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DRS: Is it time for it to go?
With half of the Emilia-Romagna GP being run without the Drag Reduction System due to the wet conditions, and DRS playing a big part in the first three races, perhaps the improvement of the new cars at following each other mean it is now time to scrap DRS, considering it was only ever meant to be a temporary solution when introduced in 2011. An interesting fact is that Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso are the only current drivers who have raced in Formula 1 without DRS.
Personally, I believe Imola showed that it is time to scrap DRS for 2023. In the last decade, it has been a necessary evil for Formula 1, because it was so difficult to follow other cars that without it the races would just have been awful and processional, and the price of making the overtakes too easy when they happened was one that was worth paying. But the new cars are clearly considerably better for following closely, and as long as the cars can do that, I think we can live without DRS, particularly as for 2023 the teams would then have to build the cars knowing that they wouldn't get DRS which would further improve racing.
When it wasn't activated in Imola we got some overtakes in different parts of the track to normal because drivers knew they couldn't just wait for the main straight and blast past with the DRS, and this is on a track which is famously bad for overtaking anyway. I would rather see a few great overtakes than lots of boring easy ones, and as the cars can now follow closely I would like to see more instances like Monaco 1992 where the car behind is faster and can attack the car ahead but that car can defend and hold the position. It is more exciting to watch a car unable to make a pass but be close behind for many laps trying to do it (which was impossible anyway with the old cars), than to see that driver catch and just breeze past immediately on the straight with DRS. It would also increase the amount of skill required in Formula 1 racecraft, which will diminish if DRS stays.
In my opinion, DRS has been necessary in the past, but it is now time for it to go.
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