Niki Lauda has admitted he is no fan of the overtaking innovation ‘DRS’ that debuted in 2011.<\/p>\n
The system, which allows a chasing driver to move a flap in the rear wing and increase top speed when he is close to his rival, is set to be retained and even ramped up for next season.<\/p>\n
The BBC reports that in Melbourne next March, for instance, there could be two DRS zones, while other zones – like at Valencia – will be extended.<\/p>\n
The system was designed by a working group including McLaren’s technical director Paddy Lowe, who insists DRS was a good idea amid the long debate about tweaking the cars to boost overtaking.<\/p>\n
“What’s great (is) at least we can move on from this debate of trying to change the aerodynamic characteristics of cars to try to improve overtaking,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve found something much more authoritative, much cheaper, easier and more effective, and adjustable from race to race.”<\/p>\n
Many purists, however, are unhappy, arguing that overtaking can now be too easy, has been devalued, while the spectacle of a driver successfully holding off his charging rival is diminished.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth to a certain extent,” argues the FIA’s Charlie Whiting.<\/p>\n
F1 great Lauda, the famous triple world champion of the 70s and 80s, told Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten that DRS “bothers me”.<\/p>\n
“To see passing at the push of a button is fundamentally the wrong direction (for F1),” he insisted.<\/p>\n
“The front man (the driver in front) is totally defenceless.\u00a0 I think from the sporting point of view it is not right.”<\/p>\n
He also thinks DRS has proved unnecessary, with new supplier Pirelli’s heavily-degrading tyres credited for much of the success of the racing in 2011.<\/p>\n
“This (Pirelli’s approach) is okay,” said television pundit Lauda, who is reportedly arguing with the German broadcaster RTL about the size of his fee for F1’s 2011 season.<\/p>\n
“There is enough overtaking already because of the tyres, which often have to be taken right to the limit by the drivers,” he explained.<\/p>\n
“And they pose the engineers with the task of making tyre-friendly tyres.”<\/p>\n
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