DRS Should Be Banned In Qualifying

[raymondu999]

I know I saw that too - but afterwards I believe he was able to take it. Maybe he was turning too quickly or somesuch? I don't know.

[Websta]

Perhaps they could develop a system where the DRS will close if the car senses a loss of rear wheel traction. I am not sure if it would be fast enough to give the car more traction though. It probably isn't necessary either as most DRS related incidents last season have been fairly tame, but I just get the feeling that the perfect storm is brewing. Perhaps the rapid shift in downforce and aero balance would unsettle a car on the brink of a high-speed spin further, but I'll let more knowledgeable people debate it.

[raymondu999]

How would it do that? How much wheelslip would be accepted as a "loss of traction?" we have to remember that essentially tyres are constantly slipping every moment on the track...

[Websta]

I'm not an engineer, but if a driver can feel a car slipping, I'm sure a computer could sense it. The engineers have enough experience with TC anyway. The bigger issue with the idea is whether closing the rear wing would do anything to save the car. I have an even better idea though - limiting DRS usage during qualifying to the DRS zones. Nothing worse then listening to a car riding the rev limiter during Q3 cause it's geared for a race without constant DRS usage, or when a driver (namely Webber) doesn't activate DRS down a straight and loses a couple of tenths. The only times I have been excited by DRS are when drivers manage to avoid crashing during a DRS-induced spin (Sutil in Aus and Kobayashi in Jap come to mind).

[timbo]

If DRS would be banned in qualifying most teams would simply drop it off altogether for a better optimized rear wing, this is why it was allowed for use in qualifying in the first place.

[Nickel]

Perhaps they could develop a system where the DRS will close if the car senses a loss of rear wheel traction.

Please no more neutering. Drivers used to do whole laps of Monaco with only one hand on the wheel because they had to stick shift at the helm of 1500hp quali spec engines.

These days everything is much safer and the test of bravery has been toned down. I was pretty disappointed when drivers were barred from using drs in eau rouge. They aren't robots. It's not like they'd go through flat the first time with drs open, they'd feel it out, see what the car could do. So what if someone oversteps the line and has an off? Drivers go off pretty regularly. It's a reality of racing, and telling them where they can or can't use drs won't change that. Putting sensors on the car to close drs if the driver bungs up is just more coddling IMO. Reward the brave, punish the stupid! It's not like all the safety measures go away because a crash happens with drs open.

[Shrieker]

If DRS would be banned in qualifying most teams would simply drop it off altogether for a better optimized rear wing, this is why it was allowed for use in qualifying in the first place.

Why would they drop it quali ? Surely, having a DRS wing that you can't use in quali wouldn't cost that much, I mean if you couldn't use DRS in quali you'd still want it in the race. It's a powerfull tool to have, even if it's only for sunday.

[timbo]

Why would they drop it quali ? Surely, having a DRS wing that you can't use in quali wouldn't cost that much, I mean if you couldn't use DRS in quali you'd still want it in the race. It's a powerfull tool to have, even if it's only for sunday.

Look at the pre DRS-wings, they had much more complicated profiles. A short-chord DRS wing is definitely not the best solution for wing effectiveness. Actuator also costs something in drag and weight.
So, you'd have better wing overall or some gimmick that might be of no use for you in the race.
Yes, this is speculation on my part, but I'm pretty sure this is something that was considered.

[Websta]

If that were the case, the teams would still have two big DRS zones to deploy it on at most tracks if they were to confine it to those zones during qualifying, so the incentive to run it is still very much there.

[andartop]

^ exactly. In the Vettel vs Alonso scenario it would probably end up being even more of an advantage to the leading car, as Vettel would have probably started the race from pole and never had to use DRS and Alonso would have run out of DRS just to get to P2..!!

In quali, all it does is make it even easier for the top teams, as a car that produces more downforce can use DRS in parts of the track the others cannot. I think this has more to do with the car rather than the driver, so it's an extra handicap to the smaller teams who already suffer from low downforce.. In the straights everybody uses it anyway, so what is the point???

I agree with banning it completely in quali, and wouldn't mind at all scrapping it altogether.

[Giblet]

It also makes it a lot harder for the new teams to make the 107% rule as they don't have the resources yet to have well developed aero that a team like Red Bull can. It also skews terribly the cars in comparison to other years.

I think the DRS should be no different than the race. You can activate it in the zone(s) until you brake.

[piast9]

I am afraid that if the DRS was banned in qualifying then the teams would gear the cars in a way that would caused hitting rev limiters during the race immediately after deploying DRS.

[Giblet]

If it was banned entirely in qualy that would make sense. If it was allowed only in the DRS zone(s) just like in the race then the gearing would not be an issue.

[andartop]

I am afraid that if the DRS was banned in qualifying then the teams would gear the cars in a way that would caused hitting rev limiters during the race immediately after deploying DRS.

That's why it should still be allowed in practice. Surely the teams can gear their cars accordingly to avoid that. Some could opt for shorter gearing and avoid using DRS in the race if they chose to.

[Jersey Tom]

I'd can DRS entirely since it's a gimmick. A band-aid. A crutch.