DRS in Monza/New top speed records?/Best place to sit

[Undead_Mud]

Hey,

A friend of mine and I decided to finally go for a F1 Weekend this year. Both of us are Schumi fans and were too young/didn't have the money to see him race in 2006. Now we are students and don't really have the money either, but started betting with what we were willing to pay for an F1 ticket, which worked surprisingly well so far.
As Monza is the nearest track from here (Well apart from Hockenheim...)

After seeing the first 3 races, I have to say it would be nice to sit somewhere near the end of the DRS strait.
Looking at the track, the DRS will either be activatited in Parabolica and used down the main strait, or activated after the Lesmos and be used down to the Variante Ascari.
As there are a lot more seats along the main strait, I would guess they deploy it there.
Seats to see the action would be stands 6 A/B/C or 8 for the end of the main strait or stands 12 before Variante Ascari.

Some tipps for an F1 weekend in general or Monza specifically?

What speeds do you think we can expect to see in Monza this year ( If the DRS in on the main strait) ? 360-365km/h ?

Thanks a lot
Felix

[MrBlacky]

It's the question if DRS is an advantage at all in Monza, because the wings are low either way.

[vis]

I don't know if we are going to see record top speeds in Monza later this year.
In qualifying teams would love to have a more angled rear wing to help in braking and cornering, while deploying DRS in every straight. This could lead to definitely better lap times, but non necessarily better top speeds.

In the race, if rule doesn't change, teams would be allowed to use DRS in one straight only, so cars that qualified with the higher downforce set-up could suffer on the non-DRS straights.

It remains to be seen what will be the best compromise.


Regarding the best place to sit, I recommend the grandstands at the Prima Variante (on the left of the track) where you will see a lot of wheel lock-ups and smell some healty tyre smoke, while not becoming dumb like on the start-finish line with engines running at maximum revs.
Another interesting place is inside Variante Ascari, where you can see a good part of the track: cars coming down the Serraglio, braking, doing the corners and coming out beyond the kerb heading to the Parabolica.

[volarchico]

I'll further a rumor I read elsewhere in F1T...in Monza, the DRS will work backwards and will be up for most of the race and down for specific corners.

[raymondu999]

I would've thought the race would see better top speeds. Slipstreaming, NOS, KERS.
EDIT: Pardon my brainfade. I meant DRS, not NOS. Vis' avatar caught me off-track

[Hangaku]

I would've thought the race would see better top speeds. Slipstreaming, NOS, KERS.

Don't forget spinners and neons!

[astracrazy]

you won't see anything extra special at monza because of drs. Whilst they could highly improve quali times by running a higher angle of attack on the rear wing then using drs on the straights, that will be a disadvantage come the race.

i feel that the drs will be used as normal. if you look at this picture from last year, there is room for the drs to take effect

I'll further a rumor I read elsewhere in F1T...in Monza, the DRS will work backwards and will be up for most of the race and down for specific corners.

i see the idea but i think that goes against the idea of drs. Plus i can't see it working?

[Just_a_fan]

I think the DRS will change the downforce focus. Traditionally we've seen low downforce levels but with free use of DRS in qualifying I can see teams running higher wing levels because they'll gain quite a lot in the Lesmos, Ascari and Parabolica without losing on the straights. Any team that goes traditionally low wing would gain on the straights but lose out on the corners. The trade off is whether the higher top speed at the end of the straight is more beneficial than a higher speed coming off the preceeding corner and carried in to the following corner. Also means less braking required in to the chicanes/corners.

If you can carry 20km/h more through the fast corners then you're a long way ahead on the run down the straight. The low wing guy will also have to lift/brake earlier because of the lower downforce.

It's an interesting conundrum and I hope we see a mix of strategies...

[finishline]

It's an interesting conundrum and I hope we see a mix of strategies...

Could be a fun weekend for those that are normally at the tail end. They could have a far higher down force set up than normal for Monza, get a good grid position and bask in the temporary glory.

[raymondu999]

I think most teams will actually converge on a similar setup. I don't know what that compromise is, but I think they would - given that they've already monitored Jenson vs Hamilton in Monza last year.

[Just_a_fan]

I think most teams will actually converge on a similar setup. I don't know what that compromise is, but I think they would - given that they've already monitored Jenson vs Hamilton in Monza last year.

Yes, I meant to mention that. This shows that higher d/f with drag reduction (the f-duct just doing then what the DRS does now) can be as quick as a more traditional lower d/f setup (albeit the f-duct could be used freely by the driver in the race).

The key will be finding the balance between the added benefit of downforce for the corners with reduced drag for the straights.

The teams with the more effective DRS should shine at Monza. Red Bull weren't so quick last year, I wonder if we'll see the same this year as we have had suggestions that their DRS doesn't give as big a benefit as some others...

[raymondu999]

I think though, if two setups produced identical laptimes but 1 had more downforce and the other had more straight speed, they'd err on the side of straightline speed for a better overtake/defend package

[Undead_Mud]

Thanks a lot vis ! We'll probably get some tickets inside Ascari now.
Do you know how well organised public transport to the track is?
We could take the car from Zürich, although parking at the track is expensive or just take the train if there is a good connection Zürich-Monza ( I guess via Milano so the connection Milano-Monza is what I'm asking)
It's just perfect this year. It's the nearest track, a nice one as well and I just finish some pretty big exams the week before. So it will be a nice reward =).

Would be nice to have a mixed up field, but I guess there is a sweetspot setupwise the teams will all go for.

[raymondu999]

For more df, where would the main time gains really be? I imagine Lesmos, all 3 corners at the Ascari complex, and Parabolica.

[Just_a_fan]

I think though, if two setups produced identical laptimes but 1 had more downforce and the other had more straight speed, they'd err on the side of straightline speed for a better overtake/defend package

Perhaps. As I mentioned previously, the issue is whether the straights are long enough to allow for the reduce corner exit / entry speeds at each end and still give an overtake opportunity. If the other guy is 20km/h quicker through a corner and can be the same through the next corner, how much quicker in a straightline do you need to be to attack/defend?

I'd expect DRS to be active in front of the pits so being quicker through the Lesmos and Parabolica might be more useful than being quicker on the (shorter)straights elsewhere.

I think the qualifying laptime (with free DRS) will be a new record laptime but the race laptimes won't be.