So why was Alonso not penalized for using DRS at the wrong place on track?
His DRS didnt get enabled when it should have been so it was a few seconds too late so he didnt get to use it on the long straight.
Further...I understand (per pit reporters on Twitter) that it was a one-off glitch and that it was not used to any advantage. I wondered the same thing at first...the explanation seems to be satisfactory for the FIA.
Unexpected deployment of DRS in the wrong situation could be very dangerous. This is a serious embarrassment for the FIA. They aren't looking to draw any added attention to the incident.
The driver chooses to deploy it but it is only supposed to operate in a designated part of the track & only if the car is less than one second behind the one in front. Alonso's DRS deployed in the wrong place for who knows what reason but it didn't do him any favours. It also seemed to me that at some points his DRS was not working (again) when it should have
Driver has to activate it somehow but the FIA has to arm it first. Would seem like Alonso was pushing the button when he shouldn't have though.
I'm really surprised that teams are having so much trouble with DRS, it seems like such a simple thing for F1 but we have had multiple teams have problems with it.
Thanks. Why would Alonso push that button if it wasn't in the designated part of the track anyway? Seems more like a technical glitch to me. Are they still running FIA/McLaren ECUs?
Yes they still have the same ECU. I'm really not sure how it opened then but I would think Alonso would have had to press the button, they certainly don't want it just opening on its own for safety reasons.
Didn't mean to be rude and I hope I didn't offend (too much ). Alonso's glitch yesterday would seem to be a "permission" error not so much a mechanical one.
It's way too early to say what happened and who is to blame (not that it ever stopped anyone doing so before...). Did the FIA send the signal at the wrong time? Was Alonso pushing the button? Did the system open without the button being pressed? Did the system open without the enable signal from the FIA? Without knowing the answers to the above, we can't assign blame.
Of course we can. We can't do it responsibly but we can do it For a person with so much tech knowledge you don't really understand the interweb do you Happy Patriot's Day. Good luck in the marathon.
So maybe the question is how exactly does the DRS work( botton, switch, ECU?), and who controls it,( Drivers, race control, ECU)?
I've been wondering the same thing. I would love to see some detailed tech analysis of the system and how it works.
I thought I heard the Mercedes team uses a foot activated switch, and some drivers use a switch on the wheel...Thats about all I got! Anyone know detail around the different systems?
+1 on the first part. It closes when the jockey hits the brakes. It "reports" it's position changes back to the team & Charlie. They know (within a few inches) where the car is at any time. Beyond that, I dunno either....... Cheers, Ian
