The FIA has chosen to ban the use of the drag-reduction rear-wing through the Monaco tunnel, between turns eight and ten as reported by The F1 Times last week.
The governing body consulted the teams and drivers and on hearing their feedback, opted on safety grounds to ban DRS during practice and qualifying as they believe drivers would be tempted to use it, which could potentially have very serious consequences in a section which isn’t easily accessible by marshalls if something were to go wrong.
Renault team principal Eric Boullier disagrees with the ban. He believes time can be gained by using it, and says it’s up to the driver to make that gamble.
“The concern about DRS usage in Monaco is focussed on its potential use in the tunnel,” said Boullier. “This will not be a factor in the race, as the DRS sector will be on the main straight only.
“There will be some places where it will be possible to use without difficulty, and other places where the drivers will not feel confident.
“In this respect it is identical to every other track so far this season – the driver has to judge where he can safely activate the DRS,” explained the Frenchman.
“Some feel that the incentive to benefit will force drivers to take unnecessary risks. My own view is that the drivers will build up their confidence gradually during free practice and by the time qualifying arrives they will know in how much of the tunnel they can safely use the DRS wing.
“Often in the past the tunnel has been very tricky to take flat out at the start of the race weekend when the track is poor. This has not caused the drivers to crash, they have simply built up their pace gradually until they were confident that it could be taken flat.”
