Ahead of this weekend’s usual chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the FIA have announced that the second DRS zone will be moved 100m further down the 2.2km main straight, making overtaking more challenging.
The Baku City Circuit hosts two DRS zones, one between Turns Two and Three, and another between Turns 20 and 1.
Last season, the second DRS zone started 347m after Turn 20, whereas for this season it’s been moved so that it’s 447m after the corner.
The first DRS zone will remain where it was last season, with the bulk of the overtaking usually done in the second DRS zone.
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With Red Bull’s unbelievable straight-line speed, they are the hot favourites for another pole position and victory this weekend, with the question being whether it’ll be championship leader Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez who take the win.
It’s the third time this season that the FIA have played around with the DRS zones, after making adjustments in Saudi Arabia in Australia.
At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the governing body moved one of the DRS zones, whilst at the Albert Park Circuit a fourth zone was added, to spice up what is typically an uneventful race.
The reduction of the main DRS zone this weekend will likely please F1’s former director Ross Brawn, who called for DRS to be phased out of the sport.
“The one thing we know is fans, and we know this because we don’t like it, they don’t like the ‘go down the straight, pop the DRS, overtake, drive fast, pull a gap’ all of that,” Brawn told Motorsport.com.
“I think in an ideal world DRS is used just to get on the back of someone, so you can really have a decent attack.”
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The FIA have certainly been busy ahead of this weekend, after approving a new sprint format to be used in Baku.
The new sprint format will see ‘Sprint Saturday’, where a shortened qualifying session will take place before the sprint race to determine its grid.
Drivers have also seen some of their allotted engine components increased for the remainder of the season, with the control electronics being an exception, presumably to the disappoint of Charles Leclerc who got through his two legal sets in Bahrain.