Aston Martin to shake down new AMR22 today

9 comments on “Aston Martin to shake down new AMR22 today”

1. 

   Yaru (@yaru)
   11th February 2022, 0:20

   In general it makes no sense to me to change these cars so drastically for the very purpose of closer racing, only to then still rely on much-maligned DRS

   Simple cos nobody knows how well the new changes are going to stick until we get to first race where everyone is properly racing againts each other – and even then you probably want many more races as a sample size

   Everything until then is just theoretical. If it works as good or as well as they hope, they can remove it next season.
   1. 

      The Dolphins
      11th February 2022, 3:43

      As far as I know there is nothing in the rules that says a race needs to have DRS. Perhaps at first we can go from two zones to one, then to none.
   2. 

      S
      11th February 2022, 4:14

      If they just got rid of it, then they’d have no choice but to make proper rules that create proper racing cars, @yaru.
      Stop focusing so much on laptimes and appearance, and focus primarily on racing and inter-car dynamics.

      If they are serious about good quality racing, they don’t need the DRS safety net.
      1. 

         drmouse (@drmouse)
         11th February 2022, 11:46

         If they just get rid of it without having something already in place to improve close racing, we would get at least a season of even more processional racing. It’s the nuclear option.

         They’ve taken the sensible approach: Bring in changes which they hope will improve racing, but leave the DRS in the design just in case it doesn’t work. If it works, they can either drop it or, even better*, use it differently.

         * AFAIK, most people don’t have a problem with the actual DRS system, per se, but with the way it is used as a sticking plaster to cover up the cars’ failings, as a push-to-pass system which discourages real, close racing in favour of easy DRS-enabled passes on the straights. If it is available as a tool for everyone to use as needed, I believe most would find that acceptable.
         1. 

            S
            12th February 2022, 15:15

            If they just get rid of it without having something already in place to improve close racing, we would get at least a season of even more processional racing. It’s the nuclear option.

            What I said was that if they were keen on having cars without DRS, they’d make technical rules that make the cars race better without it, @drmouse. As though it never existed in the first place.
            No need for a safety net, because they’d have no choice but to get the effect right. The pressure would be on – go too far if necessary. Lap times be damned – car racing is more important than lap records.

            If it is available as a tool for everyone to use as needed, I believe most would find that acceptable.

            The obvious downside to that is that then it can essentially have no net effect.
            It’s compensating for performance loss due to dirty air – but if the lead car can get the same performance boost any time they want it, then there’s no point having it at all.
            And using it to reduce drag for fuel efficiency gains is the worst idea I’ve ever heard. That drag is important for racing.
            Push to pass as a tactical element is all well and good – but really only where it’s not actually needed.
   3. 

      Robbie (@robbie)
      11th February 2022, 16:47

      @yaru I don’t disagree with you and the thing for me is that I can’t see how this drastic change to the cars won’t work. I base that on the fact that we have seen what even small changes can do to cars and how they feel and act. I’m confident in the huge amount of work Brawn and his team have done, which also included input from the teams, to head them back to cars that can race closely. The thing is they haven’t had those for a long time. It has been a long time during which the cars have been very dependent on clean air, and they didn’t introduce DRS until after many years of dirty air affected cars. So to me that adds up to cars that imho can’t help but be much better than even cars were 20 or more years ago for close racing, and DRS wasn’t ‘needed’ or used back then.

      Bottom line for me, if these massively different cars still need DRS, or put another way if they still insist on retaining DRS with these cars it will be hugely disappointing. I do agree that perhaps it might take this full season for them to adapt to not having it, with new rear wings etc. for 2023. We also know that Brawn and imho likely many inside F1 would prefer not to have it but have accepted it because of how badly affected the cars have been in dirty air in the last decade or so particularly. But that was an evolution that was going on under BE/CVC. And this is now. Please turf or repurpose DRS ASAP LOL. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me given all the work they have put into these new cars.
2. 

   X1Znet (@x1znet)
   11th February 2022, 0:27

   Lance isn’t the only one hoping the Canadian GP does not get cancelled again. I and the thousands of others who’ve already bought tickets — grandstands appear to be all sold-out — are going to be extremely disappointed if it does not on as planned.
   Except for the sprint race… I’ll be happy with a standard GP weekend!
3. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   11th February 2022, 8:10

   No stumbling blocks should arise for the Canadian GP anymore, especially as the AusGP with a shorter lead time will seemingly go ahead as scheduled since the build-up process began ten days ago.
   Canadian + Singapore & Japanese GPs have quite a lot longer lead times. This factor should help them equally avoid a 3rd-consecutive year cancellation.

   DRS has remained solely for backup purposes, but perhaps not anymore after next season.
   I somewhat doubt Domenicali’s suggestion (which isn’t very recent anymore) about allowing free use within designated zones a la practice & QLF (& testing) happens as otherwise, this change probably would’ve already been noted in the rules.
   Lower drag perhaps reduces fuel consumption, but lap times mightn’t necessarily be faster overall as they get impacted by several things in racing conditions, as do top speeds, more than in qualifying-trim.
   Additionally, the above suggestion would contradict DRS’s original purpose as an overtaking-aid if the defending driver could activate simultaneously.
   1. 

      Robbie (@robbie)
      11th February 2022, 17:07

      @jerejj I’m not sure Domenicali’s suggestion would’ve already been noted in the rules, for they may just be waiting to ensure that teams haven’t found loopholes and ways to continue to make the cars more clean-air dependent than F1 would like, although I think the cars are going to be so different that this will not be possible, as hard as they may try.

      Just to be clear Domenicali from what I recall was speaking more about the fuel economy aspect and as he put it ‘they don’t need drag on the straights anyway.’ It was me that translated that into also meaning higher top speeds for all cars and therefore lower lap times, if they all got to open their wings for two or three stretches of track at each venue ala the DRS zones that are used now.

      “Additionally, the above suggestion would contradict DRS’s original purpose as an overtaking-aid if the defending driver could activate simultaneously.”
      Yes that is exactly the point. The cars are completely different and designed for close racing, so there is no need to keep DRS, or certainly no need to think of it in it’s original purpose. Yes it should be fine if they keep it and if the defending driver has his activated too, for the cars can race closely now and don’t need the bandage that is DRS to hide the too-big dirty air effect. Take away the need for clean air and you take away the need for a gadget to make up for cars that need clean air. Or put another way, you take away the need for the trailing driver to be the only one to be able to use it and only when within a second of the leading car in a certain place.

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