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As teams are sacrificing all their focus on finalising the all‑new cars for the 2026 Formula One season, F1Technical’s senior writer Balázs Szabó takes a detailed look at the number of overtakes recorded during last year’s championship.
The number of overtaking manoeuvres decreased during the 2025 Formula One season as the ground-effect era came to a close after a four-year spell.
The most important factor was the gradual return of dirty air. As teams continued to develop their cars, they recovered much of the downforce that the 2022 regulations had initially tried to limit.
This development made the cars more sensitive to turbulence, which meant that drivers struggled to follow closely enough to attempt overtakes. At circuits like Suzuka, drivers openly complained that the cars felt “tedious” to race in traffic, and they required a much larger pace advantage than expected to complete a pass.
Another major factor was the character of the circuits themselves, especially those that had been resurfaced. Suzuka provided the clearest example: the new tarmac offered very little grip off the racing line, which discouraged drivers from attempting moves because the risk of sliding wide or losing control was too high.
As a result, the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix produced only fifteen overtakes, compared with forty‑eight the previous year. Several drivers even compared the experience to racing at Monaco, where overtaking is notoriously difficult.
The competitive order of the field also contributed to the decline. The top teams — Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes — were separated by extremely small performance margins. This closeness meant that track position became unusually powerful, and overtaking became rare even among the front‑running cars.
Finally, the season featured less strategic variation than in previous years. Tyre degradation was generally low, pit‑stop strategies tended to converge, and the undercut and overcut were less powerful. With fewer opportunities to gain positions through strategy, drivers were forced to make passes on track — and that was precisely what had become more difficult.
The two extremities
The extremes of the dataset remain defined by Abu Dhabi and Monaco. Abu Dhabi’s 60 overtakes underline the effectiveness of its long straights and heavy‑braking zones, where the DRS delta typically exceeds 18–22 km/h depending on wing level. The Yas Marina layout also features multiple energy‑recovery opportunities, allowing drivers to deploy additional electrical power when attacking.
In contrast, Monaco’s total of just four overtakes reflects the circuit’s structural limitations: the average cornering speed is low, the track width rarely exceeds 10 metres, and the DRS zone offers a negligible speed differential. Even with the 2022–2025 aero package, the turbulent‑air sensitivity in slow, narrow corners still prevents meaningful close following.
High number of overtaking
Several circuits consistently produced high overtaking numbers due to their favourable aerodynamic and mechanical profiles. Bahrain, São Paulo, Mexico City, Canada, Spain, Hungary, and Austria all fall into this category.
Most of these circuits combine long straights with braking zones that exceed 4–5 g, creating natural passing opportunities. The DRS deltas at these venues often reach 15–20 km/h, and the tyre degradation rates — particularly on the rear axle — generate significant pace offsets over a stint.
The Hungaroring and the Montmelo circuit are especially noteworthy because both circuits were historically processional. The 2022 ground‑effect regulations reduced wake turbulence by approximately 30–40%, allowing cars to follow more closely through medium‑speed sequences such as the Hungaroring’s Turn 4–5 complex or Barcelona’s revised final sector. As a result, both circuits now regularly produce double‑digit overtaking totals.
A large group of circuits sits in the middle of the overtaking spectrum, producing moderate but not exceptional pass counts. Great Britain, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Texas, China, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Miami, Italy, Las Vegas all fall into this category.
Many of these tracks feature long sequences of medium‑ and high‑speed corners where aerodynamic load is high and following becomes more difficult. At Silverstone, for example, the downforce sensitivity through complexes such as Maggotts–Becketts or the Esses limits the ability to stay within one second for DRS activation.
Street circuits such as Singapore, Jeddah, Baku, and Las Vegas often depend heavily on race interruptions, tyre offsets, and track evolution. Their braking zones are typically strong overtaking points, but the narrow racing line and low grip levels reduce the consistency of passing opportunities.
Where was overtaking at a premium?
A smaller group of circuits produced relatively low overtaking totals beyond Monaco. Qatar, Japan, and Australia all fall toward the lower end of the scale.
These circuits share a common aerodynamic challenge: long, high‑speed sequences that generate strong downforce and therefore strong wake turbulence.
At Qatar, for example, the average cornering speed is among the highest on the calendar, and the DRS delta on the main straight is often insufficient to compensate for the time lost in the preceding corners.
Australia and Japan present similar issues, with limited heavy‑braking zones and a reliance on strategy, undercuts, and tyre warm‑up characteristics rather than direct wheel‑to‑wheel racing.
Geographic pattern
A geographic pattern also emerges from the data. Middle Eastern and American circuits generally produce higher overtaking totals,
reflecting their modern design philosophy, which prioritises long straights, wide corner entries, and multiple DRS zones.
European circuits, by contrast, show far greater variability. Some, such as Austria, Hungary, and Spain, have adapted well to the ground‑effect era, while others, such as Monaco, remain fundamentally constrained by their historic layouts.
F1GP Singapore
