10/07/2019
NEWS STORY
This weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone will feature just two DRS zones, after the FIA opted to remove 2018's controversial third zone on the pit straight following a number of issues.
Last year, as part of its ongoing experiment with DRS in a bid to improve the racing, the FIA added a third DRS zone at a number of tracks including Silverstone.
The additional DRS zone had its detection point before Turn 16 (Vale) with activation after Turn 18 (Club).
However a number of drivers expressed unhappiness with the new zone, Lewis Hamilton describing it as "kind of dangerous".
Lacking the required downforce, a number of drivers found they were unable to take Abbey with the DRS flap open, forcing drivers to close it manually rather than relying on it to be closed automatically under braking.
Linked to a number of incidents over the weekend, the third zone was unofficially blamed for Marcus Ericsson's crash on the 31st lap of the race which saw the Swede go off at Abbey.
With his Sauber embedded in the tyre barriers after losing the rear end, the incident was the cause of the first of two deployments of the safety car over the course of the afternoon.
Just a few laps after Ericsson's crash, Romain Grosjean crashed at the same spot.
Admitting that the additional DRS zone had done little to improve overtaking, Charlie Whiting insisted that both Ericsson's and Grosjean's crashes had been down to driver error and not the additional DRS zone.
Nonetheless, it is removed this year and instead the circuit reverts to just two zones, the first after Turn 5 (Aintree) and the second at the exit of Turn 14 (Chapel).