Bahrain Grand Prix – Formula One organisers have decided to add a third DRS zone to the Bahrain International Circuit for the upcoming Grand Prix.
Following a growing trend from the 2018 season, a third zone for the Drag Reduction System has been added to the Sakhir circuit in a bid to encourage overtaking.
As well as the start-finish straight, another zone is situated in between turns ten and eleven. A third one will now be placed in between turns three and four.
In 2018, the Australian Grand Prix was the first event to have a third DRS zone added to it as a fix for the overtaking difficulties which face modern Formula One cars.
From there, additional DRS zones were added to venues which were deemed to have fewer overtakes.
Bahrain had used two zones in last year’s event with no detriment to the number of overtakes, but Formula One has opted for additional zone in 2019, despite the introduction of new bodywork aimed at improving the chances of an overtake.
The initial feedback from drivers in pre-season testing was that this season’s bigger DRS slot would be the biggest factor in wheel-to-wheel racing.
Haas’ Romain Grosjean commented ahead of the opening race that drivers would be “sitting ducks” at venues with longer DRS zones.
