F1 revealed plans to implement a “step by step” removal of DRS by 2024.
Drag Reduction System, better known as DRS, was introduced in 2011 to increase the top speed of a car. It is done by opening a flap in the car’s rear wing, which reduces drag and makes it take a boost in speed.
It is very useful for overtaking and gaining on the car in front. However, the decade has seen downforce levels on cars increase steadily. It has gotten to the point where DRS is almost an essential to make up places during a race.
2022 will see new regulations implemented, and one of them will be a focus on ground-effect downforce. This will ensure cars will be able to follow one another more closely, negating the need for DRS.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, DRS would slowly be phased out and then eliminated altogether from the sport in the coming years. F1 revealed plans to implement a “step by step” removal of DRS by 2024.
“If the design goal of the 2022 cars is achieved, and lagging and overtaking actually becomes easier, then Formula 1 wants to abolish the DRS bonus step by step,” Michael Schmidt of Auto Motor und Sport explained.
“The ideal situation would be that we no longer need DRS at all,” added Pat Symonds F1 Chief Technical Officer.
Overhaul
F1 will also see the “step in the floor” removed in cars. This would mean that “all parts facing the road will have the same distance to the ground”.
“The main focus is on the vertical air deflectors, which divide the front part of the floor and the diffuser into different channels,” the report continued.
However, the teams rejected F1’s proposal to “set these baffles a little higher to protect them.”
More news is expected in the coming weeks.