Three stage DRS

[Taxi645]

In principle I'm not in favor of DRS because in my view one should set up a pass in the corners not just the straights, it is overly powerful and furthermore it should be about the battle for position not the change of position itself. DRS is classic F1 policy of treating the symptom (namely lack of overtaking) rather than the cause (aero layouts which don't facilitate battling for position in the corners). Something we see all to often (tracks limits to name one).

But ok, knowing that we won't have aero rules next year that will help battling in the corners and knowing DRS won't go away very soon, what could one do to improve it's influence on racing?

To me the problem with DRS is, except for the general objection mentioned above, is that it's current fixed implementation is not equally suitable for each track. What I mean by this is, that on some tracks it's too powerful, virtually guaranteeing a pass rather that merely aiding it and on others it's not powerful enough.

I almost fell off of my chair of disbelief about the comments on Verstappen's move on the Kemmel straight. In stead of criticizing the fact that as a result of DRS the speed difference become so great that normal racecraft (you know the thing normal people like about motorsport) is considered dangerous, Verstappen get's criticized for racing in the first place!

What you want is that with a good exit, a driver following is able to pull alongside the car in front, or near that anyway, at the end of the straight so that entering a brake duel or keen positioning in the subsequent corners will decide who will take the position. What we see now on many tracks is that cars just blast by (too fast to safely defend according to some) and there is no brake duel to speak of because the car has passed too far anyway. That's not race craft, it's not even show business, it's pure and utter boredom (and a really expensive form of it).

So my solution would be to either fine tune the position of the start of the DRS activation zones on each track so that cars will be next to each other at the end of the straight in stead of guaranteeing a pass (with a big margin). Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. Race craft will decide. Alternatively you could give DRS three stage of effectiveness depending how easy it is on to overtake on each track.

A few examples of track that could use some adjustment (not a complete list):
Canada
Austria
Baku
Kemmel Straight at Spa
etc.