F1 hopes to boost Melbourne overtaking with extra DRS zone

The Albert Park circuit will feature three DRS zones in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, as Formula 1 look to encourage overtaking opportunities. Sebastian Vettel beat pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton to victory in 2017, although the win was forged in pit-lane strategy rather than on-track excitement.

Only five overtaking manoeuvres were recorded in the Melbourne race last year, as the new, wider generation of F1 cars found it difficult to get by one another on the tight street circuit.

Two of those came in one thrilling moment as Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg swept past Fernando Alonso on the pit straight, with shades of Mika Hakkinen's pass of Michael Schumacher at Spa in 2000.

However, it was the exception that proved the rule last year, with DRS zones in place on the pit straight and between turns two and three, meaning cars struggled to get close to each other over the vast majority of the circuit.

F1 has added a further activation point between the speedy turn 12 and tight right-hander at 13, in the hope of either generating overtakes at this point of the track, or into the next DRS zone, which has a detection point before the final complex of corners.

The move is unprecedented by F1 and may be trialled again in other tracks that often struggle for overtakes like Monaco and Sochi, where just one passing manoeuvre was recorded in last season's race.

You can't prepare for everything in Melbourne ????#F1 pic.twitter.com/6hnyrFvafM — Formula 1 (@F1) March 20, 2018