Russell: Drivers will address lack of overtaking with F1 and FIA

GPDA director George Russell says F1 drivers are determined to address the sport’s current lack of overtaking with Formula 1 and with the FIA to see what changes could be made to improve the action on the track in the short term.

A consensus emerged among F1’s drivers after last month’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix over the fact that overtaking has become much harder following the ongoing development of the sport’s ground-effect machines.

Engineers have made significant downforce gains since last season while current designs also create a smaller slipstream effect compared to last year when F1’s new rules were introduced.

Furthermore, the FIA’s decision to shorten specific DRS zones, based on data from 2022, has only compounded the problem and generated criticism from F1’s field of drivers.

While improving overtaking is an issue that must be addressed with a long-term approach and solution, Russell suggests that immediate measures could be put in place to improve the situation in the short term.

“I think at the end of day, we all want the best races, the most exciting races,” Russell said.

“And there’s probably a few easier ways to achieve this in the short term, like Esteban [Ocon] said about the tyre degradation.

“It’s been easy one-stops in the last couple of races. And when everybody’s pushing flat out, there are less exciting races.

“Obviously the DRS has gone in the wrong direction. So there’s a couple of small things, but you know, for sure, we’re going to speak with the FIA and F1 about this.”

• Read also: Steiner tells F1 fans to be patient: ‘There will be a fight!’

Russell felt that Grand Prix racing’s 2022 technical regulation overhaul has been beneficial overall, but in the dynamic world of F1, the sport needs to sustain its efforts.

“I think for a couple of races now it’s been challenging to overtake,” admitted the Mercedes driver. “For sure, Baku wasn’t the most exciting race in the world.

“We want to be able to race, we want to be able to fight, as we all did in go-karts, where there was no aerodynamics. So that’s the ultimate dream.

“I think the sport took a really good turn for the better when these new cars were introduced, but we need to take it to the next step now.”

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Russell: Drivers will address lack of overtaking with F1 and FIA F1i.com.