Grand prix what is drs

Its work hardened by then. Over time we have learned to manipulate titanium tubing in ways, especially in small spaces, that other people cannot do, and the fruits of that will be on cars in the future.

It a good area for us. Despite the ongoing pressure on top flight motor racing to cut costs, new regulations, such as the switch from adjustable front wing to adjustable rear inevitably increase expenditure, and although the actuation systems are similar in operation little if anything can be carried over. However the late publishing of the regulations for pushed costs up and put extra demands on the suppliers.

But you cannot get teams to commit, we can watch them order five of something, you ask them if they want more, we suggest that maybe they take ten, but they insist on five ten days later they order another five, two weeks later another 5.

You could take a chunk of time and cost out for the teams if they ordered that way. After the first race of the year at Melbourne the DRS was not seen as being as all that influential, though the longer straights of Sepang, Spa and Monza should prove more definitive. Subscribe Newsletter. Your special offer X. Drivers often gain kph through the use of DRS, which gives them an advantage in closing the gap to overtake their opponents.

In addition, a driver can only activate the DRS in the zone if he is within one second of the car ahead of him. The number of DRS zones are different for each race track on the F1 calendar. The stewards disable DRS for drivers in the first two or three laps since most drivers are within one second of each other. Once enabled, the drivers can start to activate them with the conditions mentioned. A light on their dash and a beep on their radio alerts the drivers when DRS is enabled and the system is deactivated when the driver releases the DRS button or uses their brakes.

These are almost solely on long straights. However, DRS is only available to a driver if they are within one second of the car in front of them at the detection zone. This helps overtaking as the car behind is given more speed, and hence can close the gap to whoever is in front of them on the track.

The effectiveness of DRS also varies from track to track depending on how long the straights are and how easy overtaking going into the corner after the straight is. It does make overtaking easier and more frequent. With the width and design of current F1 cars, overtaking without DRS is actually quite hard.

It simply gives the car trying to overtake a greater advantage than is fair. The driver in front is often powerless to defend against it, especially if they are in a worse car. Blue flags are shown to drivers who are about to be lapped.

After being shown a blue flag, drivers must get out of the way of faster cars at the earliest opportunity, or face a time penalty for not responding quickly enough. Blue flags are used to prevent the lead cars being held and interfering with the result of the race.

Each tyre compound used in F1 has a temperature window in which it works best and delivers the most grip, so if a driver can't get the tyres up into this window, they're said to be too cold. Cold tyres are to F1 cars what Kryptonite is to Superman: when tyres are cold, they can't produce anywhere enough adhesion to deal with the speeds and cornering forces typical in the sport.

It's why you see drivers weaving around on formation laps; to increase the amount of heat in the tyres prior to the start of the race. The faster an F1 car goes, the more turbulent the aerodynamic wake it leaves behind it. Following in a car's dirty air is tricky for two reasons: firstly the unsettled air can reduce downforce, which means drivers have to corner more slowly. Secondly, it can cause tyres and brakes to overheat, forcing drivers to back off. Dirty air is one of the main reasons why overtaking is so hard at some F1 circuits.

New rules - originally due in but now delayed until - should force teams to build cars that produce far less dirty air. In theory this will make it easier to follow during races, leading to more exciting racing. Opening the flap reduces aerodynamic drag, making it easier for a car to accelerate and increasing its top speed. The DRS is an overtaking aid, but drivers can only use it in designated DRS zones that are set before the start of a race weekend. Most tracks have one DRS zone, although some have two.

The DRS can only be used once a driver has closed to within a second of the car ahead at a specified 'detection point' on the circuit. The DRS was introduced in to make overtaking easier, and while some see it as an essential weapon in a driver's arsenal, others believe it makes racing artificial.

The pit window is one of F1's stranger terms, as it involves a certain amount of guesswork about when a driver will make a pit stop based on the expected lifespan of the tyre compound on the car. Pirelli usually estimates how far it thinks its tyres can go, and teams factor this information into their qualifying and race strategies.

Meanwhile, broadcasters can use the information to predict when a driver will stop. So when the pit window is 'open' it means a driver is expected to make a pit stop soon, although it doesn't account for how good a driver is as looking after the tyres or various other factors.

When a driver is told to 'box, box', they're being instructed to make a pitstop. This is because 'box' sounds more distinct than 'pit' over the team radio, so there's less chance of confusion leading to an error.

The word itself refers to the painted box outside a team's garage where pit stops take place, although some argue that it hails from 'boxenstopp', which is German for 'pit stop'.

Blistering can happen when a tyre gets too hot. This can cause the rubber to soften and break apart more easily, leading to a loss of grip and performance. Blistering can affect the whole surface area of a tyre, or sometimes just a thin strip that looks like an unbroken line when seen from the on-board camera. Drivers want to avoid blistering because it lowers the amount of grip a tyre can produce, and once a blister appears it can be almost impossible to get rid of.

That in turn means that drivers have to slow down even more to avoid making the blisters worse. In the past, blisters have led to complete tyre failures, which are particularly dangerous at high speed. F1 cars have a brake on each wheel, but drivers can choose how much braking force is applied to the fronts and rears depending on the needs of any given corner. They do this by operating the controls on their steering wheel, often making several adjustments per lap.

It's usually referred to in terms of moving the brake balance or bias forwards or backwards. Perfecting the brake balance is key to getting an F1 car to slow down and corner. If you apply too much bias to the front the car will struggle to turn, but adding too much to the rear could result in a spin. Drivers have to manage this challenge throughout each race, making adjustments for changing levels of grip and the reduced weight of the car as it burns off fuel.

Not all F1 tyres are the same: Pirelli supplies five different compounds of tyre picking three for each grand prix as well as an intermediate tyre for damp conditions and a wet tyre for when it's raining. The compounds contain different mixes of rubber, polymer, sulphur and various other ingredients.

Generally speaking, the softer a compound is the faster it will be over a single lap, but the less durable it will be too. Degradation refers to the reduction of grip caused by a tyre getting too hot.

If you hear drivers talk of not getting their tyres 'in the window', they mean they haven't been able to drive the car in such a way that the compound stays in its ideal operating temperature where maximum grip is delivered.

Degradation or sometimes deg is not to be confused with wear, which is the process of the tyre tread thinning over time due to friction in the track surface. Double stacking is when a team pits both of its cars on the same lap, with one following the other into the pit lane. Ideally the second car will be far enough behind that it pulls into the pit box just as the first car is leaving, and each pit crew is heavily drilled for such a scenario.

Teams usually double stack their cars in response to a safety car, although there are other situations that cause them. Double stacking is notoriously tricky: a botched double stack cost Mercedes victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix after a late call confused the team's pit crew. Downforce is the aerodynamic effect that pushes F1 cars towards the ground when they move forwards.