As part of a bid to improve the spectacle and overtaking opportunities at the modified Albert Park circuit, the FIA has increased the number of DRS zones to four, something never before seen in F1.
Two weeks before the 2022 Australian GP, in Saudi Arabia , Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc played a curious game to see who had the DRS, braking in places where they were going flat out so as not to be the first to go through the detection point, so it is feared that something similar will be repeated.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says the Big Circus needs to be aware of the role the mobile wing is playing in racing, because making overtaking too easy is just as detrimental as having none at all.
Speaking to Sky Sports about what his driver and Leclerc did in Jeddah, he said: “You don’t want that, I think in Saudi Arabia, for example, if the DRS line had been further ahead, or on the corner itself, there wouldn’t have been there has been that tactical game.
“I think what’s going to be interesting here (in Australia), with four zones, it’s going to be the whole lap behind, you don’t want it to be too easy with DRS to be cruise overtaking,” said the Briton.
“What the DRS should be is that it allows you to get more of a slipstream effect, it would have to be a race, but without going full throttle on both sides,” continued Horner. “So the distances of these DRS zones are going to be very interesting on Sunday to see what they do.”
“It could be like a MotoGP race, where you could be changing position two or three times a lap,” said the head of the energy drink team.
Asked if this was good for the show, the Red Bull team member said: “Wait until Sunday, reserve your opinion, but it depends on the length of the zones and how it affects. If it’s too easy to overtake, then it’s not good.”
Ferrari ended up leading in both free practice sessions of the 2022 Australian GP, with Carlos Sainz the fastest in the first practice and Charles Leclerc with the fastest time in the Australian afternoon.
Verstappen took second place in Free Practice 2, which caused Horner to be quite satisfied with the work so far: “It was very productive, I think we made progressive changes that brought the car closer and closer, and at In the end, it seemed decent.”
“There is a bit of work left tonight, to get some things in order, but I think we are in the right direction, and the car is starting to respond well to the modifications,” he concluded.
