The 2023 championship has only one leader, Max Verstappen. The Red Bull won all 12 races of this first part of the calendar – Sprint included. No one would have expected such dominance at the beginning of the season. Not after the last two seasons. But in the absence of real competition Max and the Austrian team got closer and broke several records. One of the most powerful weapons of Adrian Newey's RB19 is the DRS. The mobile wing is used both in qualifying and in the race. But Formula 1, according to some rumours, is considering a change in the rules.
Il DRS Red Bull
Most overtaking takes place thanks to DRS which makes them easier. On tracks like Spa with long straights, the advantage deriving from the use of this device is amplified, on others it is reduced. So we can see larger, and smaller, gaps. In Hungary, where DRS matters little, Max Verstappen lost the battle for Pole.
It is not the first time that solutions have been thought of to make Grands Prix more exciting. The DRS itself was born in 2011 with this purpose, to reduce the aerodynamic resistance of cars and encourage overtaking. But what can be done from the moment a team wisely exploits its potential and distances itself from the group? How does Red Bull stop now?
Not that F1 wants to explicitly target Red Bull but his plans to limit DRS could have a negative impact on the leading team of the World Championship.
The limits to DRS
According to what was reported by the German newspaper Car engine and sport F1 is reportedly considering a rather important regulatory change. AMuS reports that the use of DRS - given its nature - would be limited to the Race. This is because in Qualifying there are no overtakings to be made and therefore the use of DRS would be unjustified. As we have already said, Red Bull has optimized its DRS like no other F1 team has managed to do. This meant a huge advantage in terms of straight line speed, with staggering numbers. An advantage that annoyed the opponents, quite a bit.
If the hypothesis of the regulatory change were to come true, Red Bull could be penalized although, we reiterate, he is superior to his opponents in every other respect. Furthermore, in Milton Keynes it has already been decided to sacrifice the DRS effect a bit with a more loaded version of the RB19, to safeguard the tyres.
Source: FormulaPassion
