Albert Park Circuit will continue with only three DRS zones for the rest of the 2022 Australian Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne, as confirmed by the FIA’s Race Director Niels Wittich on Saturday morning. Given the sweeping track changes ahead of its return to the 2022 Formula One calendar, the Melbourne circuit should have featured four DRS zones, adding a new one between Turns 8-9. That DRS zone on the long left-hand stretch, however, has now been removed, as announced in a statement issued on Saturday ahead of the final practice session for the 2022 Australian Grand Prix:
“For safety reasons, DRS Zones will be reduced to 3 for the remainder of the event. DRS detection 1 will be moved to before Turn 9, DRS activation 1 will be after Turn 10, DRS detection 2 will remain unchanged, with the following activation zones will be renumbered accordingly,” read the statement.
The mobile wing allows a car to significantly increase speed at the specific points, effectively increasing the porpoising phenomenon especially on some cars, including Ferrari and Mercedes. The decision to eliminate the DRS area in which the highest speeds are reached could help the Maranello team, both in terms of qualifying but also in view of the race.
Ahead of the qualifying session for the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto talked about this situation: “The DRS has certainly affected the flying lap performance regarding the the bouncing of our car on the straight, while we have to see what happens in the race. I think that, depending on the more or less new tires, the situation could be different: it is up to us to optimize the package at our disposal” – he explained.
Mattia Binotto then spoke about the overall performance of the last free practice sessions at the Albert Park Circuit: “The field is rather narrow, according to what we saw in the morning. It will be a very difficult qualifying and weekend for the drivers and cars, especially now that the wind has picked up. It took some time to regain confidence and feeling with the car and this will be a very important aspect, especially in qualifying. McLaren has come very close, especially if we look at the first two races, and I expect them to be in the fight ”.
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In the end, the Ferrari boss was also asked about the diffuser update introduced in yesterday’s free practice: “For us it was a test to collect useful data in view of the rest of the season. Now we will analyze everything and make our choice for the future ”.
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