Formula 1 technical director Pat Symonds criticised the decision to remove the fourth DRS zone which was added to Albert Park for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.
Symonds said the idea of adding a fourth DRS zone to the track had been conceived as part of the F1-led revamp of the circuit, which the series has raced at since 1996. The new, fourth zone was situated on a new, flat-out section bypassing the old turn nine chicane which has been removed.
“We worked on the changes to it, the first changes in the 20-odd years we’ve been here,” Symonds told Sky. “Yes, we have a new car and we hoped it would be good but we didn’t know for sure until we’d seen it in action.
“Now, you have to say, although this is probably one of the best events of the year, in terms of a race, it’s been a little bit disappointing over the years. It’s a very difficult circuit to overtake on, so we had to be quite radical.
“The idea of four DRS zones was not four overtaking zones. The…