2023-04-27 08:25:10
The FIA has reduced the DRS zone located on the start/finish straight of the Baku circuit as part of the 2023 Azerbaijan GP.
The DRS zone located in the start/finish straight of the Baku street circuit will be reduced by 100 meters, as indicated in the official documents published by the FIA on the eve of the first laps of the Formula 1 wheels.
This modification relates to the moment from which the DRS can be activated. Previously, the mobile flap of the rear wing, which allows you to gain top speed by reducing air resistance, might be lifted 347 meters following turn 20. Now, it will therefore be 447 meters following this last turn of the circuit of the capital of Azerbaijan that the competitors will be able to activate it.
The detection point of this zone, which is used to measure whether a competitor is less than one second from another, is however unchanged and is located in turn 20 itself. The other DRS zone, placed between turns 2 and 3, has not undergone any change.
Introduced in 2011, the DRS has since been the subject of strong criticism, with some believing that the aid it was initially intended to provide to counter the harmful effects of aero turbulence had above all turned into a maneuver facilitator which tendency to turn potential fights into a mere formality once the rider behind is close enough.
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In order to better adapt a tool which remains key in the arsenal of the authorities to promote fights on the track and the spectacle, work was carried out in the off-season to try to reduce the harmful effects. Thus, at the end of a F1 commission organized in Februaryit had been indicated that changes would be planned in particular for the first five circuits of the season.
In fact, the FIA has already carried out the reduction of the DRS zone of the main straight at Sakhira moved the detection point from the last DRS zone to Jeddah and added a fourth DRS zone on the Melbourne side.
It should be noted that as part of the sprint format under which this Azerbaijan Grand Prix is run, the sprint will see the possibility for competitors to activate the DRS one lap earlier than usual, ie from the second loop. This is part of an experiment on the part of the authorities, with the objective, if things go well, of generalizing this measure to all races, sprint or not, in 2024.
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