 without DRS in 2012. It was completely unnecisary to add a 2nd zone there.

    Were now basically guaranteed a boring DRS-fest with no ‘real’ overtaking :(

    1. I agree, it’s so sad. F1 is horrible right now.

      I keep saying it. Why can’t we voice our opinion. Years ago they had us to an online poll/survey. F1 is in dire need of 1 now.

      I am especially worried about fuel conservation next year so like many have said, there is a good chance 2014 will be my last season of watching F1.

    2. I’m just as concerned as you. I think this year’s race won’t be as good as last year’s. But remember that also there are good overtaking spots in other places, so it won’t be a total DRS fest.
      DRS needs to be banned. Can we start an uprising against that?

    3. And at Interlagos DRS will be available at the start/finish straight, yet again taking away real slipstreaming and overtaking in favour of DRS drive-by. It’s boring, it’s ridiculous and I’m really thinking about stopping watching F1, being the fan for almost 20 years. It’s sad to see the sport in such awful state as it is now.

      1. Michael Brown (@)
        15th November 2013, 15:17

        I seriously hope the FIA can turn things around for 2014. I thought the racing in the Schumacher domination era was boring, but that doesn’t even compare to this.

  6. Michael Brown (@)
    15th November 2013, 15:21

    F1 doesn’t need DRS. What F1 needs is less dependence on wing-generated downforce, and tires that can take the punishment from running in dirty air.

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