Jeddah DRS changes to avoid ‘cat and mouse games’ | 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP. Jeddah DRS changes to avoid 'cat and mouse games'.

The Jeddah circuit in Saudi Arabia has the highest average speed in the Formula 1 championship, a record that seems destined to be easily beaten by the street circuit that will host the Las Vegas Grand Prix later in the season. The first section of the Saudi Arabian circuit is mixed and characterized by several changes of direction, but after the ‘horseshoe’ of Turn-13 a second half of the track opens up almost always with the throttle completely open.

No more tricks
Both the 2021 and 2022 editions were marked by moments that were more familiar to videogames than motorsport. This was due to to the detection point of the main DRS area, the one on the start/finish straight, which in previous editions was positioned before the last corner. That unusual positioning led Max Verstappen in 2021 and Charles Leclerc in 2022 to set real ‘traps’ respectively for Lewis Hamilton and the Dutchman with the aim of defending the lead of the race.

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc slowed down before the detection to be skilfully overtaken by their rivals and to therefore be able to counterattack immediately a few hundred meters.

This tactic almost led to Hamilton’s rear-end collision with Verstappen (the Red Bull driver had to give up his position after cutting the first chicane earlier to defend himself) and an absurd duel between the two-times champion and Charles Leclerc twelve months ago, a battle that eventually rewarded Verstappen who, however, was initially tricked by the Monegasque’s wait-and-see game. Finally from this edition – with a delay of at least one year – we will no longer see these moments: the detection point before the third DRS zone was in fact positioned after the last corner and not before the turn. In this way, no driver will have a reason to attempt to slow down on the straight and have the DRS active on the next straight.

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Max Verstappen penalised
In 2021, Max Verstappen was accused of brake-testing against Lewis Hamilton, which means having deliberately tried to be overtaken or hit by the Mercedes driver. The Dutchman was sanctioned with only a penalty of only 10″ which did not affect the second place at the finish line: the Dutchman scored 18 points, which meant Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton arrived perfectly side by side in the standings at the final round of the season, the highly controversial Abu Dhabi GP.