On my bikes, the fastest is palms on the hoods, forearms on the bars. In the drops is a touch slower but much better control of the bike. If I want to go fast and daydream (or am really tired) the drops are far safer.

Edit: Bunyanderman's post reminded me of a race many years ago where we had a very strong, gusty NW wind going north for 60 miles. Small field. I was one of the two tallest riders. Road was open to traffic so we had to hug the road edge. The race was single file and we got almost no protection from the riders in front. Every gust was a fight to stay on the road. I rode the drops for 3 hours, never coming up.

Ben