McLaren urges F1 to divert its attention to the DRS trains issue, saying it leads to 'some boring scenarios in the middle of the pack'

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has urged the FIA to divert to its attention to F1’s ‘DRS train’ problem that creates boring races for the midfield pack.

While lauding the FIA and FOM’s work on the 2022 regulations, which have yielded closer and more exciting racing so far, Seidl called on them to look into ways to prevent a single car with DRS from holding up an entire pack.

Speaking to the Motorsport Network following last weekend’s British GP, the German said:

“With the regulations as we have put them in place now for this year, we definitely have seen that the cars, when they are fighting each other, it’s a lot better now to follow closer to each other without killing the tyre straightaway.”

He continued:

“The problem that is still left from the past, I will say, is this topic of the DRS trains.”

He added:

“Depending on how this train is looking like, and which car is at the front, and if that is a car that actually can hold everyone else back, that can lead to some boring scenarios in the middle of the pack.”

He further said:

“I think that’s something we might still have to look in to, to see what we could do there, because I think we have seen that several times already this year.”

A 'DRS train' is a term increasingly used by F1 teams to refer to multiple cars that all get the benefit of the DRS (Drag Reduction System) lap after lap and are yet unable to overtake the car in front of them.

Usually, a DRS train is formed when faster cars are unable to pass a car that is lapping at a slower pace, but is sufficiently quicker on the straights. Such a scenario can often be a hard blow for a team’s race, given how tight the margins are in the midfield.

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Red Bull advisor urges F1 to restrict “driver coaching” during races, calls for ban on two-way radio communication

Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko has urged F1 to restrict the amount of coaching that drivers receive from their engineers during races on how best to drive their cars and has called for the sport to ban two-way communication between the pitwall and drivers.

Marko believes that the amount of technical support that drivers receive these days is comparable to a “driving school” and felt the practice was ridiculous. Speaking to ServusTV ahead of the 2022 Austrian GP, he said:

“It’s partly like being in driving school. You could limit it so that it only goes in one direction, that you only let the driver do it, but don’t let him get technical support.”

He added:

“It’s like: ‘You lose five meters in turn ten when braking and in turn three the other driver takes it a little more slowly.’ So, a driver gets all this information and that makes it easier for him.”

In the past, F1 tried to restrict communication between the pitwall and drivers to put more emphasis on driver skill, however, the practice was quickly reinstated after backlash, albeit with more restrictions than before.