{"id":8319,"date":"2025-04-10T15:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8319\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T15:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T15:39:11","slug":"200mph-doohan-crash-sparks-new-f1-split-over-automatic-drs-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/8319\/","title":{"rendered":"200mph Doohan crash sparks new F1 split over automatic DRS action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jack Doohan\u2019s gnarly FP2 crash ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix raised concerns that Formula 1\u2019s drag reduction system (DRS) may need an overhaul.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Particularly, the concern has centered around whether DRS, which is currently a driver-controlled system, should be made automatic \u2014 and drivers are split on the matter.<\/p>\n

Jack Doohan crash divides F1 grid on automatic DRS<\/p>\n

Formula 1 drivers are at odds about the concept of automatic DRS shut-offs after Jack Doohan\u2019s nasty crash in Free Practice 2 at the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Heading into Turn 1, Doohan careened into the tyre barrier, smashing his Alpine A525 to pieces. According to the team, the crash resulted because Doohan had failed to manually switch off DRS; as a result, he lost control when he turned into the corner.<\/p>\n

DRS must currently be manually shut off by drivers braking, lifting off the throttle a certain amount, or manually pressing the DRS button. But some drivers have raised concerns that the manual shut-off is perhaps too dangerous.<\/p>\n

Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc was one of the drivers who was willing to play with the suggestion of automatic DRS shut-off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like, if we have some kind of system like this, I think we can maybe use it and have more DRS like before Turn 1 in Silverstone, I think is a good example, and here with 130R, there\u2019s a huge straight and it\u2019s a bit of a shame that we don\u2019t use this kind of straights to do it,\u201d the Monegasque driver told media after the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I also feel like it can be up to us.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, Turn 1 in Silverstone, when we had it, I thought it was quite cool, because you have to be very brave into Turn 1 to give the DRS and there was something to gain out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

More F1 2025 analysis:<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49\u00a0McLaren\u2019s strategy indecision is the biggest threat to their title chances<\/a><\/p>\n

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But Formula 1 Grand Prix Drivers\u2019 Association directors Carlos Sainz and George Russell were at odds.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously what happened to Jack was a big shunt and very unfortunate, but I think it\u2019s one of those that you\u2019ll see happen once, and everybody will recognize this is probably the only corner of the whole calendar that it\u2019s a problem,\u201d the Mercedes driver explained to media.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs drivers, you have responsibilities. We\u2019ve got to go flat out down the straight and turn into the corners and you know, clicking the button to turn the DRS off is part of the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want it to be automated. We\u2019ve got to leave it down to the drivers. There\u2019s already too many gadgets assisting us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sainz, however, took a much different view when asked about the concern after qualifying.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety\u2019s still the main priority always with these cars, especially with the speeds we\u2019re doing,\u201d the Spaniard explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny other era of F1, Jack is not walking today.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we need to keep making progress. If we are going to make the cars as fast as they are nowadays, we need to keep making progress with safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt I was quite vocal [on Friday] in saying I\u2019m surprised this hasn\u2019t happened more often, because I\u2019ve had moments where I mis-pressed the DRS button and it stayed open and it gives you a massive snap and a massive fright going into a corner like Turn 1 here, Shanghai Turn 1, Australia Turn 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have too many of these corners where it\u2019s down to the driver almost to close it, and down to the DRS to do a good job on recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid there haven\u2019t been enough of these crashes in order to prove that maybe we need to work on safety in this item.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I hope [Doohan\u2019s] crash shows that we need to make something that automatically \u2013 100 metres, 50 metres before the braking, it shuts, so you don\u2019t get the chance for the driver to make a mistake or for DRS to fail, if it doesn\u2019t close. [And] it gives you a bit of warning that if it hasn\u2019t been closed by the FIA, you still need to close it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, also going into next year with all this downforce thing that they want to adjust, it\u2019s important, I think, for us that they come up with something automatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read next:\u00a0F1 2025 power rankings: Who are the best performers on this year\u2019s grid?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Doohan\u2019s gnarly FP2 crash ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix raised concerns that Formula 1\u2019s drag reduction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4289,4199,707,4200,225,4291,12,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-8319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-alpine","9":"tag-f1","10":"tag-formula-1","11":"tag-formula1","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-jack-doohan","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114314422867222767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}