Webber pleased with new DRS rule

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber has stated that he is not bothered about the new rules for DRS usage in F1 this season.

Previously, drivers could use DRS (a system which reduces drag, making a car quicker in a straight line) anywhere on the circuit during practice and qualifying, but they were limited to the designated DRS ‘zone’ for the race. For 2013, the system will be restricted to this zone across the entire race weekend.

Webber revealed that both he and teammate Sebastian Vettel had pushed for the change, and that the move makes little difference to his approach to qualifying.

“It’s not a big thing for us. I think that we have been okay in qualifying in the past, also quite strong in races so the effect of the DRS, the delta of the DRS, all those type of things which is not something that we’re having a huge eye on, we’re not disappointed that the DRS is less in qualifying.

“Sebastian and I are very happy. We pushed quite hard to have DRS dropped down in terms of volume on Saturday afternoon so we’re quite relaxed with that one.”

The ruling does mean that teams will have to set up their cars with both qualifying and the race in mind, whereas in 2012 they could use a high downforce (and therefore high drag) setup in qualifying as the drag would be reduced by DRS. Red Bull were known to be focusing on their race setups in 2012, preferring the higher downforce circuits, so the move is unlikely to cause too much trouble for the defending champions.