Question on DRS .

[Bagwan]

It seems , unsurprisingly , that we have a universal dislike for DRS .

I hate it , and particularly like the idea of restricting it's use .

[dj_bytedisaster]

It's a bad solution for a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place.

[The Black Knight]

DRS is a gimmick and a complete embarrassment to the sport. It should be scrapped. I'd rather see one decent overtake in a race than 100 DRS moves.

I'd actually have no problem with DRS should the guy in front also have it but the way it is, is just stupid. It's probably fine for fair weather supporters but not people that have been following F1 since the early 90s like myself.

The only way out of this is for the following car to somehow be able to generate similar downforce to the guy in front. As Lewis eluded to recently, I don't know how such a solution would be implemented but it would be great if a solution was found. Whether that might somehow be some sort of aerodynamic solution that cause the airflow to merge at the back of the leading car so the following one doesn't lose downforce or something to do with the front wings so as the front doesn't wash out. But it's the only way I can see F1 getting out of this, otherwise it's going to be the same as it has been for a long time.

[dj_bytedisaster]

The only way out of this is for the following car to somehow be able to generate similar downforce to the guy in front. As Lewis eluded to recently, I don't know how such a solution would be implemented but it would be great if a solution was found. Whether that might somehow be some sort of aerodynamic solution that cause the airflow to merge at the back of the leading car so the following one doesn't lose downforce or something to do with the front wings so as the front doesn't wash out. But it's the only way I can see F1 getting out of this, otherwise it's going to be the same as it has been for a long time.

The problem is, that exactly that is simply not possible, unless you build cars that generate almost no aerodynamic downforce. Such cars would be wind-guided vehicles, and more or less the sort of death-trap several drivers died in each year in the fifties. Every object that moves through air at speed creates wake turbulence and that inevitably influences any object that follows close. You might be able to soften the effect, but at the speeds F1 cars are going, you'll always have that problem unless you bring back active suspension and the likes.

[zako85]

Why can't we go back to the mid-90s style aero? I think the close racing between Hill, Schumacher, Coulthard, Villeneuve, and others was great, with cars following each other for many many laps until a definitive overtake move happened.

The current "slingshot" style DRS overtakes are indeed an embarrassment for the sport. DRS also makes the races boring, because as I have mentioned there is significantly less close racing because of it.

[Bagwan]

We hate it , but we have it , and it isn't like they are talking about taking it away .

But , can we make it better ?

Would making it for lead-lap drivers only , help at all ?

[AndyL]

We hate it , but we have it , and it isn't like they are talking about taking it away .

But , can we make it better ?

Would making it for lead-lap drivers only , help at all ?

It's hard to see how. It looks to me like it would be more popular if you could only use it for lapping traffic.

[steveaki13]

That's quite a fun idea.

Drop DRS as it is and scrap blue flags and just give leaders DRS for clearing back markers.

[Bagwan]

Geez , Andy , I'm only trying to make it better .

Those leading Mercs have enough power that they can have all sorts of downforce , so the effect is negated to a degree larger than the rest .
It seems they can make a bigger hole in the air , so they are hard to follow .

So , in effect , the only chance Lewis had to fight was when they encountered those backmarkers .
It's probably happened many times before , but it really bugged me when Nico was able to use them to get the DRS open , when they should be diving out of the way so as to not affect the leaders's races .

Blue flags are meant to keep them out of the way , and effectively deals with that , whilst allowing for a cleverly positioned pass , given that the guy being passed must go off line and slow .

DRS killed that possibility , at least this time , and would be easy to fix so it wouldn't happen again .

[Big Ben]

I don't want those guys to fix anything. I had enough of their fixing. In fact I'd like to have most of the things they fixed in the last 15 years unfixed.