Formula 1: 3 rule changes to introduce with the 2022 car

Rule change #3: Get rid of DRS altogether

The drag reduction system has been around since 2011, and it’s time to bid it a not-so-fond farewell. With all the changes coming to the car next season, overtaking should be much easier.

The DRS system gives trailing cars a boost, but it is only necessary to combat the lack of downforce that comes from riding in another car’s wake. And while it makes cars faster in the straights, it does nothing to increase stability in dirty air.

DRS has certainly provided us with some exciting moments over its short lifespan, but there have also been some odd ones where the technology and rules around it end up upstaging the actual racing action.

Take, for example, the jockeying for DRS positioning between Hamilton and Verstappen that led directly to their confusing collision during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Or the Little-League-like nature of the rule itself, where the trailing car is given an advantage as if the goal is for every race to end in a tie.

The changes to the car in 2022 are supposed to remedy the issues that made DRS necessary in the first place; it’s time to retire the technology and the illogical one-second threshold that comes along with it.

Imagine going an entire season without hearing the words “detection zone” or caring whether a gap was 1.001 seconds or a single thousandth of a second less. Imagine one less button a driver needs to worry about, and leaders not lagging behind backmarkers until they can gain the advantage DRS provides.

It’s also one less mechanical system on the cars, which would make them a tiny bit lighter and less complicated. Lighter and less complicated should be the goal for Formula 1 and race organizers across the globe. In fact, it sounds so good I’m going to make it my New Year’s resolution as well.

Here’s to a lighter and less complicated 2022.