F1 News: FIA look to shorten DRS zones to stop "easy" overtakes

The FIA wants overtaking to be more of a challenge.

The FIA is considering making DRS zones shorter in 2023 to prevent overtaking from becoming too easy for drivers. 

One of the fundamental issues Formula 1 faced ahead of the 2022 regulations was the issue of overtaking, which was made extremely difficult with the prominence of dirty air. 

Although more overtakes do not guarantee a more interesting spectacle, the difficulties drivers faced in following other cars negatively impacted the sport's overall competitiveness and entertainment. 

The 2021 season was one of the most exciting and fiercely contested in recent memory, but promoting overtaking was still firmly on the agenda ahead of 2022. 

The dirty air effect was significantly lessened in 2022, as drivers could far more easily follow each other, overtake and compete for track position. 

With this in mind, as quoted by motorsport.com, the FIA's technical director has explained why DRS zones could be shortened to prevent overtakes from becoming too easy:

"In some races, we may well need to actually reduce the DRS zones.

"We don't want overtaking to be, as we say, inevitable or actually easy. It still has to be a fight. 

"If it happens too quickly, if you just see a car approaching and then going by and disappearing, it's actually worse than being at the back and fighting."

There is a very fine line between allowing for better wheel-to-wheel racing and making DRS overtakes too easy for the drivers. If you want to learn more about DRS and the secrets behind it, then click here. 

Overtakes should certainly be a challenge rather than a formality, so it remains unclear whether F1 can successfully strike this balance.