by VALERIO BARRETTA
Red Bull Ring, DRS sotto accusa
As is natural after an episode like this, controversy has arisen over the contact between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Red Bull Ring. A wheelie that can mark the end of a good relationship (cordial and respectful, if not friendly) and at the same time the beginning of a rivalry that can ignite the second part of the season.
The Austrian stewards judged Verstappen responsible, punished with a ten-second penalty for the contact with the McLaren driver, nevertheless there are and will be many reactions to what happened on Sunday. Among these, the qualified one by Peter Windsor stands out: according to his British colleague, the blame is entirely attributable to DRS.
Windsor’s words
“I can’t fault Max’s behavior in Austria. He behaved like a racing driver. We want the drivers to say ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got DRS, I’ll pull over, I’ll let you pass?’. It’s pathetic.“, this is Windsor’s comment to the channel YouTube CameronF1. “I think it’s all the fault of the mobile wing: if we were in the era of pure racing and if slipstreams still gave the advantages they always have, I don’t think Lando would have found himself exactly where he was in that sort of braking area where he can’t go inside but is still so much faster than Max that he decides to go left. This only happens thanks to the DRS“.
“I’ve been saying this for years, DRS should be abolished. It’s an artificial device that doesn’t allow you to overtake, but only offers a speed differential. much greater between the car in front and the one behind, and that’s the problem. The speed differential is never positive in motor racing. When this happens and you go into a medium-speed corner like the fourth one at the Red Bull Ring it’s not a drama, but when you go from a very high speed to a very slow corner like the third one it’s almost impossible for a driver, even of Lando’s quality, to perfectly position his car in relation to the car in front“, has continued. “DRS takes away all the finesse and art of a proper overtaking maneuver.which you have to think about for two or three laps or even 10 or 15 or 20 laps. That’s what motor racing should be about: planning the perfect overtaking move, doing it exactly right. If it hadn’t been there, I’d be willing to bet that Lando would have won it with an overtaking move that he would have had to do and think about very well. It would have been a fabulous battle, probably with just one overtaking move, but it would have been an absolute classic.“.
