Aston Martin boss speaks out against lobbying from all sides over the length of DRS zones

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has lashed out at the ongoing debate around DRS zones and told everyone to leave it to F1 and FIA. Accusing teams of lobbying during the decision-making process, to sway it to their benefit, Krack felt that everyone needs to calm down a bit.

The debate around the length of the DRS zone began after the race in Baku where the FIA had proactively taken the decision to shorten it on the long start-finish straight.

Consequently, the race notorious for producing great wheel-to-wheel action produced next to nothing in terms of on-track as overtakes were rare. Since then, the length of the DRS zones has come under serious scrutiny as even drivers complained over the shortened length in the next race at Miami.

The Aston Martin team principal, as per Speedcafe.com, has however called on everyone to calm things down a little as this issue has been used for lobbying by the teams.

"We need to calm down a little bit all these discussions about the DRS being too long, the DRS being too short. This is something that the FIA and F1 are doing at the tracks and not everybody should go lobbying for what is best for themselves because then it is up and down all the time.

"At the end of the day, the purpose of the DRS is to ease overtaking. Unfortunately, it is one of the few tools that we have, and we have to leave the decision-makers to make the best [decisions] for the sport.”

George Russell's view differs from Aston Martin team principal

George Russell

Unlike the Aston Martin team principal who has not shared a concrete view on whether overtaking has become tougher, George Russell feels that this is certainly the case. Explaining why this could have happened, he said:

"I think it is, and don't know exactly why. F1 created these regulations to help overtaking and following, and since they were introduced, every single team has sort of developed naturally away from their initial intentions as you develop the car. Every car on the grid is very different to what, let's say, they were intended to look like 18 months or two years ago, or whenever it was."

He added:

"I think the overtaking is slowly getting more difficult but also because the slipstream isn't as large with these new cars, so it's slowly going in the wrong direction for overtaking."

While the Aston Martin team principal might not have shared a definitive view, it's hard to ignore that wheel-to-wheel action has suffered this season. Decreasing DRS zones is arguably not the best thing.