04/05/2023
NEWS STORY
A week after it was claimed that a shortened DRS zone resulted in less overtaking in Baku, the FIA has shortened two of the zones in Miami.
"I feel these cars are generating a bit more downforce and by generating that little more downforce, the car behind struggles a little bit more to follow," said race-winner Sergio Perez following last week's race. "So in my opinion, it wasn't the right thing to shorten up the DRS, because it's getting harder to overtake than last year already in itself so it's something we should review."
"They shortened the DRS this year down the straight, I don't quite know why they did that," agreed Lewis Hamilton.
"We've always had great racing where the DRS was," he continued, "but by the time you switched the DRS on, it was too late. Was there a lot of overtaking today? Well, there you go."
Indeed, Lando Norris revealed that shortening the DRS zone on the main straight was a hot topic at the drivers' briefing.
Nonetheless, in their infinite wisdom, the FIA has shortened two of the zones ahead of this weekend’s race in Miami.
The second and third zones have both been reduced by 75 metres, as part of the programme announced by the FIA ahead of the season after analysing the 2022 zones in a bid to either facilitate overtaking, or make it harder at circuits where it was deemed not to be enough of a challenge.