At last Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, world champion Verstappen and Leclerc engaged in an exciting battle, especially in the last 10 laps when the Dutchman began to attack the Monegasque’s lead.
Realizing the power of DRS on the long streets of the Jeddah street circuit, Leclerc purposely started to let off the throttle well before the final corner, forcing Verstappen to overtake him earlier than the DRS detection line. That meant the Ferrari driver would gain the DRS advantage down the next finish straight, allowing him to retake lead easily.
Max Verstappen was quick to pick up on his rival’s tactics and on his next attempt, the Dutchman locked up his tires trying to stay behind Charles Leclerc before the final hairpin, where both drivers were desperately looking to avoid being in the lead in the DRS zone. .
With four laps to go, Verstappen finally passed Leclerc to win the race after what he deemed “clever tricks”, with Leclerc admitting he was going “half throttle” trying to get Max to overtake him and him to have the benefit of DRS.
“It worked once, but the second time he caught on, so he braked really early and then there was a bit of a mess, but it was fun.”
Although their duel was entertaining to watch and both protagonists saw no problem with it, questions were raised as to whether drivers deliberately trying to avoid overtaking is something Formula 1 should promote.
Asked by Motorsport.com if the DRS games were being a bit of nonsense for F1’s DNA, Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner conceded that the series should review where the DRS detection points are placed to avoid “the game of cat and mouse”.
“The DRS is so powerful that we could see they were playing a game of cat and mouse between the drivers, braking to the point of going faster into the corner,” said Horner.
“I think maybe we should look at where the DRS detection zone is in the next few years. Because you definitely want to avoid being in that situation.”
Horner felt that the fierce battle for victory in Jeddah confirmed that the 2022 rules have hit the nail on the head, even as several drivers suggested overtaking would remain impossible without DRS.
“I think what’s really encouraging about this regulation is that in the last two races we’ve seen Charles and Max get ahead about 10 times, something we haven’t seen in previous seasons,” Horner explained.
“It was a great race, another fantastic race between the two teams. I think the wish that the cars could follow each other closely and battle wheel to wheel was more than fulfilled. It was exceptional.”
