Formula 1 drivers will have to contend with a very unique DRS zone at this weekend’s British Grand Prix as the FIA add a third to the Silverstone layout.
More circuits are featuring a trio of zones with Austria, Canada and Australia all having done so, however, this will be the first time the zone will run through two corners on a track.
In addition to the Wellington Straight heading towards Brooklands and the Hangar Straight to Stowe, drivers can now open the rear wing on the start/finish straight as well as through the near-flat-out Abbey and Farm curves.
“It’s not a big zone, but the interesting thing is that they could use it open through Turn 1 if they wanted to,” race director Charlie Whiting said in Austria.
“Once they activate it after Turn 18, on the exit of the last corner, it only closes when they either brake or back off. Let’s see.”
This marks a step away from the previous stance of not wanting to place DRS at areas where the loss of downforce through having the wing open could result in a big crash.
It is exactly for this reason that the tunnel in Monaco, the run before Eau Rouge and the straight to 130R all haven’t featured DRS zones despite the corners being easy flat in the current F1 cars.
Abbey is a much more marginal corner in terms of the risk of losing the rear than those mentioned so, as Whiting said, it will be interesting to see how this new approach works.
