John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
If one thing was clear from Thursday’s press conferences, the drivers are skeptical about the DRS changes in Miami
As noted yesterday, FIA announced changes to two of the DRS zones at the Miami International Autodrome ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. In both instances, the DRS zones were shortened, mirroring changes made to the Baku City Circuit prior to last week’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Given that fans, analysts, and the teams themselves were dismayed at the lack of action and overtaking last week — Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said in a statement to the media following Azerbaijan that the day “was not a thriller” — and that many pointed to the shorter DRS zones as a reason, a big topic during Thursday’s press conferences was whether the changes might mean for a dull Miami Grand Prix.
Many of the drivers who spoke on Thursday share that concern.
“I think all of us didn’t really understand why they’ve been shortened. None of us were consulted about it or asked our opinion on it and I think the race speaks for itself in Baku. I don’t know whether we’re going to keep it the same for this weekend,” said George Russell in response to a line of questioning from Mandy Curi of Motorsport. “DRS is there to aid overtaking and it’s always exciting when you’ve got these big DRS advantages and it gives you the opportunity to fight and clearly in Baku it was way too short.”
In response to the same question, both Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant agreed.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s the right direction. I think with the cars that we have at the moment, it’s still quite difficult to follow,” said Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. “It’s better than the previous generation cars but still not good enough to actually have less DRS, so hopefully in the future races we won’t shorten them.”
Sargeant outlined how the shorter zones might have directly impacted his day in Azerbaijan. “Yeah, I agree with Charles and George,” said the Williams rookie. “I sat behind Zhou for 30 laps or so in Baku, about a second back and could never get close enough into Turn 1 and there were a few times that if that extra 100 meters that it was shortened by would have been there I could have been able to go for a move. So yeah, I think it’s the wrong direction.”
In the second media session, David Croft of Sky Sports asked the drivers about the shorter DRS zones. Lando Norris from McLaren offered this lengthy response:
“I know they shortened it here again in the two zones. I mean, we’re the slowest on the straights, so I’d love DRS at every chance we have. Yeah, I think there’s something to just review, you know? I think if we look back at last year, maybe at times you could have shortened it – but as cars evolve and get more downforce, generally it always makes the racing a little bit worse, which is kind of led a little bit down that path. Cars are becoming more efficient, at the same time. So, you need that little extra to help you. So it just needs to be re-reviewed, you know, and not to use data from last year, but just look at what’s been happening this year, and then review it. So, in my opinion, probably extend, but depends on who you’re racing. Red Bull doesn’t even need DRS, and for us, we need everything we’ve got, in a way. So it depends who you’re racing against, and some of the differences, but there’ll be some races, which will be a lot better, and some races which are tougher. And like Max said, there’s certain things we’re just not able to do nowadays that we could do maybe a few years ago, which made it easier to overtake – like take kerbs and do different lines and things like that. So, it’s not as simple as just DRS. There’s many things to try and improve and do better. But, yeah, we’re talking and we’re trying to do what we can to make it better for the sport.”
The undercurrent to this discussion touches on the future of the sport, and its growing popularity in the United States. As F1 continues to try and expand in the United States market, there is a concern that the lack of overtaking on the track, as well as Red Bull’s dominance so far this season, might cause American viewers — and viewers all over the world — to tune out.
Asked about that on Thursday, and whether the races lacked for excitement, Russell had this to say. “Well, I’ll do my best to not make it boring but at the end it’s a sport. It’s like in every sport, sometimes a team is just better than others and at the moment it’s the case with Red Bull,” said the Mercedes driver. “We are working flat out like everybody, I think, here is working flat out to try and recover the gap to the Red Bulls. I think on one lap, we can maybe challenge them. In the race it’s going to be more difficult but if there’s an opportunity, I’ll do my best to make it more exciting.”
After what we saw last week in Azerbaijan, F1 fans would love to see Russell — or anyone — deliver on that promise.
