DRS fails, but pay attention to what Aston Martin and Alonso’s classification hides

Fernando Alonso finished 6th in qualifying for the F1 Baku GP due to a failure with his DRS. DRS (Drag Reduction System) is a system that allows the car’s downforce to be reduced in a straight line, reducing the car’s resistance to advancing by moving the rear wing and positioning it so that the flap surface does not that hit the air. . This increases the speed of the vehicle in a straight line. Fernando Alonso did not turn on that element in Azerbaijan’s ‘qualification’, he did not move directly. It worked intermittently in qualifying, opening it between turns 2 and 3 but not in the DRS area of ​​the main straightmoment where this system brings more profit.

It’s hard to know what Fernando Alonso could achieve if this new low-load rear wing system he debuted in Baku works. People say that the gain that DRS can give on this circuit is about 1 second. Ferdinand Alonso finished 1.050 behind the pole time set by Leclerc. Could he have fought for the pole? The answer is known only to Aston Martin. Although it seems more clear that it could be for the Top-3. But there is no doubt about it Fernando will be closer, and closer than the other tracks.

In Bahrain, the first race of the year, Alonso was more than 6 tenths off pole. In Jeddah, with a long straight, more than 4 tenths (with Verstappen out of the equation due to a problem). And in Australia, is back to 4 tenths. If DRS had worked in Baku, Fernando might have chosen to approach rather than any other race, something that could signal a step forward for those in green.

Without going any further, if the best partials achieved by Alonso in qualifying are added (without knowing what can be improved in Q3), Alonso would be second, 3 tenths behind the best.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

How much did DRS miss in qualifying?

The data doesn’t lie. While Red Bull was the team with the highest top speed with DRS open in qualifying, At 342 km/h straight, Alonso could only reach a 326 km/h top speed in Q3.

Without going any further, the Aston Martin reached 333 km/h in Free 1. Also during the ‘qualy’ (333.2 according to the FIA ​​document), but did not reach that speed in the final Q3. Considering that in Free Practice 1 the engine is not squeezed to the maximum, the speed that Aston Martin can achieve in qualifying should be higher.

Alonso turned on DRS between Turns 2 and 3, and at that point, there was no difference between acceleration and top speed on the climb between the Red Bull and his Aston Martin. But in the DRS area of ​​the straight, the difference is huge.

At that 326 km/h, Aston Martin is the team with the lowest top speed in qualifying, compared to Red Bull’s 342 km/h, or AlphaTauri’s 338 km/h, with eight other teams at 332 km/ h is 336.

Hamilton is 10 km/h faster than Alonso in a straight line and the Spaniard is just 76 thousandths of a second behind the Englishmansomething that speaks highly of Fernando’s driving, which he beat his teammate Stroll (9th), who had the same problem, by almost half a second.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

Construction to the limit, showing ambition

Another of the important reflections left by the DRS leadership of Aston Martin is the ambition of the green team with its new low-load rear wing. Let’s not forget that Red Bull, the great dominator at the beginning of the season, showed a big lead in the initial races, and more importantly, that DRS was open. Red Bull suffered problems with this element because they went to the limit in their construction, looking for maximum performance. The same could happen with Aston Martin.

The green team has already made it clear that they are not satisfied with the podiums, that they want to get closer to Red Bull and, thinking about the future, his intention to continue introducing improvements with the ambition of fighting for victories as soon as possible. This spoiler can show that will and how aggressive they want to be in their build looking for maximum performance. Up to the limit.

It hurts them in that sense to gather it in a weekend like Baku, with only one free practice to conduct tests because it is a sprint weekend. But as Mike Krack said before the break before Baku, they will not wait for new parts. They will take them to the rail as they leave the factory to continue taking steps forward. In Baku, DRS failed in Free Practice 1 in Alonso’s car and failed again in subsequent qualifying, in the same cars, repeatedly.

Those at Silverstone need to resolve this setback. Red Bull have shown that it can be done and those at Silverstone need to react in the same way. But the feeling that remains with the performance of the car is very positive, better than the 6th place where Alonso was in ‘qualy’.