When Formula 1’s ground effect revolution first came into effect at the beginning at the start of the 2022 season, the aim was simple: Allow for closer, better racing.
By trying to give chasing drivers more of a chance against the dreaded ‘dirty air’ effect – the invisible force field that prevents drivers from getting close due to aerodynamic disturbance on their own cars – there should be more opportunities for drivers to attempt overtaking moves and, thus, improve the quality of racing.
For over a decade leading up to 2022, the sport had relied heavily on the divisive Drag Reduction System to help give drivers a better chance to overtake. Allowed only in pre-determined sections of the track and only when within one second of a rival car, DRS has produced many hundreds of passing moves over the years, but, as many would argue, at the cost of driver skill. After all, why attempt a daredevil dive to catch an opponent unaware, when you can sit and wait until the DRS zone to press a button and then breeze by on the straight.
For the start of F1’s new ground effect era, DRS remained at it had been the previous season in 2021. The reasoning was not just to help provide a direct comparison between new cars and old, but because the shift to underbody-dominant downforce meant less overbody drag than with the 2021 cars. As such, the natural slipstream effect of following behind another car on a straight was reduced, with a weaker tow potentially making it harder for drivers to get by on straights.
However, the FIA’s head of aerodynamics Jason Somerville suggested that the new technical regulations could eventually lead to the demise of DRS.
“I think DRS, for us, is a very tune-able feature,” he said during an interview with Peter Windsor. “It’s very circuit-dependent and it can be dialled in and out.
“I think most of us feel, longer-term, we’d very much like to try and phase DRS out if we can. But we didn’t think that was necessarily going to be the right thing to do overnight for these regulations.”
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Two-and-a-half years into the new regulations, there is finally an end in sight for DRS – but not under the current rules. While the overtaking aid will be replaced with a new ‘manual override’ power unit boost when the revised V6 turbo power units come into effect in 2026, it will continue to be a major part of racing until then.
That is not to say that DRS has remained unchanged over the last few seasons. While the system still operates in the same way, the FIA has made some minor tweaks to some of the zones around several circuits on the calendar in recent seasons.
The majority of circuits have seen some modifications to their DRS activation zones in the ground effect era compared to their final races with the previous generation of cars. Suzuka, Shanghai, Monaco, Montreal, the Red Bull Ring, Silverstone, the Hungaroring, Circuit of the Americas, Interlagos and Yas Marina have all had their DRS activation zones untouched since the start of 2022 – although those final three tracks are yet to host their rounds this year. While both Albert Park and Singapore have both seen significant changes to their layout in recent years, they have retained the exact same DRS activation lengths in the regions of the tracks that were not modified.
A handful of tracks have seen at least one of their DRS zones extended since the start of 2022. After the return of the Dutch Grand Prix for 2021, the second and final DRS activation point on the track was moved from the exit of the final banked corner to the start, allowing drivers a greater benefit when pursuing a rival on the run to Tarzan at the start of the lap. The final DRS zone leading onto the pit straight at Mexico City was also extended by 158 metres for 2022, while Qatar’s sole zone was extended for its return to the calendar in 2023.
This year, two circuits have had DRS zones lengthened in a bid to try and provide better passing opportunities. The first was at Monza, where the DRS zone on the pit straight was moved over 100m closer to the exit of the final corner. Baku also saw its own zone along the pit straight extended before September’s race, however, this was simply reverting the change made the previous season, when it was shortened by 100m.
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Interestingly, there have been more circuits where DRS zones have been reduced by the FIA in the ground effect era compared to the previous generations of cars than tracks where they have been extended. The final zone in Bahrain was reduced by 80m in 2023 and remained that way this year, with 70m also chopped off the DRS zone along the pit straight at Jeddah. After its inaugural grand prix in 2022, the Miami circuit had two of its three DRS zones shortened, while the final one on the pit straight was kept as it was.
This year, Imola and Barcelona also saw one zone slightly reduced on each track. However, the biggest surprise was perhaps Spa-Francorchamps, which had its most significant DRS zone along the Kemmel Straight trimmed by 70 metres. That appeared to have an impact on overtaking in the race, with only 25 on-track overtakes in 2024 compared to the previous season with a longer DRS zone along Spa’s longest straight.
But while DRS zones are getting smaller more often than they are getting longer, there’s also more of them. The 2021 season saw a grand total of 46 DRS zones over the 22 rounds on the calendar, increasing to 49 for 2022 and then 50 last season. Through the first 18 rounds of the championship, drivers have had a total of 42 DRS zones at their disposal – a higher rate than any of the previous three seasons, helped by fourth zones added to both Albert Park and Singapore.
Assuming that each of the final six rounds retains identical DRS zones to last year, that will bring this year’s total to 54 zones over the 24 circuits – just slightly fewer on average than 2023.
It’s clear that the system will remain in use liberally until these current regulations are replaced after next season. Will the FIA’s goal of “nimble” cars succeed where the 2022 designs failed? The fact they will include a replacement for DRS indicates they expect not.
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