• Home
  • News
  • F1
  • Russell refuses to change DRS rule after Doohan's Suzuka crash
F1

Russell refuses to change DRS rule after Doohan's Suzuka crash

GPDA co-director George Russell does not want the DRS activation rule to be changed following Jack Doohan's major crash in Free Practice 2 at Suzuka.

Published 08/04/2025 à 18:35

Dorian Grangier

  Comment on this article! 3

Russell refuses to change DRS rule after Doohan's Suzuka crash

© Florent Gooden / DPPI

Should the way drivers activate and deactivate their DRS be changed? F1 This sudden debate arose this weekend, during the Japanese Grand Prix. The trigger: Jack Doohan's impressive accident during Free Practice 2 at Suzuka. The Australian forgot – deliberately or not, nothing is really certain – to press his DRS button in order to close it on the approach to the first corner… and unsurprisingly, the rookie lost control of his car and sprayed his Alpine against the tire wall at high speed. Dazed but unharmed, Jack Doohan was able to participate in the Grand Prix, not without some physical difficulties.

Currently, there are two ways to close the DRS: press the brake pedal, or press the dedicated button on the steering wheel. At Suzuka, the specificity of the first corner means that drivers do not need to brake and can therefore, theoretically, leave the DRS open there, since there is no end demarcation for the DRS zones. During the drivers' briefing on Friday evening, some drivers proposed the idea of ​​an automated opening and closing of the DRS to avoid accidents like Jack Doohan's at Suzuka. Carlos Sainz, new co-director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA), particularly expressed himself in favour of the introduction of an automatic closing system.

However, this is not the opinion of his colleague George Russell, also co-director of the GPDA. The Briton is quite strongly opposed to this idea in the face of a problem that he believes is specific to Suzuka. "Obviously what happened to Jack [Doohan] was a big accident, and it's very unfortunate. But it's one of those things that you see happen once and everyone recognizes that it's probably the only corner on the whole calendar where there's this problem, explains the pilot Mercedes. I don't think we need to do anything. As drivers, you have responsibilities. We come flat out down the straight into the first corner, and clicking the button to turn off the DRS is part of our job. We don't want it to be automated; we have to let the drivers decide. There are already too many gadgets assisting us."

Aside from Jack Doohan's crash in FP2, DRS deactivation hasn't posed a problem for any driver this weekend in Japan, and doesn't seem to bother the twenty drivers on the grid that much. Another debate without a follow-up? It's quite possible.

ALSO READ > Will Doohan still have time to prove himself at Alpine ?

Autohebdo Store / Flash Sales

See the shop

Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

Comment on this article! 3

Read also

Comments

3 Comment (s)

N

Navel

09/04/2025 at 03:28 a.m.

Otherwise we remove it, the 2026 cars will need it more with a reduced size debate easy to resolve.

Yves-Henri RANDIER

09/04/2025 at 12:21 a.m.

If the DRS operating rules are not changed, when will this artifice disappear and the natural "big b... " system return?

V

vincent moyet

09/04/2025 at 12:07 a.m.

The fact remains that if mobile aerodynamic devices were banned for so long, it's no coincidence. And despite what Russell says, there are other situations that can pose a major danger: failure of the DRS closure, high-speed collision on the straight between two cars with the DRS open and therefore almost deprived of downforce. This artificial system certainly allows for overtaking, but it's quite ridiculous compared to a good, hard braking at the end of the straight, which can prove dangerous.

Write a comment