No concerns over DRS, Sauber crash caused by ‘small’ design flaw – FIA

Marcus Ericsson's spectacular practice crash was caused by a "small" design flaw with Sauber's drag-reduction system (DRS), which has been corrected to the FIA's satisfaction, according to Charlie Whiting.

Ericsson's DRS was in the open position as he headed down the start/finish straight on Friday but extended past the stopper, which meant it became jammed in the open position and failed to close when he applied the brakes, as it should do automatically.

That unbalanced his car and span him into the barriers at over 200mph, where his car rolled four times before coming to a stop. Ericsson escaped without injury.

Whiting said the FIA were satisfied the problem has been resolved and that they have no concerns over DRS use on high-speed tracks such as Monza.

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"We’ve been through it with Sauber and we know what happened," he said. "And it was a small design flaw, which they corrected, but generally speaking we don’t have any concerns with DRS on high-speed circuits."

Whiting also praised the safety of the car after the Swede was able to climb out of his car unaided and continue to compete in the race weekend.

"I thought it did a great job. Look at the violence in that accident and the wheels all stayed on which was a magnificent testament to the strength of those [tethers] and the strength of the whole car.

"Recent focus has been on halo but there’s been so many improvements over the years to the strengths of the chassis with impact structures, wheel tethers, the height of the cockpit. All those things came together to help Marcus yesterday."