{"id":240979,"date":"2023-08-01T13:51:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T11:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/drs-formula-1\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:02:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T14:02:44","slug":"drs-formula-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/drs-formula-1\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 DRS: what it was, how it worked and what replaced it in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Abu Dhabi, 7 December 2025, last lap of the last race of the season. Lando Norris is about to become world champion and hardly anyone is looking further back, where Kimi Antonelli is chasing Yuki Tsunoda&#8217;s Red Bull. On the straight the young Mercedes driver opens his rear wing, closes in, and it isn&#8217;t enough: he finishes six tenths behind. No overtake, but a small piece of history: it is the last time a Formula 1 driver uses DRS in a race.<\/p>\n<p>DRS, short for Drag Reduction System, was the system that let a driver open a flap on the rear wing to cut air resistance and gain speed on the straights. It was used from 2011 to 2025. Since 2026 it no longer exists: it has been replaced by active aerodynamics, which every driver can use on the straights, and by Overtake mode, which gives extra electrical energy to the chasing car.<\/p>\n<p>Since so many people are still searching for it, it is worth explaining how it worked, why it was introduced and what has really changed.<\/p>\n<h2>How DRS worked<\/h2>\n<p>A Formula 1 rear wing is made of a fixed main plane and an upper flap. By pressing a button on the <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/how-the-formula-1-steering-wheel-works\/\">steering wheel<\/a>, the driver raised the flap by up to 85 millimetres (from 2019; in the early years the opening was smaller). This opened a slot that reduced aerodynamic drag and, with it, downforce. Downforce is needed in the corners but not on the straight, which is why DRS was only used on straights. A touch of the brake pedal and the wing closed on its own.<\/p>\n<p>The gain was far from symbolic. The FIA put it at 10-12 km\/h of top speed, enough to pull alongside the car ahead before the braking zone.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/ferrari-drs.jpg\" alt=\"F1 DRS: rear wing of a Ferrari with the Drag Reduction System flap\" width=\"660\" height=\"350\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>The rules: one second, one zone, one straight<\/h2>\n<p>Drivers could not open it whenever they liked. In the race there were three conditions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the driver had to be less than one second behind the car ahead at the detection point, a line on the track placed before the DRS zone;<\/li>\n<li>the flap could only be opened in the DRS zones, the straights chosen by the FIA circuit by circuit, one or more depending on the track;<\/li>\n<li>the system stayed off in the opening laps of the race and after every restart following a <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/f1-safety-cars\/\">safety car<\/a> or red flag, as well as when race control declared the track wet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The defending driver, on the other hand, could not use DRS unless they in turn had someone less than a second ahead. That imbalance is exactly what made the system work: it handed a few kilometres per hour to the attacker and none to the defender. In the early days the wing could be opened almost anywhere in practice and qualifying; later, partly for safety reasons, its use was limited to the designated zones.<\/p>\n<h2>Why it was introduced<\/h2>\n<p>By the end of the 2000s, overtaking in Formula 1 had become a real struggle. The cars generated a lot of downforce and left turbulent air behind them, which made the following car lose grip. The closer you got, the more your car slid. The result was races in which positions barely changed after the start.<\/p>\n<p>DRS arrived in 2011 as an openly artificial fix. It worked: according to the figures recalled when it was retired, overtakes went from 547 in 2010 to 1,486 in 2011, almost three times as many. To be fair, that was also the year Pirelli tyres arrived, designed to degrade quickly, so the wing does not deserve all the credit.<\/p>\n<p>The criticism never went away, though. Many passes happened halfway down the straight, with no real fight under braking: what fans called motorway overtakes. Sebastian Vettel once said, only half joking, that he would rather throw bananas as in Mario Kart.<\/p>\n<h2>What replaced DRS in 2026<\/h2>\n<p>With the 2026 regulations Formula 1 changed almost everything: smaller and lighter cars (a 3.4-metre wheelbase and a 768 kg minimum weight), power split roughly half and half between the combustion engine and the electrical side, sustainable fuels. Within this overhaul DRS was removed and replaced by three tools, whose names were announced by the FIA and Formula 1 on 17 December 2025.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Active aerodynamics (Straight Mode and Corner Mode).<\/strong> Now both the front and the rear wing move. On the straights designated by the FIA the driver opens the flaps to reduce drag (Straight Mode); under braking and in the corners they close again to provide downforce (Corner Mode). The difference from DRS is decisive: everyone can use it, leading or trailing, with no need to be close to anyone.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Overtake.<\/strong> This is the direct heir of DRS, and it keeps its main rule: a driver who crosses the detection point less than one second behind the car ahead gets an advantage for the following lap. It is no longer a wing that opens, though: the advantage is 0.5 megajoules of extra electrical energy to recharge and deploy, with more power available at high speed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Boost and Recharge.<\/strong> Boost lets the driver use all the available electrical power whenever they choose, to attack or to defend; Recharge is the phase in which the battery is replenished.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/size-difference-between-2024-and-2026-f1-cars-thoughts-v0-glk1r7nisrrd1.webp\" alt=\"Comparison between a 2024 Formula 1 car with DRS and a 2026 car with active aerodynamics\" width=\"640\" height=\"728\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>More overtakes, not always better ones<\/h2>\n<p>The first Grand Prix under the new rules, in Australia, made one thing clear straight away: there are far more overtakes. In Melbourne the count went from 45 in 2025 to 120. Just as had happened with DRS in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>And the old doubt came back too. According to several drivers, many passes are simply the result of a battery difference: the car with energy passes the one that has run out, and a lap later the opposite happens. Sergio P\u00e9rez put it bluntly, calling these overtakes &#8220;very fake&#8221; because it all comes down to a button. The FIA has already said that Overtake mode can be made stronger or weaker during the season if the balance is not right.<\/p>\n<p>In short, DRS has gone, but the question it carried with it is still there: how much help can you give the chasing car before an overtake stops meaning anything?<\/p>\n<h2>Why it matters to anyone investing in Formula 1<\/h2>\n<p>For a company DRS was a technical detail, but one with very concrete effects. The DRS zones were where TV directors waited for the overtake, and the rear wing endplates, covered in logos, filled the screen in every shot from behind. In 2026 the focus has shifted to energy: who has it, who is using it, who is recharging it. The way races are told on TV is changing too, as we saw when we wrote about the <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/formula-1-2026-why-the-battery-vanished-from-the-screen-and-its-a-marketing-decision\/\">battery that disappeared from the screen<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone considering <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/formula-1-sponsorship\/\">Formula 1 sponsorship<\/a> should take this into account. The moments when a race comes alive, and the shots that matter with them, are not the same as a few years ago. For a refresher on the basics, we have also put together the <a href=\"https:\/\/rtrsports.com\/en\/blog\/how-much-do-you-know-the-f1-10-terms-to-know\/\">Formula 1 terms worth knowing<\/a>.<\/p>\n    <div itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/FAQPage\" class=\"faq-schema-wrapper question-list-wrap\">\r\n\r\n                    <h2><b>Frequently asked questions about DRS in F1<\/b><\/h2>\r\n        \r\n        <br \/>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>What is DRS in F1?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>DRS (Drag Reduction System) was a movable flap on the rear wing that the driver could open on the straights to reduce aerodynamic drag and gain speed, between 10 and 12 km\/h according to the FIA. It was used from 2011 to 2025 to make overtaking easier.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <br \/>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>When could DRS be used?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>In the race, only in the DRS zones and only if the driver was less than one second behind the car ahead at the detection point. It was disabled in the opening laps, after restarts following a safety car or red flag and on a wet track.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <br \/>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>Does DRS still exist in 2026?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>No. The last race with DRS was the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 7 December 2025. Since 2026 it has been replaced by active aerodynamics (Straight Mode and Corner Mode) and Overtake mode.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <br \/>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>What replaced DRS?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>Active aerodynamics, with movable front and rear wings that every driver can open on the straights, and Overtake mode, which grants 0.5 megajoules of extra electrical energy on the following lap to a driver who crosses the detection point less than one second behind the car ahead.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <br \/>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>How much speed did DRS give?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>The FIA estimated a gain of 10-12 km\/h in top speed. The real figure depended on the circuit, the length of the straight and the car&#8217;s aerodynamic set-up.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <br \/>\n    <div itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntity\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Question\" class=\"faq-item question-list-row\">\r\n\r\n        <h3 class=\"h5\" itemprop=\"name\">\r\n            <b>Why was DRS criticised?<\/b>\r\n        <\/h3>\r\n\r\n        <div itemscope itemprop=\"acceptedAnswer\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Answer\">\r\n            <div itemprop=\"text\" class=\"question-answer\">\r\n                <p>Because it made many overtakes too easy, often halfway down the straight and without a real fight under braking. The same criticism returned in 2026 with Overtake mode, which some drivers consider too artificial.<\/p>\n            <\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <br \/>\n\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abu Dhabi, 7 December 2025, last lap of the last race of the season. Lando Norris is about to become world champion and hardly anyone is looking further back, where Kimi Antonelli is chasing Yuki Tsunoda&#8217;s Red Bull. On the straight the young Mercedes driver opens his rear wing, closes in, and it isn&#8217;t enough: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":159552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20123,20038,20039],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1-en","category-sport-sponsorship","category-sports-marketing"],"acf":[],"contentshake_article_id":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>F1 DRS: how it worked and what replaced it in 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"F1 DRS opened the rear wing to help overtaking: the rules, its history from 2011 to 2025 and what replaced it in 2026, from active aero to 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