DRS zones on first two straights in Mexico

2015 Mexican Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

The FIA has confirmed the positioning of the two DRS zones on the revised Mexico City F1 track.

The zones will be positioned on consecutive straights: the first on the long start/finish straight, and the second at the exit of turn three.

As the first straight is one of the longest on the F1 calendar at around 1.2 kilometres, its DRS zone will begin 425 metres after the preceding corner. This has been named the Nigel Mansell curve.

The second DRS zone begins 120 metres after turn three. Both DRS zones share a single detection point which is positioned at turn 15, a left-hand kink which leads the drivers out of the new stadium section.

2015 Mexican Grand Prix

    Browse all 2015 Mexican Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    33 comments on “DRS zones on first two straights in Mexico”

    1. A single detection point. I’m not sure how that ‘s going to work.
      If I’m within 1 second of the bloke in front at the left kink in the stadium, I have DRS for about 800 metres down the start/finish straight and I should sail past the car in front. Then after the Turns 1, 2 and 3, I have another DRS opportunity even if there are no cars anywhere ahead. Is that correct?
      Surely if I am within 1 second in the stadium, I would have had to do something really stupid NOT to have overtaken the car in front by the time I get to Turn 2. How do I need another DRS zap down the next straight?

      1. its not to ensure the driver gets past, it’s to ensure he doesn’t get passed again in the second zone.

        1. Mmm. Not convinced, Ivan. Let’s see how it plays out on Sunday. But I think my problem with it is that the single DRS activation point (in the stadium) has a direct performance effect on the car for the next 2 km, which is nearly half the track length.

        2. @ivan-vinitskyy
          Why would you not want that?

          1. @george
            If you support the thinking behind DRS then you want the faster driver to get past and second detection point might give an advantage to the slower driver.
            If you don’t support DRS then you’d want to not have any detection points.
            Having it your way just mathematically looks like a better race because there would be more ‘overtakes’ but who’d want so much artificial racing?

      2. @nickwyatt The Hungarian GP and Canadian GP also have only 1 DRS detection point if I remember correctly.

        1. @bmk1586, Yes I think you are right. I went back to read the comments on the race report of Canada and there were lots of opinions that the DRS-assisted overtaking on the two straights was much to easy and effectively emasculated the race. As I recall, it made attempting a pass into the hairpin obsolete and indeed stupid. So for the Canada race at least, a single detection point and two DRS zones were not a totally successful arrangement.

          1. @nickwyatt How does Canada’s single detection point make overtaking into the hairpin stupid? I would recommend for you to please look at where the detection point is, for if you do, you’ll see that it is practically on the exit of the chicane preceding the hairpin. If anything, it should motivate drivers to have a lunge at the hairpin, knowing that they should be safe on the straights (Unless you team name ends with Honda).

            1. Sorry for the delay in replying @mashiat, I was away from the pc. Yes you are quite right, the Detection point is well back from the hairpin, but that makes my point exactly.
              Let’s pretend you are driving in front of me and we are within a second of each other at the Detection point. So now I know that I have two bites of extra speed after the next corner. So am I likely to attempt a pass into the hairpin where –
              1) you might close the door on me and we clatter into each other
              2) I might flat spot my (pathetically fragile) tyres under heavy braking
              Or am I more likely to wait until after the corner and then breeze past you safely in my temporary low downforce configuration on one of the following straights?
              As I said before, I’d be stupid to attempt a pass into the hairpin.

    2. No real surprises there then. Judging by what the weather seems to be doing though, we might not be seeing much DRS usage in qualifying or the race.

      1. Could be yeah. Another piont is that with the high altetude how effective is DRS going to be in the lower air density? Then again, teams might be running larger flaps …

    3. I definitely feel like the first DRS zone is waaaaaaaay too long. They could have put one DRS zone on the back straight before the stadium. Surely the drivers can get to slipstream their way past on the *gigantic* main straight, even with the current aero setups?? They could have even left DRS off completely for this event, to see what the effects would be and adjust accordingly for next year?

      I’ve grown to like DRS so much these days. I’m tired of slam dunk overtakes when they are so artificial.

      1. edit: I meant dislike DRS. Hopefully that came across in my post though….

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          28th October 2015, 13:06

          @the-spuditron – Dont worry – not for a second did anyone assume someone would have said they like DRS! It’d be like saying “I quite like it when I get caught speeding”

          1. @petebaldwin I’m glad I got my point across then. ;-) Oddly though, as much as I hate DRS in real life F1, I actually enjoyed using it in the F1 games, back in the good old days, when a younger version of me used to play them. :)

      2. @the-spuditron

        “They could have even left DRS off completely for this event, to see what the effects would be and adjust accordingly for next year”

        yes, yes, a thousand times yes. as a system you can’t keep applying the same approach to different tracks – i remember, when it first came in, thinking ‘there’s no way they’ll need this in canada or spa’ and then they had two zones! same as here in mexico, it will prove unnecessary/the effect will be too great.

        the huge problem with it, that has never been addressed, is that when cars are close enough for it to work, the pass is too easy.

        1. @frood19 Exactly. I feel like they just have DRS as a “that’ll do” solution. And then they go and put them in the places where overtaking was happening anyway. The end of the Kemmel Straight is one that springs to mind. I fear this “that’ll do” solution will be around for the forseeable though.

          A side note: It grates on me fiercely when you hear the commentators proclaim an overtake like it was the most amazing thing they have ever seen. I get that they have to try and make the races seem interesting, but artificial devices like DRS, do not make for interesting overtakes, no matter how elaborate the commentary.

        2. I am sure that they have modelled it, and their models are sophisticated so they will get the effect they desire. Whether or not it is what the fans desire is another story.

    4. I think that one DRS zone is sufficient here, that depending on the length of the zone located at the main straight. I am guessing that if it’s a HAM-ROS or ROS-HAM 1-2 on the grid, they will battle up to the S section of the track since the run down to turn 1 is very but very long, and then the straight following it, is also long. Hamilton or Rosberg might think twice in getting pole here…

    5. Its’d be fun to see how many times McLaren is lapped and the frustration of Alonso in team radio.

      1. @illusive Well, it’s obvious people like F1 for many different reasons…

        1. Who doesn’t love Alonso’s sense of humor.

    6. We have 2 detection points at Sepang.
      It’s difficult to say which one is better.

    7. ridiculous. ONE detection zone for 2 huge straights? one of which doesn’t even need a DRS zone?!

      I’d have one on the final straight before the stadium and one after turn 3.

    8. The DRS zone on the S/F straight starts earlier in F1 2015 than in real life.

    9. Just. Get. Rid. Of. It.

      Full stop.

    10. A 1.5 km long straight does not need DRS. They should just have one DRS zone between turns 11 and 12 (aka on the straight between the esses and the stadium section).

    11. I hate this conception of DRS.

    12. I think that maybe what should be done is: since it’s the first GP in the track, no DRS at all. I mean, making this kind of judgement without having seen how race will actually be on the track is pure nonsense (just look at how long the DRS zone is on the start/finish straight, which is 1.5km…).
      Then, hopefully, even with dry running, we’d get quality racing, with real battles for position, instead of highway passes all the way down through the field.

    13. How much Drag Reduction can you get if there is a naturally occurring DRS effect because of the location?

      Keep in mind the altitude: Mexico City is over 2000m above sea level.

      I don’t expect it to allow cars to breeze past. 800m is equivalent to the longer DRS zones at Sepang and Shanghai. DRS at AHR will have a reduced effect compared to other circuits.

      1. Agree, they are talking of similar speeds to Monza with high downforce set up.

      2. By the same argument the disadvantage of dirty air in the corners should be less, so at altitude it should be easier to stay close through ‘Nigel Mansell’ to attack on the straight. Let’s see.

    14. Lewisham Milton
      29th October 2015, 9:13

      Sarcastic applause for ruining the long straights.
      I’d have put the DRS zones between turns 8 & 11, and through “Nige” to bring back a bit of a challenge to the last corner.

    Comments are closed.