F1 wants to ditch DRS

DRS could be ditched as part of the sweeping rule changes set to be brought to Formula 1 in 2021, it has been revealed. Although the overtaking-aid has greatly increased the numbers of on-track passes since its introduction in 2011, the artificial nature of manoeuvres has often been criticised.

The sight of cars blasting past helpless rivals on straights thanks to the DRS device opening has become commonplace in recent years, although the latest aerodynamic rules in F1 have even made that difficult at times.

With changes planned to boost natural overtaking set to be rolled out next year, the FIA hope that the on-track action will improve to the point that DRS can be abolished.

"It is right that there's this underlying discomfort with DRS, and I share it as well," said FIA technical chief Nicholas Tombazis. "I know Ross [Brawn] has made similar comments, and so on.

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"We feel that DRS is the right thing to have in the present state of things. And for 2021 we hope that the cars will be much more able to follow each other closely, and it will be a really nice outcome if we can severely decrease DRS in the future, or even eliminate it.

"But until we get in a position where we are comfortable enough with the wake performance and how cars can follow each other I think it's something that I would call a necessary evil perhaps at the moment."

Tombazis has also overseen the change in aerodynamic rules for the 2019 season, which will attempt to boost overtaking by reducing the downforce produced by cars.

In the hope of gaining greater numbers of overtaking, Tombazis expects pace will be sacrificed.

"We expect this rule change to be approximately half way to one third less performance than the delta between '16 and '17, so we expect to lose about 1.5 seconds [per lap] maybe," he said ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

"It's a bit difficult to predict exactly the amount of development the teams will put on [the 2019 cars], but we certainly expect to lose performance.

"We invited the teams to do their own simulations [with the data]. Most teams participated in this initiative and we're very grateful for their support.

"Clearly all of the teams did different things and the results ranged from small benefits to big benefits. There was no result that showed a worsening of any characteristic.

"Our expectation, if we didn't do this rule change, is that for '19 and '20 it [overtaking] would be gradually getting worse. So part of the rule change was to stop that."