http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2tIFxSEGA:600:375]
With the Spanish Grand Prix on this weekend, a friend and I were chatting about overtaking in F1 and the introduction of DRS. It made me remember this classic driver duel between Rene Arnoux in the Equipe Renault and Ferrari legend Gilles Villeneuve at the 1979 Dijon GP.
What are your thoughts on DRS? Has it added spice to F1 or is the overtaking too artificial?
- Charles Kha
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It was a Renault, not a Williams.
Artificial overtaking is better than non-existent overtaking.
Personally im loving the DRS and Pirelli mix.
I am not a fan of the no refueling, kers, or current qualifying system. Qualy needs to be reverted back to the old 1hour Qual with 12laps, in and out lap inclusive.
As for the racing this year it has been phenominal to watch, the passing is not only exciting, it is also forcing the drivers to take more risks, in passing and defending. Wich in the long run will only lead to drivers developing more talent.
I for one can not wait for the New Turbo era to begin, anyone who had the oppertunity to see the old era will know it was tuetonic! And then we can rid the sport of kers, and introduce push to pass turbo boost!
WOOOOOOO! Im excited. BTW if anyone interested in f1 had ever youtubed they would have seen this vid, if not they not a f1 fan. OLD vid but still good. Sad too loose Gilles
I don't like DRS, 'cause it's unfair. It's impossible to defend against anyone with so much help, so it's like getting a lap, At some other circuits, like today in Spain, it's useless because the teams need the more torque with the shorter final ratio, so they won't make their cars able to use it. And tires should be killed in short times by enormous horsepowers, not by Ecclestone's decisions. In that case there would be more exciting to watch pilots struggling with their much stronger cars like in the 80's.
Wow that battle between Arnoux and Villeneuve was fantastic!
As far as DRS goes I think that it could be a good thing once they know their way around it. For example, in the last Grand Prix in Turkey the DRS was too forgiving and saw drivers sailing past the likes of Rosberg, who despite having issues with the rear tyres during that time, was in the fastest car in terms of straight line speed. If the DRS zone was a little later in that race then I'm sure that people would not be questioning it as much. Also I think Alonso said two weeks ago that most of the time when people were going past very easily in the DRS zone it was because of tyre wear. Most of the time the person being passed very easily were on bad tyres.
Whether or not DRS is a good thing to increase overtaking will only be evident once they have worked out the best places to put the DRS zones. If they can do that then I'm sure we will see lots of wheel to wheel action which can never be a bad thing.
Great race but Arnoux was in a Renault not a Williams.
Whoops! Nice catch Shua.
Epic!
Artificial overtaling its a crap, its better to see a race without overtaking than a race with a lot of artificial overtaking
Gilles, Our Prides
Pirelli and DRS have now made F1 much more exciting! there is some much more close racing and overtaking, its a joy to watch! I mean look at that battle between Vettel and Hamilton in the closing laps...incredible!!
This is some exciting batlle, really enjoying.
bahaha "last and lapped,"
DRS has added spice to f1, i agree with the prevous comment though, a good example was at turkey, if someone was within that second gap, the guy in front had no chance!
I think the main thing thats spiced f1 up this year though is the new pirelli tyres, the racing is the best its been in years!
I like the new tires, because they can give nice races without giving an unfair advantage like the DRS.... with DRS you won't need no skill to overtake, because is like bringing a knife to a gun fight...
At first I was against DRS, I felt like each team needed to develop their own "blown diffuser" Now I see DRS is just that but simpler which allows everyone to have it.It can also be developed and over developed (ask Ferrari) so I think it's a good thing. I don't like how the DRS zone is up in the air until after practice. This should be determined the weeks before the race.
The Pirelli's are ok. I would like to see three tire manufacturers and the teams choose what brand they want before each race weekend. That would be a real tire war!
KERS is awesome and needs to stay.
Finally I would like to see in season testing for the last 6 teams in the standings. No one could use it to shoot to the top, and there would be a tight battle in the middle of the field instead of the four tiers we have now. Red Bull/Mclaren, Ferrari/Mercedes/Renault, Force India/Williams/Sauber/Toro Rosso, HRT/Virgin/and sometimes Lotus. Have the testing near the next venue to ease transportation costs and sell tickets to the public for cheap prices. A family may not be able to afford tickets to the US GP in Austin but they could afford tickets to the test session at Road Atlanta the weekend before.
God that was intense
DRS is impressive yes and a big step forward in terms of the technological aspect of racing but if you really think about it, it takes away some sense of purpose and responsibility from the driver. Its great but I think technology is doing most of the hard work not only in F1 but motorsports in general.
I'm not sure if I'm crazy about it, but I do like that it seems to keep options open for passing elsewhere on track just by being able to hang with the car ahead.
DRS Kinda sucks...thou as is often said it is a work that is on going...WHAT F1 needs is less rules to make it more competative...LOOK at the '82 season more winners than any other season...the reason loads ot different styles of car design...the Rules should be NO WINGS, the teams could do anything from the back of the front wheels to the front of the back wheels...so you could have SKIRTS and GROUND EFFECT...NO FANS thou...Active suspension YES active aero YES...you could have say a maximum output of 800 BHP...ANY engine type...a MAX fuel tank capacity to encourage effcientcey and address enviromentel concerns...you could have GAS TURBINES V TURBOS V DESILS V ATMO...the cars would look different and sound different from each other and the smaller teams with a good idea could out perform the GRAND teams...it won't happen but it would be so much better if it did...GILLES VILLENEUVE GREATEST F1 DRIVER EVER THE JIMI HENDRIX OF MOTORSPORT...11 SE FASTER than anybody duing practice in the WET at Watkins Glen in '79...
The f1 is better in 1979 than now ....
yeah.. i remember these two.. "phew" were going back tho' - oh by the way its too artificial, the overtaking!
I have to admit that F1 is much more interesting to watch this year then the last one. Still its not nearly as amazing as Arnoux and Villeneuve battle shown above..
I also don't believe any overtaking is artificial except for team orders. Sports have rules. Imagine how rough basketball would be without the 3 sec rule.
That was absolutely amazing. i just want to get back to the time where the cars didnt handle like they were on rails. ps. where the fuck is a new trans am race series
I personally like the "new" F1. The addition of multiple tire sets, DRS, and cures gives F1 a very futuristic feel, and in reality F1 should have that feel.
I think the problem with F1 is taking the drivers descision away from him. Letting the team call too many of the shots. DRS is not a bad idea, no different to the up and down boost buttons on the turbo era cars when they used it for overtaking. the problem is making DRS 'zones'. This makes it too predictable to tell when someone is going to overtake, they should make it a driver decision where and when to use DRS. Use it too early in high speed corners, and lose traction, dont use it atall, lose a few mph on the straight. It should be down to the drivers using it combined with their knowledge of their own chassis. This will make it more enjoyable to watch, seeing more risky late braking manouveres that people want to watch rather than predictable strategy game with pit stops. lets face it, if the drivers had more control, we might have seen a few more last ditch attempts by hamilton to take vettel on the weekend rather than coasting the car round behind him in those last few laps
F1 will be good again when things are de-restricted but still have a provable level of safety, and a salary cap.
I can only imagine the frustration some drivers have today dealing with the ever increasing smoke and mirrors feel of F1.
Maybe racing needs to die for a while only to rise up, like a magnificent phoenix.
does anyone knows what is the maximum speed of those cars back then ?
Just remove the rear view mirrors. KERS and the DRS wingy thing, at least with all the rules behind usage, make overtaking extremely artifical. No one can catch Vettel and the RB7 anyways.
DRS is contrived and has no place in F1. Why? Because the driver in front cannot use the same technological advantage to fight back. KERS is different, as the drivers can deploy it at any given time, and therefore is a positive development.
The '79 French Grand Prix was also notable for something else - by winning for Renault ahead of this battle Jean Pierre Jabouille gave turbocharged engines their first win. Legendary stuff.
A few days ago I turned a year older, which made me realise that next year will mark a decade since I
Every sport has rules that govern the game. Regulations that are done to keep the playing field level;