Source: Sauber F1 Team

F1 News

Sauber change DRS system after Ericsson crash

Sauber change DRS system after Ericsson crash

19-07-2018 16:42
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Jake Williams-Smith

Sauber has changed their DRS system in the wake of Marcus Ericsson's scary crash at turn one during the British Grand Prix. A failure that meant the rear wing flap did not reattach properly causing him to spin and crash heavily into the barriers.

The changes that the team has made for the German Grand Prix weekend means that the DRS flap will now completely closed once a driver has lifted off of the throttle rather than when the driver touches the brakes.

Ericsson explained during the media day that the redesign was working and didn't require too much work in between races.

“We didn’t change the button but we changed a little bit the system of how it works. Now as soon as we lift off it will close whereas before it didn’t do that.

“We changed the functionality there. If you lift 100 percent it will close. But not if you lift a little bit. So that corner you lift a little bit and you go on, and now you its as soon as you lift.”

The Swede went on to explain the reason the issue occurred was due to Silverstone's unique DRS zone in which drivers could theoretically run with the wing open through turns one and two should they be able to keep it on the track.

“I have to hit the button but in normal DRS zones it’s never a lift, you always brake. So this problem was never occurring before because you always had heavy braking.

“But at Silverstone it was more like a half lift through the corner, so you had to de-activate it manually and I was trying to do it as late as possible every lap.

“I missed it and then I lost the car. Even if you miss it, you don’t have much time to do it again because you are already in the corner and then you are a passenger. 

"Then that lap I just missed it but it resulted in a big crash and we had to change the procedure.”