Formula 1: Red Bull team principal Christian Horner dissatisfied with the DRS zones in Jeddah: Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner is dissatisfied with the DRS zones in Jeddah after a thrilling battle between the reigning champion Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The battle panned out in the final 10 laps when Max Verstappen started attacking the lead taken by Charles Leclerc. Ultimately, it was Max who won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Follow Formula 1 updates on Insidesport.IN.
Christian Horner wants F1 to take a look at where the DRS detection lines are drawn to avoid ‘Cat and Mouse games’. Horner said, “The DRS is so powerful you could see that there was a game of cat and mouse going on between the drivers. Where they’d actually brake to a point that they actually accelerated into the corner.”
Formula 1: Red Bull chief Christian Horner dissatisfied with DRS detection zones in Jeddah, says ‘Cat and Mouse Chase’ should be avoided
“I think maybe we should look at where that DRS detection zone is for future years. You definitely want to avoid being in that situation.”
Formula 1: What is DRS and how is it used?
DRS is a piece of bodywork. It can be adjusted by the drivers at any point in time. It is located on the rear wing of the car. The purpose of DRS is to aerodynamically drag. It helps the driver to increase their speed and indeed overtake the driver ahead. 10 to 12km/h is the increase in the speed from the starting point to the ending point.
What happened in Jeddah
Charles Leclerc realized the power of DRS in Jeddah’s long city streets. Leclerc started to pull off from the throttle well before the last corner forcing Verstappen to take the lead ahead of the DRS detection line.
This meant that Leclerc would get a DRS advantage on the following start-finish straight. This would have enabled Leclerc to then take the lead from Verstappen. Max caught the tactics of the Monegasque driver and at his next attempt locked up his tyres to stay behind Leclerc.
After you… 😇
No, after you… 🧐
The battle for DRS between @Charles_Leclerc and @Max33Verstappen 😅#SaudiArabianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/8PaKNs8COP
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 28, 2022
Both the drivers were hesitating in taking the lead as they knew the end of the race was nearing. Just four laps to go and Verstappen overtook Leclerc to eventually win the Saudi Arabian GP. After the race, Verstappen said ‘playing smart tricks’ helped him to overtake Leclerc.
Leclerc said, “Half throttle trying for Max to overtake me and for me to have the DRS. It worked once and then the second time, he understood so he braked very early. And then there was a bit of a mess, but I think it was it was fun.”
Formula 1: Red Bull chief Christian Horner dissatisfied with DRS detection zones in Jeddah, says ‘Cat and Mouse Chase’ should be avoided
Their battle was thrilling and the fans loved it but is this the kind of racing F1 is encouraging where the drivers are scared to overtake each other.
Horner believes that the Jeddah street circuit confirmed that the 2022 rules are on point. Meanwhile, several drivers suggested that overtaking would be impossible without DRS.
Horner added, “I think the really encouraging thing about these regulations is that in the last two races we’ve seen Charles and Max pass each other about 10 times, which we haven’t seen in previous seasons.”
“It’s been great racing. Another fantastic race there between the two teams. Of a sample of two, you’d have to say it’s a big tick in the box for the ability to follow closely and race wheel to wheel. It’s been outstanding.”
Formula 1: Red Bull chief Christian Horner dissatisfied with DRS detection zones in Jeddah, says ‘Cat and Mouse Chase’ should be avoided
