What’s going on with the DRS?
The 2025 Bahrain GP will be remembered – among other things – as the race of DRS issues. George Russell, due to an accidental activation of the moveable rear wing on the back straight, risked losing his podium. But he was fortunately “cleared” by the stewards, who ruled that no sporting advantage was gained from the accidental opening, as the Brit then voluntarily slowed down, losing nearly three tenths in the following corner.
Now, a video published on the social network X by a user (@ramsescr63) reveals that Charles Leclerc, in his SF-25, also experienced an unexpected – and extremely dangerous – rear wing opening. The video shows the DRS of Ferrari #16 opening mid-corner, while the red car was being followed by Lando Norris’s McLaren.
The Jack Doohan precedent
Going through the footage frame by frame, the DRS opening appears to last less than a second, and the wing then immediately closes. Charles Leclerc likely pressed the DRS button by mistake, but what’s surprising is that it could even open, since it should be controlled by an FIA ECU. The massive risk was to repeat – just 10 days later – a similar incident to the one Jack Doohan suffered during FP2 of the Japanese GP at Suzuka.
In that case, it was a driver error: he entered Turn 1 without manually deactivating the wing and without braking, mistakenly convinced he could handle that stretch “boldly” based on simulator testing. Nothing of the sort – fortunately – happened to Charles Leclerc, but this sudden wing opening will undoubtedly need to be carefully investigated by Ferrari and the FIA.
LECLERC PUSO EL DRS EN MITAD DE UNA CURVA.
Lo quito rápidamente, pero ni se ha anotado esto.
📰 Créditos a @ramsescr63
— ElReyGuiri (@ElReyGuiri) April 13, 2025
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